I always wondered why the tiramisu in Italy was light as air while the same dessert seemed bowling-ball heavy when I ordered it at a restaurant in the US. After studying a variety of recipes, I realized that the Italian version uses a sabayon mousse made from raw eggs. This would never fly in the US, so the restaurants substitute the light sabayon with heavy whipping cream. Not only that, but Italians use actual rum while the Americans—fearful of giving alcohol to children—leave it out. Aside from having a similar coffee flavor, the two desserts are worlds apart.
The key to an authentic tiramisu is to make it the traditional way… but be sure to use pasteurized eggs to avoid the risks of salmonella. Pasteurizing eggs at home isn’t hard but you absolutely have to use a submersible digital thermometer and watch it like a hawk. The first time I tried pasteurizing eggs at home, the water temperature jumped over the desired temperature for less than one minute, but in that time the eggs partially cooked. When I cracked them, they were closer to soft boiled eggs than regular “raw” eggs, and I had to start over. Click here to learn how to pasteurize eggs at home. If you don’t want to hassle with pasteurizing eggs yourself, you can purchase pasteurized eggs in most grocery stores for a small premium.
Before you begin, make sure all of your ingredients are close at hand and ready to go. This is an easy recipe but it moves quickly. Have a 8”x8” glass pan and the ladyfingers ready to go
Real Italian Tiramisu Recipe
4 eggs, pasteurized
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup espresso or very strong coffee
2-4 Tbsp. of rum
375 grams Marscapone cheese (1.5 small tubs) – very fresh
7 oz. package of Savoiardi Ladyfinger cookies
1 Tbsp. Gran Marnier (optional)
Unsweetened Cocoa powder (20-24% cacao is best)
Directions
Make espresso or boil down this morning’s leftover American coffee until it has reduced by 25-50 percent. You want to end up with about 1 cup of very strong coffee. Let it cool to room temperature and add the rum. I love the powerful punch of caffeine and rum so I’m pretty heavy-handed with the rum, but I also don’t have children at home. If you choose not to add alcohol, add 1 tsp. of rum flavoring and 1/4 cup more of coffee. Set aside.
The key to getting perfectly peaked egg whites is to start with cold tools. You do this by putting your mixing bowl and whisk in the refrigerator for 1 hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes. Separate the cold eggs making sure that there is not one speck of egg yolk in the whites. I separate each egg individually and then add the egg whites to a bowl to ensure you don’t ruin the egg whites on the last egg and have to start over. Whisk the eggs in the chilled bowl until you have stiff peaks and the mixture doesn’t move when the bowl is tilted. You can do this by hand or on high speed with your stand mixer. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with sugar and beat until light yellow in consistency (about 5 minutes). Add the marscapone cheese in several scoops lightly stirring it after each addition. If using a stand mixer, DO NOT OVER-WHISK OR TURN YOUR MACHINE HIGHER THAN SPEED 1 as this could break down the cream and make your mousse lumpy.
The first time I made this recipe, my Kitchen Aid mixer broke. (I later found out that the worm gear is made to break in order to save the motor. Fixing the worm gear is an inexpensive repair while a blown motor is catastrophic.) When my mixer died mid-recipe, I pulled out my previous model that had served me for 10 years… but whose low speeds no longer worked. I made the unfixable mistake of beating the Marscapone on Speed 4 (the slowest speed that worked on my backup mixer), but it broke down the cheese and made it lumpy. Marscapone is made from cream rather than milk so it needs to be treated delicately.
I like to add a splash of Gran Marnier to the mousse at this point as the citrus liqueur adds a brightness to the end product but this is optional depending on your tolerance for alcohol. Gently fold in the egg whites by hand and put the mousse on the counter next to the pan and the ladyfingers.
Quickly dunk each ladyfinger in the coffee/rum mixture for no more than 1 second each and lay in a tight row on the bottom of the pan. If the cookies do not fit exactly, just break them into the shape you want before dunking them. You should use half the cookies for the bottom layer.
Top with half of the Marscapone cheese mixture. Add another layer of dunked ladyfingers, and then cover with the remaining Marscapone cheese. Use a sifter to dust the top of the dessert with a thick layer of unsweetened chocolate. Be sure to use premium chocolate, such as Dutched cocoa powder (20-24% cacao) This gives the hint of chocolate to satisfy your chocolate-tooth while remaining true to the recipe.
Cover with plastic or a silicone lid and refrigerate overnight. When you’re ready to serve it, use a sharp knife and wipe the knife between each cut to get beautifully sharp lines. Use a spatula to gently lift each piece onto a plate. You can garnish with more dusted cocoa powder, a drizzle of dark chocolate sauce or fresh berries. Feel free to serve large pieces because this is so light your guests will lap it up.
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