Somehow between culinary school and today (which was legit almost 10 years ago) I seem to have forgotten about a Classic Italian Tiramisu! Well, not anymore!! I made my recipe from culinary school a few weeks back and OMG WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING WITH MY LIFE! This is the kind of deeply impressive, make-ahead dessert that belongs in the same conversation as my Easy Banana Bread Recipe and 72 Hour Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. If you love rich, elegant Italian desserts, you also need my classic affogato (hot espresso meets ice cream aka total perfection), the wildly decadent caramel drenched flourless chocolate cake, and homemade brigadeiro in your life immediately.
Classic Italian Tiramisu at a Glance
- 🕒 Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes (30 min prep + 2 hr chill)
- 👪 Servings: 8–10
- 🍝 Cuisine Type: Italian Dessert
- 🧂 Flavor Profile: Creamy, coffee-soaked, cocoa-dusted, rich and balanced
- 📖 Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy and eggs, alcohol optional, no-bake
- 📦 Storage Notes: Keep covered and refrigerated up to 4 days; not freezer-friendly
- ⭐ Why You’ll Love It: Layers of espresso-soaked ladyfingers and velvety mascarpone cream come together in an elegant, make-ahead dessert that tastes like Italy in a bite.
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Why I Love This Recipe
This Classic Italian Tiramisu is seriously one of the easiest recipes and is made with a sweet mascarpone filling and layered with espresso dipped lady fingers. It's truly perfection and I can't believe I haven't made it since culinary school. Instead of resorting to my usual cookie consumption for dessert for all of our recent parties, I changed it up and made Tiramisu. BRILLIANT. It takes almost no time to make and the recipe below is one that my culinary school instructor literally engrained into our brains during the dessert portion of our curriculum.
If you are making tiramisu as dessert for a dinner party, here's some dishes you can make to go with that: Cacio e Pepe, Bolognese, Pasta alla Vodka, Baked Rigatoni, Sausage with Tortellini
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder - this is my favorite kind!
- Espresso - you'll need a cup, so brew a handful of shots or buy them pre-brewed from your favorite coffee shop or grocery store
- Vanilla Extract
- Pasteurized Eggs - I always buy pasteurized eggs for this recipe as that means the eggs have been heat treated to kill off bacteria that could potentially cause a food borne illness. And since we're using raw eggs, it's the way to go!
- Sugar
- Kosher Salt
- Mascarpone Cheese - an integral part!! There isn't a great substitution here.
- Heavy cream
- Ladyfinger Cookies - make sure you get the hard ones
*For a full list of ingredients and instructions please see recipe card below.
How to Make Tiramisu
Step 1:Whisk together the cocoa powder, espresso and vanilla in a bowl and set aside to really infuse the flavors together.
Step 2: In a mixer or using a hand mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick, about 5 minutes.
Step 3: Add in the salt, mascarpone cheese and continue to whip until smooth.
Step 4: Add the chilled cream and continue to whip, until light, creamy and smooth
Step 5: Make sure it can hold a soft peak.
Step 6: Dunk each ladyfinger in the espresso mixture to absorb the liquid and start to line a 7x11 oval baking dish with the cookies.
Step 7: Top the first layer of cookies with ½ of the whipped mascarpone mixture and use the back of a metal spoon to spread it into an even layer. Dust with cocoa powder.
Step 8: Repeat for another layer and then finish by dusting with cocoa powder on top.
Step 9: Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
How to Store Tiramisu
You can store tiramisu covered with plastic wrap for 3-4 days. The flavors of the tiramisu marry and develop as it keeps, especially once its been stored overnight.
How to Freeze Tiramisu
I do not recommending freezing tiramisu since. The no-bake and nature of other ingredients do not make it a great candidate for freezing.
Tips and Tricks
- ALL the ingredients for the filling must be cold. So when you read the recipe below, pay attention to the few things that need to be taken directly from the fridge.
- Get the ladyfingers from an Italian market if possible!!
- Mascarpone is essential. There is no substitution for it - so while you're out looking for the ladyfingers, grab the Mascarpone.
- No espresso on hand - no problem! Use coffee!
- Dunking the ladyfingers is an art form - you need enough to get a good flavor and texture, but you don't want them to fall apart. Just a quick dunk will do - nothing more than 1-2 seconds!
- NOTE - DO NOT SERVE IT RIGHT AWAY! While it will be delicious, the cocoa powder needs time to soften up and infuse into the cream topping otherwise you'll inhale straight cocoa powder and let me tell you from experience, it's not cute lol.
FAQs
What is traditional tiramisu made of?
A Classic Italian Tiramisu is a coffee-flavored Italian dessert that dreams are made of. It's made of ladyfingers dipped in espresso, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese and layered with cocoa powder.
What is the predominant flavor in the classic Italian dessert tiramisu?
The espresso dunked ladyfingers take center stage along with the creamy mascarpone mixture. Both are light and compliment each other beautifully.
If you tried this recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting today
Classic Italian Tiramisu
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Dutch Processed cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
- 1 cup brewed espresso (optional to add a few tablespoons of dark rum)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 5 large egg yolks, cold (I use pasteurized eggs)
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 16 ounces mascarpone cheese, chilled
- 1.75 cups heavy cream, chilled
- 28 hard ladyfinger cookies
Instructions
- Whisk together the cocoa powder, espresso and vanilla in a bowl and set aside
- In a mixer or using a hand mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick, about 5 minutes. Add in the salt, mascarpone cheese and continue to whip until smooth. Add the chilled heavy cream and continue to whip, until light, creamy, smooth and can hold a soft peak.
