Tiramisu is one of those wonderful cakes, and probably one of the most popular Italian cakes.  I used to think Tiramisu is really hard to make, but quite a few years ago, a friend of mine showed me how to make it really easily.  I used to make it quite often, wherever I needed to bring a dish I would always bring this Tiramisu and people just loved it.  So, it’s easy, so much fun to make, and need I say, so much fun to eat, and it’s just scrumptious. Absolutely yummy! You know what else is great about this cake, it does not require baking, so really how can it get any easier.
Separate the eggs white from the eggs and put the egg yolks in the bowl of a mixer.
Add the sugar and vanilla extract to the eggs.
Start mixing the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.
Mix until the eggs are light and fluffy.
Add the mascarpone cheese and mix for a bit until it is well incorporated.
Continue mixing with a spatula and this is what it should look like when done.
In a bowl add the coffee. Now I couldn’t help it and I added some good old rum to my coffee, now this is entirely optional so you don’t have to if you don’t like rum or don’t drink.
I’m using these mini lady fingers, so I am using 40 lady fingers for this, but if you’re using the regular size you’ll only need about 24.
Start soaking the lady fingers in the coffee and lay them in a 8×8 dish.
Spread a third of the mascarpone mixture over the lady fingers. I’m making 3 layers here, but feel free to make as many as you want.
Repeat and add another layer of lady fingers dipped in coffee.
Now add the mascarpone mixture and another layer of lady fingers. Isn’t it looking yummy, it sure is making me crave some…
Now spread the last layer of mascarpone cheese.
And after letting it sit in the refrigerator for over an hour, I couldn’t wait anymore and had to try some.
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Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 egg yolks
- 24 lady fingers
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cup brewed coffee
- 1/4 cup rum (optional)
Instructions:
- In a mixer beat the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla extract until light, fluffy and smooth.
- Fold the mascarpone cheese into the egg mixture with a spatula. Set aside.
- Dip the ladyfingers in coffee and arrange 12 of them in the bottom of an 8×8 inch dish. You don’t have to soak them in the coffee for a long time, just briefly dip them on both sides. Spread half of the cheese mixture over the ladyfingers and repeat with the remaining ladyfingers, then cheese mixture.
- Now you need to cover this and refrigerate it for about 1 hour then sprinkle the cocoa powder just before serving. It looks beautiful, and people will think you spent hours slaving over this in the kitchen.
Enjoy!
I made Tiramisu last week, using a similar recipe and it was a total disaster. First off, the egg yolks didn’t turn white, like yours. I suspect the problem is that I didn’t use the right mixer knives. I use the same ones all the time, for mashed potatoes and mixing cake batter. My hubby thinks I should have used the other knives (I never used them, but I suspect they’re used for whipped cream and egg whites and such). Well, even if it didn’t look right, I added the mascarpone and kept mixing. I used the same knives
to mix the egg whites and they weren’t as fluffy as they were supposed be either. Well, long story short, I even assembled the tiramisu and even attempted eating it 
)) It tasted ok, like regular tiramisu, but it looked weird and it definitely have a weird texture. It ended up in the garbage 
So, what do you think? Suggestions?
P.S. I am Romanian too…. I am supposed to be a better cook, right?
And for people who don’t want to use raw eggs, they can use the bain-marie method. Hope you don’t mind if I add a link I just found
http://lola-elise.com/recipes/tiramisu-recipe
Hi Roxy,
Well I’m not sure what you did wrong, but if you use the mixer attachment like you see in my pictures, it should work, make sure you turn it on high, so usually when you mix egg yolk and sugar at a fast speed you will end up with a light mixture, it’s kind of like making mayonnaise, except in mayonnaise you use oil. You should use the attachment for whipped cream because this is close to that. I really hope you have better luck next time. 
Nice to meet another Romanian, always makes me happy. You made me laugh so I thank you for that.
Eating raw eggs can sometimes upset my stomach is there something you use to substitute? Your recipe looks easy and delicious! Thanks for posting.
Hi there,
If you want to skip the eggs, you could try a mixture of mascarpone cheese, whip cream and maybe some vanilla pudding in there. I made a similar cream mixture for the strawberry trifle recipe you can find here. It would work wonderfully with the tiramisu.
Is there a way to make this without the egg? Consuming raw egg is not something I’m up to risking my health for.
You could try using pasteurized eggs. You could also try eliminating the eggs, but it might not taste the same. However, you could use whipping cream and just fold it in with the mascarpone cheese and the other ingredients, it should be just as good.
hi! do i use sweetened cocoa? i will trying making my very first homemade tiramisu this weekend. hope it’s delicious!
Hi,
Yes you can, it doesn’t really matter. Hope it turns out great.
hi, great recipe, but the one i use, encorporates the egg whites by beating them to a peak and folding them into the marscarpone mix, makes the mix very light and airy and would make a bigger amount of tiramisu, when the coffee is hot it soaks easier into the biscuts. this is an old italian recipe, give it a go. but props for not using cream….
Alessia
HI Alessia,
Thanks, I’ll give it a try.
Omg… your pictures. Make me so hungry. I love that one photo with one drop of cream dripping off of mixer into bowl… so scrumptious!
I’m just starting the food blogging thing, and would be honored if you had time to send some photo pointers my way!
http://www.the5to9cook.com
Hi Lannie,
Welcome to the food blogging world, you’ll love it, it certainly has been an adventure for me. Unfortunately the pictures in this post are not that great, they were taken in the early days of my food blogging career. I have since improved or so I think I have and will update these pictures soon, well I’m always in the mood for tiramisu so that’s my excuse. I’ve already looked at your blog and it looks great, your pictures are already wonderful. One thing I can suggest is lighting is everything. If you can take your pictures outside or near a window that would be the best thing you could do for your pictures.
Jo