Well, not really. The title is a complete misnomer: there is no original recipe for this dessert. Even in Italy, everyone thinks their particular version is the best and most authentic. And actually, if the internets are to be believed, tiramisu is only the latest version of a long line of marscapone-based desserts which was somehow made ultra-famous in the last half-century by one restaurant in Treviso, the name coming from the Italian version of tirame su from the local dialect. Of course, I don’t agree with that “original” recipe (buried in this forum, if you have a couple of afternoons spare) and there are probably as many versions of the origin of tiramisu as there are regions in Italy. Nonetheless, a reasonably standard version is a very handy dessert to have up your sleeve – simpler than it looks, quite fast to put together, it positively needs to be prepared in advance and everyone loves it.
My recipe is simply this: [coffee] soaked [savoiardi biscuits] are [layered] with a [marscapone cream] and [topped with a dusting of cocoa]. But within each of those brackets is endless opportunity for debate:
Should the soaking liquid include Marsala, rum, brandy or something else? I’m reliably informed that generally you eat this in Italy without the alcohol, and Mr. R&R isn’ a fan of booze in puds (mad), so there you are. This, of course, is no barrier to having a snifter alongside, which will still count as dessert and not an actual drink.
Are the biscuits savoiardi, pavesini or something else? What about pan di spagna, genoise sponge or some other kind of cake? Packets of savoiardi in this house: you can make your own if they’re not available. I save cake for trifles or zuppa inglese.
One layer or many? I’d aim for three myself, but it depends on how big your dish is. Use a glass container though, so you can see the lovely strata.
Do you cocoa? One layer of cocoa on top is standard (also during my non-chocolate-eating years, I appreciated the opportunity to scrape that bit off). I think tiramisu can quickly slip into over-the-topness, so cocoa between the layers is playing with fire and actual grated chocolate would just be too much. (More sacrilege, in the form of infinite tiramisu variations, here for Italian readers.)
And the marscapone cream is particularly controversial: lightened with whipped cream or stiffly-whisked egg whites? How to incorporate the yolks and sugar? How many eggs per grams of marscapone? I go for using egg whites for tidyness in the kitchen (24 whites in the freezer and counting) and overall lightness: this dish really doesn’t need extra fat from whipped cream. Some are concerned that the whites change the taste of the marscapone – however I think would only be an issue if you’re using the freshest marscapone (and see below).
I use 2 eggs for every 250g marscapone to 50g sugar. Halve the amount of sugar if you’re using a sweet liqueur. Other recipes use 2 yolks and 1 white, or just 1 egg: it all depends on the denseness of the finished cream that you’re aiming for. Likewise, the technique you choose when combining the egg yolks and sugar will depend on how much volume you want to add. I go for whipping the egg yolks and sugar cold for about 7 minutes until pale and very voluminous. If you wanted to incorporate Marsala, you could make a proper zabaione first, chill it, and use this in place of the cold whisked yolks and sugar. Also, if you can’t, or are unwilling to eat raw eggs there is a way to pasteurise them (but to be honest, I’d make something else). Add the marscapone to your chosen cream and then carefully fold in the stiffly whisked egg whites.
The one thing all my Italian recipes agree on, in contrast to the Daring Bakers/Washington Post version that was going round a few months ago: pastry cream is not something an Italian would put in their tiramisu. I think there are better uses for crema pasticciera myself, but it’s not as if I’d actually run from the room in horror, hand to mouth…
In any case, the most important element will be the quality of marscapone used: the stuff you get in supermarkets that lasts 2 months in the fridge is rubbish and tastes strongly of pasteurisation. Of course, there’s no alternative out here in the Bahamas, but if you live closer to civilization, fresh marscapone will make all the difference. True, I haven’t yet tried making my own, but I have a hunch that making it using supermarket cream wouldn’t be a giant step up in flavour.
Tiramisu: the original Italian recipe
Makes a three layer tiramisu for 4 people in a deep dish approximately 18cm square – scale the recipe up for your dish
Ingredients
- About 15 savoiardi biscuits
- 300ml freshly made espresso coffee – you can make it yourself at home or take it home from a café, in which case warm it up before using. You might not need all of it, but you can always freeze the rest in icecube trays for instant frozen coffee or an ingredient in a future cake.
- 250g marscapone, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, separated
- 50g caster sugar
- Unsweetened cocoa powder (about 5 tbsps)
Instructions
- First, make the marscapone cream: whisk the egg yolks with the sugar for at least 5 minutes, until pale, fluffy and doubled in volume. Add the marscapone, folding to combine. Whisk the egg whites (with a clean whisk) until stiff, then fold these in carefully.
- Now, assemble the tiramisu. Put the hot coffee in a flat-bottomed receptacle that will let you soak the savoiardi evenly. One at a time, soak each biscuit on each side. Here you’re trying to find a balance between slurping up the maximum amount of coffee without having them crumble away to biscuity sludge in your fingers: about 2 seconds on each side (you can see from my picture that I didn’t quite go far enough). Place in a first layer in your dish and spoon a third of the cream on top to cover. Follow with a second layer of soaked biscuits and another layer of cream, and repeat, finishing with a layer of cream. Sift enough cocoa on top to form a uniform dark layer without any cream showing through (Mr. R&R was rather insistent on that last bit).
- Refrigerate overnight (or at least 5 hours) and serve, arrogant with the knowledge that your tiramisu is the canonical exemplar from which all pale imitations stem.
Preparation time: 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
Meal type: dessert
Culinary tradition: Italian
One Comment on "Tiramisu: the original Italian recipe"
I love this tiramasu recipe