There are many tiramisu recipes online, but very few of them are how Italians originally make it. On this page I’m sharing a recipe for authentic Italian tiramisu. I’ve learned this recipe when I had a cooking workshop with Ilaria Bertinelli, an experienced chef in Italy.
There might be a few things that surprise you. Do you know if you use alcohol in original Tiramisu? And if so, which liqueur? Is there milk in the authentic Tiramisu recipe? Can you eat Tiramisu if you’re pregnant? I’ll answer all these questions on this page. And of course I’m also sharing a step by step recipe to make your own authentic Italian Tiramisu.
Do you like Tiramisu with a twist? Click here for my recipe for Brownies Tiramisu.
Is there liqueur in Tiramisu?
You’ve probably had a tiramisu with Tia Maria or Amaretto before. They often dip the lady fingers in coffee mixed with liqueur. But originally there’s no alcohol in Tiramisu. Probably some restaurants in other countries thought it’d be a nice twist to the classic recipe. And they thought: Tiramisu is Italian, Tia Maria and Amaretto are also Italian; let’s combine them. But that’s not how the classic Tiramisu recipe is.
Feel free to add a dash if you like the flavour, but just know that originally there’s no alcohol in Tiramisu.
Is there milk in Tiramisu?
You might have thought that there’s no milk in Tiramisu. I actually also thought there wouldn’t be milk in the recipe. But most Italian chefs actually do add a little milk when making Tiramisu.
You dip the lady fingers in coffee. And because Italian coffee can be quite strong, they add a splash of milk to it. Before you dip the cookies in, you mix the coffee and the milk. Especially if kids will also be eating the Tiramisu, you might want to have less strong coffee.
Can you eat Tiramisu when you’re pregnant?
You’ve learned now that there’s no alcohol in Tiramisu, so you might wonder if Tiramisu is save to eat if you’re pregnant. Well, the challenge is not because of the alcohol, but because of the use of raw eggs. To make Tiramisu you use raw eggs and the dish doesn’t go into the oven to kill the bacteria.
So officially it’s better to skip the Tiramisu if you’re pregnant. That being said, if you use pasteurized eggs, the Tiramisu is safe to eat. And most eggs from the supermarket are pasteurized. So if you make the Tiramisu yourself with my recipe below, you can eat Tiramisu if you’re pregnant.
Click here for my recipe for Vegan Tiramisu that’s safe to eat if you’re pregnant.
Recipe authentic Italian Tiramisu
Ingredients:
100 gram ladyfingers (Savoiardi in Italian)
1 cup strong coffee
1 cup of milk
400 grams mascarpone
90 grams sugar
3 eggs
1 vanilla pod
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Cacoa powder (Italian brand Perugina is best)
Preparation:
Pour the coffee in an oven tray, add the milk. If your coffee isn’t very strong, you can use more coffee and less milk. Dip the lady fingers in the coffe mixture. Make sure both sides are soaked and that the lady finger is soft from the coffee. Make a layer of lady fingers on the bottom of a rectangular oven dish.
Make sure that there isn’t any room between them. You can probably squeeze in more lady fingers than you think.
Split the eggs. Whip the egg yolks with the sugar with a whisk. Cut the vanilla pod, remove the pulp inside and add the vanilla pulp to the whipped egg yolks.
In a seperate bowl mix the egg whites and the lemon juice with an electrical mixer until stiff peaks have formed.
Spoon the mascarpone to the egg yolk mixture. And finally fold in the egg whites.
If you want to make Tiramisu with two layers, you cover the ladyfingers with half of the cream and make another layer of cookies and end with a last layer of cream. You can also use one layer of cookies and top it with the whole bowl of cream. One version is not more authentic than the other, it’s just a matter of taste.
Finish your Italian Tiramisu by dusting it with an even layer of cacao powder using a sieve. Make sure that every inch of cream is covered by a layer of cacao powder.
Let the Tiramisu set in the fridge for a few hours before serving.
Looking for a Tiramisu variety? You might like my recipe for Tiramisu with Baileys.
