It seems so long ago that Mama Jeanette taught me how to make this classic dessert from her hometown of Sienna just as her mother had taught her, and her mother’s mother before her.
Mama Jeanette’s version of Tiramisu recipe is one of the most requested recipes I have on my blog, and the only complaint I receive is that so many people assume it’s beyond their skill level and are afraid to try making this amazing dessert. Recently I’ve gotten quite a few emails asking that I do step by step pictures of my Tiramisu to help them through the process.
While step by step images are not a regular feature on my blog, in this instance I’m happy to oblige in the hopes that they will help everyone to understand the process more clearly. Once you get through your first sabayon you’ll see just how easy it is to make this classic and it will become your signature dessert, requested by your friends and family.
What is Tiramisu?
Translated from Italian, tiramisu comes from the phrase tirami su ‘pick me up.’ It’s also known as a Tuscan Trifle as legend has it created in Sienna in the 17th century for a visit from the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Tiramisu is a rich, layered dish that classically contains hard ladyfingers or Savoardi, mascarpone cheese, espresso, egg yolks, sugar, Marsala wine, rum and cocoa powder. Of course, there are as many Tiramisu recipes as there are Italian grandmothers.
How do you make Classic Tiramisu?
Tiramisu Prep
Egg yolks and sugar become your Sabayon
add in the Mascarpone
add the whipped cream
fold in the whipped cream
finished mascarpone cream
dip the Savoiardi ladyfingers in the coffee-Kahlua mixture
layer the prepared ladyfingers in the bottom of the pan
add a layer of Tiramisu cream
add another layer of prepared ladyfingers
add another layer of Tiramisu cream and dust with unsweetened cocoa
Chef Dennis Tiramisu Tips for a perfect Tiramisu:
- Make sure your mascarpone and egg yolks are at room temperature.
- Don’t oversoak your ladyfingers. A quick dip in and out of the espresso mixture is all that is needed. Soggy ladyfingers will ruin this dessert.
- Beat the whipped cream slowly (over 10 minutes) and it will hold up for an extended period.
- Traditionally Marsala wine is added to the espresso in a classic tiramisu, but I prefer keeping the flavor of the coffee using a coffee liqueur like Kahlua.
- Chill for at least 4 hours, overnight is best to let the ladyfingers soften and the filling to firm up.
I can promise you once you’ve made your first Tiramisu with my recipe you’ll never be happy with restaurant Tiramisu again. And definitely, plan on making it on a regular basis, it’s just that good! And if you love Tiramisu make sure to check out my Peach Tiramisu with Raspberries.
Chef Dennis Tip***
Only use Crunchy SAVOIARDI (ITALIAN LADYFINGERS) Cake style ladyfingers will get too soft.
Chef Dennis Tip***
If for some reason your Tiramisu doesn’t firm up, don’t throw it away! You can freeze the cream and have an amazing frozen dessert. I have done this when testing new recipes. Use a springform pan and you can slice it. Add fruit or other toppings and you’ve got an amazing dessert.
Equipment I use to make Tiramisu:
If you enjoy delicious desserts you may also like these recipes:
Tiramisu – A step by step Tutorial
Ingredients
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese – room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 30 each Lady fingers about 1 ½ of the 7 ounce packages (Savoiardi style)
- 1 cup cold espresso or strong coffee
- 1/2 cup coffee flavored Liquor optional
- 1 tbsp cocoa for dusting
Instructions
- This is how you will make the Sabayon:When you are ready to make the sabayon place about one inch of water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and place a bowl on top of the small pot so it's sitting on the pot without touching the water.
- Now Begin Making the Sabayon:Add the egg yolks and sugar to the bowl, whipping to mix the ingredients together. Place the bowl on the small pot of simmering water. Using a whisk to mix, whip the egg/sugar mixture constantly for about 10 minutes. This will cook the eggs. The mixture will increase in volume as it thickens. This is your sabayon. After you have finished whipping the sabayon, remove the bowl from the heat and continue to whip yolks to help it cool. The mixture should be thick and a lemon yellow color. Allow to cool briefly before mixing in mascarpone.**If the bowl starts to get too hot, lift it off the pot of water for 15 seconds or so while continuing to whip the mixture. You can do this as often as necessary.
- Add room temperature Mascarpone to whipped yolks, mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer whip cream to stiff peaks.  (hand mixer or stand mixer is fine). This process should be slow, starting. on low increasing the speed over about ten minutes.**This method is how you keep the whipped cream from breaking. The cream should be ice cold and as fresh as possible. Look for heavy cream with the longest expiration date.
- Gently fold the whipped cream in the mascarpone sabayon mixture and refrigerate until ready to assemble the tiramisu.
