The Best Tiramisu You’ll Ever Make (Restaurant-Quality)

Tiramisu should be silky, luxurious, light,

but rich at the same time.

My ideal tiramisu is a cream that is rich

and airy with the flavors of mascarpone front and center.

[lively music] [screen whooshing]

So we are gonna start by making the mascarpone cream.

For this tiramisu, we're gonna use

a slightly less traditional technique called pate a bombe.

So pate a bombe is egg yolks that are whipped

and then we drizzle in a hot sugar syrup.

The pate a bombe

will help you create the most delicious tiramisu.

It is light, rich, creamy, and it won't deflate over time.

So we have nine egg yolks.

We're gonna add that to our mixing bowl.

We're gonna make a sugar syrup

that's 250 degrees Fahrenheit,

and we are gonna drizzle that into the egg yolks,

and that's actually going to cook the eggs.

You can also use pasteurized egg yolks if you need to.

So we have our nine egg yolks in the mixer,

and we're gonna turn it on medium.

[mixer whirring]

We're gonna get them nice and frothy.

[mixer whirring]

They're gonna start to change color to a more pale yellow.

In the meantime, we're gonna start our sugar syrup

with a little bit of water and sugar.

So we're gonna whip our eggs on high speed.

Once they start to turn a little bit more pale yellow

in color and they start to gain some volume

because we're whipping in air,

we're gonna start cooking our sugar syrup.

So by cooking the sugar to 250 degrees

and pouring it into the egg yolks,

it makes them a little bit safer

for anyone who's worried about that.

And you can use a candy thermometer

or an instant-read thermometer.

Just want to monitor it closely

because it's gonna happen fast.

We're at 220.

Okay, 250. [mixer whirring]

So we're gonna turn off the heat.

Our egg yolks are foamy, they're pale yellow, ready to go.

So we're gonna slowly drizzle this in.

It's really important

to drizzle the sugar syrup in very slowly.

We don't wanna scramble the eggs.

Then you'll have this grainy, nasty texture

that nobody likes.

Increase the speed of the mixer

and we're gonna keep whipping

until the temperature drops down

to 80 degrees and then we can stop.

[mixer whirring]

We're at 80 degrees.

Mascarpone is a rich and decadent Italian cheese.

Similar to cream cheese, but it's not nearly as tangy.

The mascarpone is the star of the show here.

We don't wanna mask it by adding vanilla or anything else.

So we got our mascarpone in a bowl.

We're just gonna stir it with a whisk to loosen it up.

[whisk banging]

Works best when it's at room temperature.

Now we're gonna take our pate a bombe

and stir it into the mascarpone.

You don't wanna completely destroy the structure

of the pate a bombe, but to be honest,

we're gonna be incorporating in a little bit of heavy cream

and that'll really lighten it up.

[whisk banging]

So you don't have to be too delicate here.

[whisk banging]

And I like a nice big balloon whisk.

It makes the job a lot easier.

We're looking for no lumps of mascarpone.

We want it to be nice and light and airy

and creamy, luxurious ribbons of mascarpone cream.

[whisk banging]

We are looking good. It's time to whip some cream.

So we have some cold, heavy cream.

Make sure it's cold because it's so much easier

and faster to whip, and a tiny bit of powdered sugar.

And we whip. [whisk banging]

As soon as you have creamy and stiff peaks, stop whipping.

Even two or three more strokes with the whisk

and the cream will become a little bit grainy

and it's just not nearly as pleasurable

when you bite into it.

So now we're gonna fold the whipped cream

into our mascarpone pate a bombe mixture.

So we're gonna fold this in nice and gently in thirds.

So we're gonna take 1/3 of the mixture.

That first 1/3 is really just gonna start to loosen it up.

We don't add it all at once

because the active mixing will completely deflate the cream.

So now we're gonna add the second 1/3

and we're gonna incorporate this a little bit more gently.

[whisk banging]

So for our last addition,

we're gonna very gently fold it in, all right?

And that means just using this balloon whisk

and letting it fall through the tines.

[whisk banging]

I'm gonna refrigerate this for a few minutes

while I get my coffee mixture ready.

[lively music] [screen whooshing]

Now it's time to make the coffee part of tiramisu.

Traditionally, we use espresso.

You can use instant espresso.

You can brew a double strength batch of regular coffee.

Traditionally, tiramisu

does have some alcohol component to it.

I don't add the alcohol to mine

because I don't really like boozy desserts

and I like my kids to be able to have them too.

So we're gonna use a little bit of instant espresso,

[water tinkling]

a little bit of hot water.

This should be as strong

as you like your coffee or espresso.

So now we're gonna refrigerate this until it's nice

and cool and then we're gonna assemble our tiramisu.

[lively music] [screen whooshing]

So we have ladyfingers. [text whooshing]

It's a lovely little sweet cookie that is very Italian

and you can make your own, but store bought is totally fine.

Everything in front of me is cold and ready to assemble.

We are gonna start by dipping the ladyfingers in the coffee.

Now, this is a big thing with tiramisu.

How long do you dip your ladyfingers in the coffee?

I do like when there's a little center ring

inside the ladyfinger that is not fully soaked through,

becomes more cake-like.

Should be about two seconds per ladyfinger.

All right, so we can start dipping.

One, two, three.

So satisfying.

This is a great thing for kids to do.

They love to help out in the kitchen and this is perfect.

Layer one's done.

We're ready for the mascarpone cream.

So we're gonna take half of our mixture

and gently add it to the bowl.

So now we have an offset spatula

and we are gonna be very cautious

about how much we touch this

because the more you touch it,

the more you're going to deflate the cream.

Just be gentle,

but try to get it as even as possible.

We have a little bit of black cocoa,

which I really love for that deep dark color.

If you wanna use any other cocoa powder, go for it.

Black cocoa is a little bit more mild

than the other types of cocoa.

It's definitely less bitter, much lower acidity,

and a little bit less chocolatey.

Nice little layer and we go back to dipping.

And it doesn't have to be perfect.

It's a rustic dessert.

We're adding the final layer of mascarpone cream.

And finally, we are gonna dust it

with a little bit more black cocoa.

And also use just a really good dark chocolate

and you can shave it with a microplane.

It's beautiful.

So we're actually going to put this into the refrigerator

for at least an hour,

can go overnight, can go for two days.

I really want the mascarpone cream just to fully set

and you want all those flavors to marry together.

And this is how you make my ideal tiramisu.

[lively music] [screen whooshing]

It's time. This is the best part.

It's time to cut it and taste it.

Tiramisu is this fun, rustic dessert.

It doesn't have to be perfect. [tranquil music]

See all those layers?

So beautiful.

I love the contrast of the black cocoa

with the mascarpone cream.

Mhm, so good.

It's dangerously good.

The texture is light and airy,

but rich at the same time, but not too rich.

It's sweet, but not too sweet.

It's perfectly balanced.

Got the bitterness and the acidity of the coffee.

Can definitely taste the mascarpone.

I really love this cocoa.

Tiramisu is so easy to make,

very simple techniques, simple ingredients.

You don't have to turn your oven on.

This is the perfect base tiramisu recipe

and let your creativity run wild.

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