Tiramisu Recipe

I was really bored the other day and wanted to try my hands on making some desserts, mind you, I actually suck at baking. If you follow my Instagram, you would've seen the disaster that was me trying to make macarons and chiffon cake. So anyway, I started searching for the best tiramisu recipe on the Internet to see if I could pull it off. After my second try, my mom finally gave her seal of approval - the first one was too soggy and the coffee wasn't thick enough.

I got my recipe off taste.com.au as usual and adapted to our liking with my mom's friend's recipe. And don't worry, it won't take you more than an hour to prepare, I promise!

Tiramisu (serves 8)

Ingredients:

For the coffee mixture:

4 heaping tsps of Nescafé coffee powder

4 tsps of caster sugar

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1.5/375ml cups of hot water

A few drops of coffee liqueur/Kahlua/Amaretto (optional)

For the mascarpone mixture: 

3 eggs, separated 

1/3 cup caster sugar

250g mascarpone cheese

300ml thickened cream, lightly whipped

~25 sponge fingers (2 packets, depending on how closely you're laying them later on

Van Houten cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Mix the first four ingredients for the coffee mixture in a shallow dish or a large bowl. 

2. Add in a few drops of coffee liqueur/Kahlua/Amaretto and chill in the fridge while you proceed to making your mascarpone mixture. 

If you want to make a child-friendly version, don't add in the coffee liqueur. Alternatively, I've read that you can swap the alcohol for orange juice but I haven't tried it out myself, so don't take my word for it. 

3. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar using electric beaters until pale and thick. Then, add in your mascarpone cheese and stir until well combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream until combined. 

I'm not too sure what'll happen if I stirred the whipped cream with too much force but considering that I did have to beat air into it, I didn't want to take any chances. 

4. Whip your egg whites until soft peaks form. I think I went a bit overboard but the mixture still turned out alright. Gently fold your egg whites into the mascarpone mixture. Folding in too vigorously may cause the mixture to deflate. 

I forgot to take a photo of how the egg yolks should look but if you enlarge the first photo in the collage, you'll be able to see the desired colour and consistency - pale and thick.

5. Dip the lady fingers into your coffee mixture but don't dip for too long or it'll become soggy!

Remember, once you chill it overnight, the lady fingers will continue to absorb moisture.

6. Arrange the lady fingers in a dish and then top it with a generous layer of mascarpone cheese. Finally, sift the cocoa powder over the mascarpone mixture and repeat. I made 2 layers but you can opt for more.

This recipe should be able to fill a 19cm square dish. Alternatively, you can put them into a few dishes/containers like I did. Be careful not to layer your tiramisu to the brim, or you won't be able to cover your container later. You must cover the container, otherwise, your tiramisu will dry out.

7. Cover the container with cling wrap or the cover that came with your container. Refrigerate and chill overnight.

This dish is best served two days after preparation, so hang in there!

You can opt to sprinkle the final layer of cocoa powder when you want to eat it but I prefer to let it set together with the rest of the tiramisu just because I don't want to choke on any dried cocoa powder.

Obviously I ran out of the mascarpone mixture until the very end and this was the product.