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A slice of tiramisù on a white plate with a fork
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5 from 2 votes

Easy Classic Tiramisu

Tiramisu is a classic no-bake coffee-flavored Italian dessert that's super easy to make homemade. Layers of ladyfingers dipped in coffee and rum nestled between a rich mascarpone cream is what dessert dreams are made of!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Chilling Time6 hours
Total Time6 hours 30 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: cocoa, coffee, eggs, heavy cream, ladyfingers, mascarpone cheese, rum
Servings: 9 servings
Calories: 387kcal
Author: MaryAnn Dwyer

Ingredients

  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup mascarpone cheese
  • 1 3/4 cups freshly brewed espresso or very strong coffee
  • 3 Tbsp. dark rum
  • 2-3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 26-28 ladyfingers
  • semi-sweet chocolate shavings, for sprinkling, if desired

Instructions

  • Whisk your egg yolks in a medium glass bowl with 1/4 cup sugar. Place the bowl over a saucepan with some simmering water. Whisk the mixture for about ten minutes until it's light in color and slightly thickened. Then you'll remove it from the heat and let it slightly cool.
  • While the mixture is cooling, whip the heavy cream with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until soft-medium peaks form. Add the mascarpone and continue to whip until medium peaks form. Fold this mixture into the egg yolk mixture.
  • Combine the espresso with the dark rum in a shallow bowl. Dust your 9-inch round baking dish or 8x8 baking dish with about one tablespoon of the cocoa powder. Quickly dip each ladyfinger, both sides, in the espresso mixture. Line your baking dish with the espresso-soaked ladyfingers (see photo) until you have a nice even layer of ladyfingers, filling in the gaps with broken ladyfingers where necessary. Top with half of the mascarpone cream, then repeat the layers before dusting the top with a layer of cocoa powder.
  • Cover the tiramisu with plastic wrap and chill for at least 6 hours. Before serving top with semi-sweet chocolate shavings, if desired.

Notes

I have made this tiramisù recipe with pasteurized eggs, omitting the step of cooking the egg/sugar mixture over the simmering water. You can opt to do it either way. Pasteurization completely kills bacteria without cooking the egg.
You will use crispy ladyfinger cookies for this recipe. I used the Goya brand.
I like to top my tiramisù with some shaved semisweet chocolate. This is optional.

Nutrition

Calories: 387kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 204mg | Sodium: 79mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 927IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 2mg