- Mix the cold espresso (or strong coffee) with the coffee liqueur and dip the ladyfingers into the mixture just long enough to get them wet, do not soak them!**If you can't use alcohol, just leave out the liqueur.
- Arrange the ladyfingers in the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish (or container similarly sized)
- Spoon half the mascarpone cream filling over the ladyfingers.
- Repeat process with another layer of ladyfingersÂ
- Add another layer of tiramisu cream
- Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
- Dust with cocoa before serving
Notes
- Have the eggs and mascarpone at room temperature before making this recipe. That will help them mix together more smoothly
- Whipping your cream is also where some people make a mistake. The idea with whipped cream is to do it slowly. Begin whipping the cream on low, increasing the speed over 10 minutes. This makes a whipped cream that will last for days in your fridge without the aid of gelatin.Â
- Soak the ladyfingers in the coffee mixture briefly. Don’t let them get soggy, it will ruin the dessert.
- Only use Crunchy SAVOIARDI (ITALIAN LADYFINGERS)Â Â Cake style ladyfingers will get too soft.
- Allow Tiramisu to set up for at least 6 hours before serving. Overnite is best.
- Have the eggs and mascarpone at room temperature before making this recipe. That will help them mix together more smoothly.
-
Chef Dennis Tip***
If for some reason your Tiramisu doesn’t firm up, don’t throw it away! You can freeze the cream and have an amazing frozen dessert. I have done this when testing new recipes. Use a springform pan and you can slice it. Add fruit or other toppings and you’ve got an amazing dessert.
Nutrition
Tara T
I made this Easter weekend as a birthday treat for my brother’s girlfriend. It was a huge hit! So light and airy! Lady fingers were hard to come by and so was the mascarpone cheese! Kroger and Walmart respectively for the wins! Huge shout out to Starbucks in Avon, IN for helping me with my espresso dilemma and helping me figure out what to use in the dessert (made by a woman who doesn’t like coffee and has NEVER had an espresso!) This recipe has the BEST instructions, notes and tips!! Bless you Chef Dennis! Thanks so much!!! You’re a lifesaver!!
Jenny
Hi Chef Dennis,
I made your tiramisu recipe yesterday. It’s insanely good! Today i ate it again but the texture of the cream is different. Is it because the eggs are not fresh enough? Thank you in advance
Clair
I am about to try this recipe and wanted to ask if it would be ok to make it two days before eating it?
Chef Dennis Littley
yes you can, it will actually taste better after sitting for a day.
Peggy
First time making Tiramisu. It was Excellent, made for a party and received raves. Was hoping for leftovers but that did not happen. Am making again for family dinner this week. I did chill for 24 hours and it held it’s shape for cutting and serving. I also did buy the Lady fingers at World Market and they are very crisp, worked very well. A wonderful dessert that I will continue to make. Thank you for sharing your recipe and tips.
Lily Joenoes Van Bunnik
The best Tiramisu recipe. Sabayon makes me more confident to feed my family as the egg is no longer raw. Thank you
Kristina
Wh
Do you add 1 egg yolk or 10?
Chef Dennis Littley
the recipe calls for 6 Large Egg Yolks
Tia
Hi Dennis! Ive tried your recipe and everyones said that its one of the best tiramisus theyve had! Thank you for sharing it! I just have a few questions with this.
Is the only point of whisking the sabayon by hand is to make sure the eggs are cooked? Is it ok if I hand whisked until the eggs reached a certain temperature to make sure its cooked and then use a hand mixer after to make it thick? Or will that change the outcome? As I plan to make large amounts and hand whisking can be tiring…
but if thats what it takes then I wouldn’t want to ruin the quality of it as it came out really amazing. Would love your advice!
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Tia-
I’m happy to hear you enjoy my tiramisu and yes you can use a mixer to finish off the sabayon and it won’t change the finished cream. Just make sure not to overwhip the sabayon. You’re correct that whipping by hand in the double boiler is to cook the eggs.
Tia
Thank you for the reply! One more thing! The cream does melt fast if left out, is there something i could do or add that would make it hold its shape better if left out but not affect its texture too much?
Kelly Saltzman
What is a double boiler, Chef. And if I don’t have one, do you have a recommendation on an alternative with common at home dishes?
Chef Dennis Littley
I don’t use a double boiler, but the method. Place a bowl on top of sauce pot with simmering water. That’s the same effect you get from a standard double boiler.
Brittini
I cannot find ladyfingers anywhere, would madeleines work in their place?
Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley
Madeleines should work. If you can crisp them up a bit in the oven that would help, you don’t want them too cake like.
