Tiramisu Cake Recipe | Italian Recipes | PBS Food (2024)

FAQs

What food goes with tiramisu? ›

These are the ingredients you'll need to make this decadent tiramisu cake recipe: For the cake: white cake mix, water, egg whites, vegetable oil, and instant coffee powder. For the coffee syrup: coffee and coffee-flavored liqueur. For the filling: mascarpone cheese, confectioners' sugar, and coffee-flavored liqueur.

Traditional tiramisu contains ladyfingers (savoiardi), egg yolks, sugar, coffee, mascarpone and cocoa powder. A common variant involves soaking the savoiardi in alcohol, such as Marsala wine, amaretto or a coffee-based liqueur.

Stick With Sweet Wines

The only certainty for a tiramisu wine pairing is that the wine must be sweet. If the creamy, oily texture of the mascarpone inspires you to pair it with sparkling wine, you need to choose one with the right structure to withstand the coffee's persistent flavor.

Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries make this decadent Italian dessert a colourful addition to the dessert table.

Tiramisu offers a more robust coffee flavor, as the ladyfingers retain a concentrated espresso hit. Tiramisu cake, however, tends to have a milder coffee taste, with the sponge distributing the flavor more evenly.

Once made, tiramisù can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Tiramisù should not be left out, so once served, leftovers should be refrigerated immediately.

The inventor begs to differ. Roberto Linguanotto, a Venetian pastry chef who is often credited with the invention of tiramisu back in the 1960s, says that his creation is expensive because of the espresso used in another essential component to the dessert: espresso-soaked ladyfingers (via The Straits Times).

Our tip: some of the family's favourite liqueurs for Tiramisu are Tia Maria, Frangelico, Brandy, Marsala, or Kahlua, but you can use whatever dessert liqueurs you have in the liquor cabinet.

What kind of rum do I use in tiramisu? Dark rum is best, but you can use brandy or your favorite coffee liqueur.

Is Kahlua or rum better for tiramisu? ›

Alcohol: I prefer Kahlua, but use any of the following: Marsala wine, rum (dark is best!), brandy, or Amaretto. Make it Alcohol-Free: Omit the Kahlua entirely from the coffee mixture and replacing it with coffee in the mascarpone mixture.

The right biscuits

The choice is yours, even though connoisseurs of this dessert will always tell you to choose savoiardi. In fact, the result is completely different if you use these biscuits, which are tall and spongy and absorb less coffee. As a result, the consistency will be less creamy and slightly more compact.

While a tiramisu is normally made with soaked lady fingers, this cake mostly uses coffee-soaked sponge cake with creamy mascarpone filling. It is then topped off with a sprinkle of chocolate powder, chocolate shavings or espresso beans.

It is this dipping stage that makes or breaks a tiramisu. According to Garten, if you dip your ladyfingers for too long, they will turn soggy.

This means that using a dessert fork only is not sufficient as the liquid texture could drip through the fork. Instead, we should use a spoon for both cutting and eating, with the possible assistance from a fork to minimize the mess this dessert can create on a plate.

An amaretto sour is also the ideal co*cktail for anyone who loves tiramisu, since the classic Italian dessert often includes amaretto.

Tiramisu (Italian: tiramisù) is an Italian dessert made of ladyfinger pastries (savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar and mascarpone and flavoured with cocoa. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of cakes and other desserts.

Repeat the layering of ladyfingers, mascarpone and cocoa powder twice more. Once finished, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving. If you want to get fancy, finish with a layer of whipped cream piped on top and dust with more cocoa powder.