The Authentic Italian Tiramisù Recipe

Tirami sù means “pick me up”, which tells you everything about this dessert’s purpose: coffee, sugar, eggs and mascarpone, layered into something that lifts the whole table. Cari Amici, an authentic tiramisu recipe needs six ingredients, no oven, and about twenty minutes of work.

It also needs one act of restraint, and it’s the one most home cooks get wrong: there is no cream in tiramisù. Not whipped cream, not double cream, not a cream-cheese substitute. Mascarpone and properly beaten eggs create all the richness this dessert needs, and adding cream turns something silky into something heavy. Here’s how it’s actually made.

What you need

For a dish serving six to eight people:

4 eggs, separated, as fresh as you can find
500g mascarpone, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
300ml strong espresso, cooled completely
About 300g savoiardi (Italian ladyfinger biscuits)
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

That’s the whole list. Some families add a splash of Marsala, rum or coffee liqueur to the espresso, which is traditional in plenty of Italian homes and entirely optional. Note that quality matters more here than quantity, since with so few ingredients there is nowhere for a poor one to hide.

How to make it

Brew and cool the coffee. Make the espresso first so it has time to cool completely. Warm coffee softens the biscuits far too quickly and turns the base to mush.
Beat the yolks and sugar. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, thick and roughly doubled in volume. This takes several minutes and it matters, since this is where the structure comes from.
Fold in the mascarpone. Add the room-temperature mascarpone to the yolk mixture and fold gently until smooth. Cold mascarpone splits and turns grainy, which is why it must come out of the fridge beforehand.
Whisk the whites. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks, then fold them into the mascarpone mixture in two or three additions. Fold, don’t stir. This is what makes the cream light rather than dense.
Dip the biscuits. One at a time, dip each savoiardo in the cooled coffee for one second per side. No longer. They should be flavoured, not saturated, since they’ll continue absorbing moisture as the dessert rests.
Layer. Line a dish with dipped biscuits, spread over half the cream, add a second layer of biscuits, then the rest of the cream. Smooth the top.
Chill, then dust. Refrigerate for at least four hours, ideally overnight. Dust generously with cocoa just before serving, never before chilling, or it will darken and go damp.

Serving it well

Tiramisù is best served cold, straight from the fridge, in generous spoonfuls rather than neat slices, since a properly made one is soft enough to collapse a little on the plate. That’s not a flaw; a tiramisù that stands up in rigid architectural wedges usually has too much gelatine or too much cream in it.

Dust the cocoa at the last possible moment. If you’re taking it to someone’s house, carry the cocoa separately in a small sieve and dust it there, which takes ten seconds and makes the difference between a fresh, dark bloom and a damp brown crust.

A word on the variations

You’ll see tiramisù made with strawberries, pistachio, limoncello and a dozen other flavours, and plenty of them are delicious. They are simply not tiramisù, and Italians would call them something else entirely. Make them by all means, but learn the original first, because it teaches you the technique that every variation depends on: the beaten yolks, the folded whites, the one-second dip.

Where tiramisù goes wrong

Four mistakes account for nearly every disappointing tiramisù:

Adding cream. It weighs down a dessert built on air and mascarpone.
Soaking the biscuits. A one-second dip is enough. Anything more and the base collapses.
Using cold mascarpone. It splits into grainy lumps that never fully smooth out.
Not chilling it long enough. Tiramisù needs hours to set and for the layers to marry. Rushing it gives you a soupy dish and a pale imitation of the flavour.

About the raw eggs

Traditional tiramisù uses raw eggs, which is worth knowing. Use the freshest eggs you can and keep the dessert refrigerated. If you’d rather avoid raw egg, make a zabaione base instead by beating the yolks and sugar over a pan of barely simmering water until thickened, then cooling it before folding in the mascarpone. The texture is very slightly denser and entirely delicious.

Getting the coffee right

Since coffee is half the flavour, it deserves proper attention. Use a genuine strong espresso rather than instant, and let it cool fully. Coffee is one of our specialities, so browse our Italian coffee if you want the flavour to taste the way it does in Italy.

Where to buy the ingredients in KL

You’ll find mascarpone with our cheeses, savoiardi among our snacks and sweets, and coffee on the coffee shelves, all at our Italian grocery store and delivered across the Klang Valley within the hour.

Not in the mood to whisk? Ours is on the dessert menu when you eat with us. And if it’s your birthday, mention it when you book, because the birthday person gets a tiramisù from us with our compliments.

Buon appetito.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Why is there no cream in authentic tiramisù?
Ans. Mascarpone and beaten eggs already provide the richness and the structure, so cream only makes it heavy. The traditional recipe has never needed it.

Q2. Can I make tiramisù without alcohol?
Ans. Yes, and many Italian families do. The Marsala or rum is optional, so leave it out and the dessert loses nothing essential.

Q3. How far ahead should I make it?
Ans. Make it the day before. It needs at least four hours to set, and overnight is better, since the flavours marry as it rests.

Q4. My mascarpone went grainy, what happened?
Ans. It was too cold when you folded it in. Let it come to room temperature first, and fold gently rather than beating it hard.

Q5. Can I substitute mascarpone with cream cheese?
Ans. It won’t be tiramisù. Cream cheese is tangier and firmer, and the result tastes noticeably different, so it’s worth seeking out real mascarpone.

Q6. What can I use instead of savoiardi?
Ans. Savoiardi are designed for this, being dry enough to absorb coffee without disintegrating. Sponge fingers can work at a push, but dip them for even less time.

Q7. Is it safe to eat because of the raw eggs?
Ans. Use very fresh eggs and keep it chilled, or make a cooked zabaione base by whisking yolks and sugar over simmering water. Both approaches are common in Italy.

Q8. Can I freeze tiramisù?
Ans. It freezes better than you’d expect, though the texture softens slightly. Thaw it in the fridge and dust with cocoa only once it’s ready to serve.

Q9. Why did my tiramisù turn out soggy?
Ans. Almost certainly the dip. One second per side is genuinely enough, and warm coffee makes it worse, so cool it completely first.

Q10. Where can I buy mascarpone and savoiardi in Kuala Lumpur?
Ans. From our Italian grocery store, with mascarpone among the cheeses, delivered across the Klang Valley within the hour.