Sally
I buy mine @ Amazon.ca
Gioia Savoiardi, Lady Fingers, 400 Grams
Rocket Man
Made it the other day from scratch. Found a recipe to make my own ladyfingers and everything went great. Not being an experienced cook I did try to Pre-plan and have all ingredients ready to add. I found that in the future I would have pre-made the whipped cream to speed the process but maybe the time needed for making whip cream gives time for mascarpone mixture to cool off more. When eating I poured just a touch of Kahlua on plate which is a nice touch but don’t overdo it. It’ll get soggy and too overpowering with it. Overall, a great recipe for a non-chef like myself who loves Tiramisu. Mine was as good as the very best I’ve had in restaurants, even those that use a traditional recipe including Marsala wine instead of Kahlua.
BTW- I did try a sample with my a very good Italian Zambrano Sweet IP Marsala wine and found it good but Kahlua was my preference. Now I’m wondering what difference it will make if I use a mascarpone cheese that has the espresso flavoring in it?
Thank you Chef Dennis. My only question about your prep guide was when stirring the egg mixture on the stove. I did 10 minutes of stirring with wire whip. Then once off the stove, arm tired, I used a portable mixer. It seemed to turn out fine but I was unsure of my process.
Now I can’t wait to try some variables before doing my next project – the Blueberry Lemon curd Cake. Yum!
Chef Dennis Littley
you can use a mixer on a low speed. My fear with advising to use a mixer is it will be whipped to fast not giving the eggs time to cook and to properly inflate. But using it after 10 minutes is perfectly fine.
MARIE MCALLISTER
I have BEEN LOOKING FOR A RECIPE LIKE THE TIRAMISU I HAD AT Hotel ristorante MERI IN FRAMURA, ITALY. We ate it 4 nites in a row and was best ever. Your recipe looks like it will be too. We are going to make it this Friday while on Zoom with granddaughter who is in Florence Italy right now
Chef Dennis Littley
I look forward to hearing about you did with the recipe. Enjoy your time with your granddaughter cooking together via Zoom
Bonnie
I have made this recipe multiple times and my friends always ask for it. I changed one ingredient: since mascarpone comes in 8 oz containers, I use two or 16 oz. It saves left overs. Instead of dipping the lady fingers in the espresso mix I put half in a plastic squeeze bottle (like one might take to a picnic) and dribbled it over each layer of lady fingers. It worked great.
I also like that unlike other recipes for tiramisu, there are no uncooked egg whites. Chef Dennis this is a wonderful recipe. Do you have an equally wonderful recipe for the 6 egg whites????
S. Magnan
Chef Dennis,
This is by far the best Tiramisu recipe!. I just returned from Italy and took a cooking class there, but the instructor used uncooked egg yolks with heated syrup. I just don’t feel comfortable doing that. But your recipe recreates the Italy taste and uses cooked egg yolks. Thank you so much!! And you are correct; I will never order tiramisu at a restaurant again!!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you for such a great comment and review! You made my day!
Kristi
Love this recipe. It is PERFECT! Have been using it for a couple years now. First time I made it was for a gathering and it was so wonderful to have a recipe do so well the first time and ever since. 🙂
One quick question.. I am very careful to dip the lady fingers quickly submerging them and out. This time we actually had some for ourselves as leftovers and I really experienced more espresso after the time in the fridge. Which makes me wonder if dipping and submerging are the same thing. Should I just be dipping one side?
Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley
if the flavor of the espresso is too much you can just dip one side or brush the ladyfingers with the espresso instead of dipping it in. It’s all about how you like the dessert so feel free to make any adjustments to get the flavor profile you like.
CC Blackburn
Outstanding!
I’ve recently returned from Italy and a class in Tiramisu 101. This recipe is far better (although we DID use the same lady fingers; everyone seems to agree that they’re the best). IAdding the coffee liqueur, I served it at Christmas dinner to rave reviews. THANK YOU!
Chef Dennis Littley
Wow!! Thank you so much for taking time to let me know my tiramisu was better than your class in Italy! Best wishes for the New Year as you continue to share this amazing dessert with your friends and Family!
Lois McKeown
I’m Italian…75 on 2/2 /19. Cooking from scratch is my Dennis and I for 47 yrs. A fan of Tiramisu, never made it. We di, and the raves were tops!!!! Easy, thank you. Boston Ma, but Dallas right now…yum!!!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you for letting me know you tried and enjoyed my recipe for Tiramisu!
Bora
Hi Dennis, i loved your recipe and it is totally wonderful and delicious. While making sabayon, i made a mistake i think because egg&sugar mixture became solid too quickly if i cook over boiling water. Can you give a tip for sabayon preparation. This is the tricky point 😉
Chef Dennis Littley
The water should not be boiling, just a light simmer after it gets hot. You can even take it off the stove completely. The idea is to cook the eggs slowly as it thickens.
Jane
It’s an amazing recipe! It’s our first attempt in making Tiramisu. It’s easy! And all of our friends loved it and were so impressed by this! Thanks for sharing.
