The Best Homemade Tiramisu

Homemade Tiramisu is one of the most delicious desserts you can make. It is light, perfectly sweet and great to make ahead of time! If you are looking for the perfect dessert for holiday season…..this is it.

The number one dessert in our house hold is tiramisu, hands down! Most likely because we are coffee lovers, but we also love how light, smooth and heavenly it is. It is a dreamy dessert that you ALWAYS have room for ;).

If you have never had tiramisu before, it starts with taking lady fingers and dipping them into coffee and Kahlua. Once they are coated, you layer them in a baking dish with a sweet, marscapone whipped cream filling. Top it with a dusting of cocoa powder and that’s it! I like to top it with raspberries and some chocolate chunks to make it look a little fancier but that is totally optional.

Now, to make Homemade Tiramisu, we are simple making the lady fingers instead of buying them. They are a light sponge cake that is extremely easy to make and can also be made gluten free if you need! Tiramisu is best after it has been refrigerated for at least 24 hours which makes this a perfect dessert to make a head of time for any holiday, party or dinner!

Tips for Making Homemade tiramisu

1. When making the lady fingers, you want to be super gently making the batter. Because you are whipping the eggs to get nice and fluffy, you want to maintain that airiness in your batter. Use a spatula and very lightly fold the batter until it is combined.
2. You will be slowly cooking egg yolks and sugar for the whipped cream mixture which helps keep it nice and thick. When cooking the egg yolks, you want to do it nice and slow so that you don’t scramble the eggs.
3. After you have assembled the tiramisu, you want to let it sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours for it to set, and for all the flavours to meld together.

Homemade Tiramisu Ingredients

Lady Fingers– We are making homemade ones for this recipe. All you need is eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt for these.

Heavy Cream– You want heavy cream that you would use to make whipped cream. Make sure it is nice and cold before whipping.

Marscapone Cheese– This is a soft cheese similar to ricotta. Do not sub with ricotta as marscapone is much more smooth.

Coffee– You want to use a nice strong coffee or espresso.

Kahlua– This is optional, but a classic component of Tiramisu is some kind of coffee liqueur.

Vanilla Extract- Gets added to the whipped cream mixture for additional flavor.

Egg Yolks– These get slow cooked and added to the whipped cream mixture to keep it nice and thick.

Sugar- There isn’t much sugar in this, just enough for a touch of sweetness.

Cocoa– Unsweetened cocoa powder gets dusted on top of a beautiful look and touch of chocolate flavor.

The Steps

Make the Lady Fingers

1. Start with the lady fingers. Preheat your oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Separate the 3 eggs and place the egg yolks in one bowl and the white in another.
3. Then, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy about 5 minutes.
4. Next, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Once you have soft peaks, add in the sugar and salt, and beat until glossy. Another minutes or so.
5. Take the egg white mixture and fold it into the egg yolks gently. Then add in the flour and baking powder and fold together until you get a nice fluffy batter. You want to be gentle and just mix until all the flour is combined so that the egg whites stay nice and fluffy.
6. Add this batter to a piping bag with a large round tip or to a ziplock bag with the corner cut. Pipe the batter onto the prepared baking sheet in roughly 3 inch long logs. This should make about 30 lady fingers.
7. Bake the lady fingers for 10 minutes or until lightly golden, then allow to cool completely on the baking sheet before using.

Make the Cream

1. Next, you are going to add the 4 egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar to a heat safe bowl over a pot with a couple inches of simmering water.
2. Cook this mixture over low heat, whisking constantly for about 10 minutes, until it is pale yellow and has thickened up. You can use an instant read thermometer, and the mixture should get to about 165F.
3. Remove the bowl from the heat and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
4. While that cools, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks.
5. Then, fold the marscapone cheese and vanilla into the cooled eggs. Followed by half of the whipped cream.
6. Once combined, fold in the remaining whipped cream until you have a nice thick and fluffy cream.

Assemble The Tiramisu

1. To assemble the tiramisu, grab a 8-9 inch square pan and mix the espresso and Kahlua together in a bowl.
2. Take one lady finger at a time, and dip it into the coffee, then lay it in the bottom of the baking dish. Repeat this until the whole bottom of the pan is covered.
3. Then, spread over 1/3 of the cream mixture and add a dusting of cocoa powder over that. I add my cocoa to a small sieve to dust it over.
4. Repeat this process for a couple more layers until you have used all the lady fingers. On the last layer of cream, I like to add the cream to a piping bag and pipe it on in little blobs to make a pretty pattern.
5. Finish with a dusting of cocoa over the top, and add any fresh raspberries or chocolate chunks if you like.
6. Cover the tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving!

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or recipe review below!

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