How to Make Classic Tiramisu

I’ve always thought of tiramisu as a “restaurant dessert.” You know – one of those fancy desserts that you would never think to make at home.

This is mostly because tiramisu is one of two desserts that my mom always orders at restaurants (the other being crème brulee; she likes a classic). I’d honestly never encountered tiramisu outside of a restaurant setting!

But a few years ago this changed when we hosted our first Christmas dinner and my mom requested tiramisu for dessert. I was definitely a little fearful, but went into “what’s the worst that could happen?” mode.

It turns out that making a good tiramisu at home isn’t really all that difficult. It really just requires a little patience, some solid whisking, and a few tips to help you along!

Tiramisu is kind of like the cool, older Italian cousin of an American icebox cake. They’re both essentially desserts of layered cookies with a light creamy filling.

Tiramisu, however, has a few signature components that set it apart. The filling starts with a zabaglione — which is a fancy name for egg yolks whisked with sugar and marsala wine (or rum, in our case) over a double-boiler until light, pale and foamy. This zabaglione establishes the flavor of the whole dish.

To stabilize the zabaglione and give it some body, I whip the mascarpone and the heavy cream together (a trick learned from Zoe Francois, who in turn picked it from Joanne Chang’s Flour cookbook). I then fold the whipped cream into the cooled zabaglione.

Incorporating the mascarpone with the whipped cream, rather than stirring it into the zabaglione as is traditional, also seems to help prevent the mixture from separating and becoming grainy, which is a common problem many people run into with tiramisu.

The result is a sweet and silky – and slightly boozy! – cream filling. Once that part is done, the rest of the tiramisu is just an assembly job, followed by a long chill in the fridge.

My Christmas Tiramisu ended up being a hit, which was great since I overcooked our prime rib! The tiramisu set up beautifully, sliced easily (so much better than I expected), and definitely made our first Christmas feel extra special.

Tips for Tiramisu Success

• Let your zabaglione cool to room temperature: Technically, it only needs to cool to 90F, but unless you want to whip out your thermometer, let it cool to room temperature or slightly warmer. Too hot and it will melt the whipped cream when you mix them together.
• Wait to whip the cream until the zabaglione has cooled: Whipping goes fast and it’s best not to let the whipped cream stand around for too long, so wait until the zabaglione is cool before whipping the cream.
• Whip the mascarpone with the whipped cream: Many recipes add the mascarpone to the zabaglione, but we found that this sometimes made the zabaglione go inexplicably grainy. Whipping it with the cream instead makes it easier to integrate the mascarpone into the dish without worrying about this issue
• Beat the mascarpone for just 15 to 30 seconds to soften: Before whipping it with the cream, beat the mascarpone briefly on its own to soften it. Be careful not to over-whip since the high-fat mascarpone can start to separate. Better to err on the side of under-whipping rather than overdoing it.
• Add the cream slowly: After the mascarpone is softened, drizzle in the cream very slowly while beating on medium speed. Once it’s all added, stop the mixer, scrape down the sides, and then continue beating for another 30 to 60 seconds until the mixture holds firm peaks.
• Aim for whipped cream with firm peaks: You want the whipped cream to be in between soft peaks, where the tips of the whipped cream soften down on themselves, and stiff peaks, when the peaks stand straight up. You want a little wobble in your peaks.

This recipe was developed and written by Cindy Rahe with assistance from Emma Christensen, Summer Miller, and Marta Rivera. Team effort!

Learn how to make tiramisu with this video!