- Dunk each ladyfinger in the espresso mixture to absorb the liquid and start to line a 7x11 oval baking dish with the cookies. Top the first layer of cookies with ½ of the whipped mascarpone mixture and use the back of a metal spoon to spread it into an even layer. Dust with cocoa powder. Repeat for another layer and then finish by dusting with cocoa powder on top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
-
- ALL the ingredients for the filling must be cold. So when you read the recipe below, pay attention to the few things that need to be taken directly from the fridge.
- No espresso on hand - no problem! Use coffee!
- Dunking the ladyfingers is an art form - you need enough to get a good flavor and texture, but you don't want them to fall apart. Just a quick dunk will do - nothing more than 1-2 seconds!
- Make sure you leave time to rest the tiramisu. The cocoa powder needs time to soften up and infuse into the cream topping otherwise you'll inhale straight cocoa powder and let me tell you from experience, it's not cute lol.
Lovely recipe and super easy to make.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi! How did you calculate 315 calories for 1/10 of the recipe? I am trying to track and I am hoping your calculations are more accurate than my own
I added up the total calories for the recipe using 2 dozen lady fingers and divided that by 10 and i got 590 calories per serving.
1. Dutch Processed cocoa powder (1/4 cup): 48 calories
2. Brewed espresso (1 cup): 2 calories
3. Vanilla extract (1 tablespoon): 37 calories
4. Egg yolks (5 large): 275 calories
5. White sugar (1/2 cup): 387 calories
6. Kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon): 0 calories
7. Mascarpone cheese (16 ounces): 1920 calories
8. Heavy cream (1.75 cups): 1435 calories
9. Ladyfinger cookies (2 dozen): 1800 calories
Summing Up:
Total calories = 48 + 2 + 37 + 275 + 387 + 0 + 1920 + 1435 + 1800
= 5904 calories
Calories per serving (1/10th of the recipe):
\frac{5904}{10} = 590.4
there was a glitch with the plugin - I just re-did it!! TY for catching
Gaby, I have the best review, I think. I first tried making your tiramisu recipe a few days before Christmas 2023. It turned out good, but I didn't let set over night. I took it over to a friends restaurant, he lived in Rome for a few years while going to chef school.
Well, some time has gone by, 6 months. I just took another tiramisu to him yesterday, well he couldn't tell me enough, how great it was and how it was one of the best he has ever tasted.
This time I did let it set over night. His employees also tasted it and can out to let me know how much they enjoyed it.
If they liked it this much I really wanted to let you know, and that was using the Ghirardelli , premium baking sweet ground cocoa. I will next time order the cocoa powder U use. Thanks for this recipe. Looking forward to buying one of your books so I may be able to make more goodies. 🙂
What it means 4 8 ounce of mascarpone, how many grams? The heavy cream how many ml?
Love this recipe! I used Vin Santo instead of rum. Delectable - every time I visited the fridge I could see another bit was missing.
I followed this recipe exactly as written. Ingredients good and chilled Chilled it for 24 hours before serving. It never firmed up. It was so loose. I was so disappointed as I brought it to a dinner party can’t figure it out!
tiramisu will never be super firm - it's more of a cream consistency. But the only reason it wouldn't firm up is if the whipped cream wasnt firmed up when you whipped it!
I followed the recipe perfectly and it was nice and firm. Did you make sure to
- whip the mascarpone mix long enough so that it could hold soft peaks (took me like 10 min of handmixing to achieve this)
- dip the lady fingers in the espresso for only 2 seconds max ?
Hi! Can I check how much is 1 cup of brewed coffee please ? 🙂
Thank you !
what do you mean? in metric?
Don’t you whip the cream separately like in most recipes & then add to the mascarpone cheese ?
I don't
I made this for my nephew's birthday he is just crazy about Tiramisu. Yours was great a big hit with everybody. I will definitely make this again thanks again, Better than even in the restaurant.
What kind of 7x11 baking dish? Glass or metal?
doesn't matter because you're not actually baking it. You just need a vessel that can be used for serving
How do you find pasteurized eggs? I am having a hard time at my grocery store.
You can technically pasteurize them yourself. Google has instructions. I’ve done it for my Caesar dressing.
This is wonderful ❤️
I'm making the tiramisu now, and I'm curious, because when I've made it in the past, there's a little bit of sugar in the espresso. Why does this recipe not call for that? I'm trying to decide if I should add a tablespoon or not...
you can add! I don't find it necessary!
I'm sure I am going to sound silly for asking this, but when it says "1 cup brewed espresso," does that mean I should make 8 shots (1 shot = 1 ounce) of espresso? That seems kind of strong.
yes you need 8 fluid ounces of brewed espresso! that might be 4 shots as most shots are 2 ounces
Best I've ever eaten and same goes for a friend I offered it to. Only changes made were using regular salt and only 2 doz. ladyfingers. Used Goya ladyfingers and scraped off the sugar on the top of them. Let it sit in the frig overnight so the flavors melded. My God, was it to die for.