While I absolutely love coffee, I’m not a huge fan of cold coffee, unless of course it’s in a Tiramisu. I love the fact that Tiramisu literally means: “pick me up”, “cheer me up”, “wake me up”. What a perfect name for a perfect dessert.

This is the first time I’ve made Tiramisu, and I have to say that while you have to be a bit organized, it’s actually pretty easy to make. And since I have loads of lady fingers left over, I’ll have to make it again soon!

Ingredients:

Syrup:

1/2 cup water

2 tsp espresso powder

3 tbsp Kahlua

1 tbsp sugar

Cream filling:

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup mascarpone cheese

3 egg whites

Topping

1 cup whipping cream

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Other:

24 lady fingers

Dark chocolate

Cocoa powder

Directions:

Syrup: 

Place the water, espresso powder, sugar and Kahlua in a pan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside and to let cool while you work on the other components.

 

Cream filling

Separate the eggs and place the egg whites to the side.

Place 3 egg yolks, 1/4 sugar and vanilla extract in a metal bowl. Place overtop a simmering  pan of water. Whisk constantly until it is nice and creamy and about twice the volume (I used my electric handheld mixer for this).

Remove from the heat and fold in the mascarpone cheese.

Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold the whipped egg whites into the mascarpone cheese mixture.

Whipped cream

Place 1 tbsp of sugar and vanilla extract with the cream and whip until soft peaks appear.

Assembly

Quickly dip 12 lady fingers into the coffee mixture (one at a time) and line the bottom of your pan. Note: don’t soak them too much or they will be mushy and you will run out of coffee mixture.

Cover the lady fingers with half of the cream filling

Grate dark chocolate over the cream filling.

Dip 12 more lady fingers into the coffee mixture and build the next layer

Cover with the remaining cream filling. Top with the whipped cream. Finally, sift cocoa powder over the top.

Cover with plastic wrap and cool for 4-6 hours.

And that’s it. You have a lovely dessert that everyone will love.