The only problem we had was the tiramisu doesn’t hold its shape well.. any thoughts what might have caused this?
Would definitely use this recipe over and over again!
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Jane
Usually, when tiramisu doesn’t hold it shape there are a few possible reasons. The first being the sabayon wasn’t thick enough. The second being the whipped cream wasn’t whipped long enough. The third reason is that if the cream, eggs or mascarpone are close to expiration date this does seem to affect the consistency. Always look for product that has a long expiration date to ensure its freshness.
Hopefully next time it will come out perfect!
mary r wilson
my neighbor was kind enough to give me a piece of her recipe. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Amazing. She printed the recipe for me…so now I can try my luck. THank You for your sharining the recipe…and Thank You Carolyn for sharing with me!
Chef Dennis Littley
I love when my recipe gets shared! Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed my recipe and I look forward to hearing about your first time serving this delicious dessert!
Kathleen Cole
I made this for an Italian friend and she raved about it. My friend from church wants the recipe. also. It was FABULOUS!!! I loved the tip about whipping the cream for 10 minutes. It didn’t break down, so the dessert held up well. Thanks, Chef Dennis.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks for letting me know my tiramisu recipe was a success! And thank you for the great review!
Inquisitive
Iv’e been experimenting with mixtures of rum and burbon and other liquors along with kahlua…I like a bit of a liquor kick. Plus… Droste Coco from Holland, dusted thick for super decadence! Mixing the marscapone with egg mix, before folding in the whip cream, was a great tip. Thanks!
Mary Doss
Love, love, this! I am always skeptical when I read such glowing comments, but this time, you made me a believer! Made it for the first time this week, and our guest said it was the best she has ever eaten – and she’s hard to please! Follow the directions, and it turns out prefect. This one goes in the good file!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you so much for the great review and for trying this amazing dessert! Make sure to tell your friends where to find it.
J
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was really good. Probably the best tiramisu recipe I have used. Thanks Chef Dennis!
Chef Dennis Littley
thank you for the great rating! I’m very happy to hear you enjoyed my recipe!
Acupofassamtea
The Tiramisu looks decadent. Thank you so much for the easy to follow recipe.
Maddy Gutierrez
This recipe looks so delicious. And easy! 🙂 I’ve never been brave enough to attempt tiramisu at home, but now I feel like I need to give it a go!
Denay DeGuzman
It’s been way too long since I last made tiramisu! Thank you for the inspiration. I look forward to trying out your yummy recipe this weekend!
Ana
Hi Chef Dennis,
I tried making the tiramisu today but the sabayon wasn’t thick enough so I tried to whisk it for about 15 minutes to get the thick texture and it didn’t really work. Also, I have the hand mixer and when I did the heavy cream for 10 minutes at low speed, the mixture wasn’t stiff and it turned to be watery. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong? I redid the whip cream again and only at 5 minutes, the whip cream became stiff. However, when I mixed everything together, the mixture was clumpy. Can you please give me some advice on how I can perfect this tiramisu please?
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Ana
If the sabayon didn’t thicken that would make the cream to loose. It needs to get thick over while whipping over the simmering water. The only reason it wouldn’t thicken would be out of date eggs, or not enough heat under the bowl (too much heat will make scrambled eggs). You did use just the yolks?
As for the whipped cream, start out slowly increasing the speed as you go. If it was clumpy you may have overwhipped the cream.
If you have time watch the video I made it might help if you see the process. https://youtu.be/tD3rKOJu2TE
Ana
Hi Chef Dennis, thanks for replying to me! I’m eager to try to make it again but once the water boiled, I put the heat to low and started to whisk it. I did use only the egg yolks and the eggs weren’t expiring soon. I’m not sure why the sabayon didn’t thicken.
Kita Bryant
This recipe was jumping off the screen at me! I would so much love to try this one.
Mely Martinez
Thank you for the helpful Tiramisu tutorial. Love that you added a picture for the part when you add the eggs. It sure looks creamy amazing!
Catalina
Tiramisu is my all time favorite dessert. So easy to make and so delicious! I was talking to my kid about remaking it these days…. Yummy!
Anosa Malanga
I love tiramisu but I have never make one by myself yet. I guess this is the perfect time for me to try making it. It’s nice to learn that it is very easy to make.
Shannan P
I love Tiramisu but have never tried to make it myself. I think I might have to take a crack at this recipe for our next date night at home. Now who wants to keep the kids for me so I can make it happen?
Heather
Oh, I love tiramisu. I’ve never thought about making it at home, only a restaurant treat. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Alyssa Hertzig
I’ve never been much of a tiramisu person, but this seriously looks SO good. I think you may have made me a convert! 😉
Jeanine
Wow this looks incredible. My husband is a huge fan of terimasu I bet he would love this!