Boozy Tiramisu Recipe

This recipe is an adaptation of the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, but with modifications making it usable with ingredients from an Australian supermarket, and some process changes with more specificity around coffee prep and less folding to keep things light.

I really like recipes from Sally’s Baking Addiction, but often have to do a bit of research to translate ingredients as well as quantities.

Some fun facts / cultural notes are below.

Just a reminder I’m not a food blogger. I write about things spanning AI, motorcycles, combat sports, and random jokes. The photos are pretty good but not professional. This is more an archive for myself, but I know it’s sometimes useful to others (or friends who ask).

Success tips / special notes

1. The overnight or 12-hour chilling time is important for the flavours to meld and the texture to set properly.
2. You can adjust the sweetness by adding more or less sugar to suit your taste.
3. There are other alcohol variations, including amaretto, Marsala wine (most traditional in an Italian zabaglione), or non-Italian ones like Kahlua or even vodka. I haven’t experimented with them all, but recipes typically call for 100-150 ml of various combinations of them.
4. The egg whites are uncooked. If you have reasons to avoid this, then be aware!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250ml) strong coffee (see coffee preparation below)
• 5 tbsp (75ml) Grand Marnier (you can buy these in small bottles of 50ml, which is enough)
• 40-45 ladyfingers, a.k.a. savoiardi biscuits
• 16 oz (450g) mascarpone cheese
• 2 tbsp (30ml) dark rum (you can buy these in small bottles, too)
• 4 large eggs (from 700g/dozen container), separated into egg yolks and egg whites.
• 1/2 cup caster sugar (separated into two 1/4 cup portions)
• 2 cups pure cream (35-40% fat). The kind that is runny and has no thickener agents. Comes in a 600ml container.
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder for dusting

Coffee Preparation:

• 60g ground coffee (fresh, something high quality)
• 1 cup (250ml) hot water

Instructions:

You will need

• Four separate bowls — one for dipping coffee, one for egg whites, one for the mascarpone, and one for the cream.
• A double boiler or a glass bowl over a pot, for the egg yolks.
• A sieve for the chocolate powder
• A rubber spatula to fold the mixtures.
• A 20x30cm serving dish — or multiple smaller dishes.

Prepare the dipping coffee:

Most recipes call for “espresso”. It’s confusing what this means. And 250 ml of espresso is a lot — equivalent to 6-8 shots (depending on the style of espresso you make), which is a huge amount of coffee.

This blog (La Cucina Italiana) agrees, and suggests using a moka pot, which jibes with the kind of coffee machine people are likely to have in a house.

Generally tiramisu should be made with “strong coffee”. I’d suggest using a blend typically used for espresso drinks but brewing it however you can.

1. Brew the coffee with 60 g coffee (ground quite finely) and 300ml water (since around 50 ml is retained. This makes for a brew ratio around 4x what coffee is typically brewed at (typically a 60g/L ratio), and makes for coffee that’s strong enough for tiramisu. Use a French Press or an Aeropress. (I used both!)
2. Mix the coffee with the Grand Marnier.

This is your dipping coffee which you’ll use later.

Prepare the zabaglione:

1. In a bowl #1, beat the mascarpone and rum together until smooth for 30 seconds or less — just to combine it.
2. Temper the egg yolks: In a heatproof bowl over simmering water, whisk egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar until light and foamy (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and fold into the mascarpone mixture in bowl #1.
3. In bowl #2, whip the cream and vanilla extract to medium peaks.
4. In bowl #3, beat egg whites until foamy. This will take 1-2 minutes (depends on the kind of egg beater you have). Add the 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form (another 2-5 minutes).
5. Fold all the mixtures together: Fold everything from bowls #1, #2, and #3 together. Use a rubber spatula. Don’t over-mix; just combine it.

Build the tiramisu:

1. Quickly dip half of the savoiardi / ladyfinger biscuits in the coffee/Grand Marnier mixture and arrange in a single layer on the serving dishes.
2. Spread half of the mascarpone cream over the ladyfingers.
3. Repeat with another layer of dipped ladyfingers and the remaining mascarpone cream.
4. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
5. Dust generously with unsweetened cocoa powder.
6. Refrigerate for at least 8 more hours or overnight before serving.

Fun facts

Fun fact about tiramisu (written tiramisù in Italian): The word literally means “pick me up” in Italian, which is (I think) a reference to its boozy and sweet nature. There are some other apocryphal references to its history but I don’t think they’re verified enough for print.

I also enjoy saying zabaglione, which is the Italian equivalent of a wine-infused custard, and is the creamy part of a tiramisu. It’s also an excellent ice cream flavour! It’s sometimes called “sabayon”, which is a French (incorrect) transliteration of the same word.