Tiramisu is traditionally made with ladyfingers biscuits. These soft cookies, known as savoiardi, are a delicate biscuit that easily soaks up the coffee flavor that gives tiramisu its flavor. Ladyfingers are the only biscuit you should use for tiramisu because of the optimal texture is perfect for absorption yet still maintains its shape while the tiramisu is setting. The other option for biscuits is pavesini: sweet biscuits that are thinner and more golden brown than the savoiardi.
Mascarpone is a sweetened cheese that can make or break your tiramisu. When your mascarpone is over-whipped, it will start to resemble the texture of cottage cheese, and once the mascarpone starts to split, it is difficult to recover.
Using room temperature eggs is important in baking because of the increased volume, as well as better binding potential with other ingredients. While you might be able to get away with using cold eggs for some recipes, whipped egg preparation recipes, like angel food cake and tiramisu, necessitate the use of warmer eggs.
Baking is all about chemistry, so it's important to mix the egg yolks and sugar immediately rather than waiting. Adding sugar to yolks changes the chemical structure of the eggs, essentially sucking the water from the surface of the egg yolk and scalding it.
Incorrectly whipping heavy cream in a tiramisu recipe can have disastrous consequences. You should whip your heavy cream in a stand mixer using a whisk attachment. Turn the mixer on high to ensure that the heavy cream is completely whipped and has the same texture throughout.
The coffee undertone in tiramisu makes the dessert a favorite for coffee lovers. While using instant coffee powder might be a quick way to infuse coffee into your ladyfingers, it should not be your go-to. Most tiramisu recipes call for strongly brewed coffee or espresso at room temperature because there needs to be enough flavor to give your biscuits a boost.
Booze and tiramisu can be best friends. You can infuse several types of alcohol into your tiramisu depending on your preferences. The purpose of adding alcohol is both to provide flavor and moisture to the tiramisu.
There is a narrow window for dipping your ladyfingers in coffee or espresso. You want to dip your biscuits in long enough to soak up the flavors, but not long enough so that the biscuit breaks. The optimal time for flipping your cookies in the espresso is a couple seconds on each side.
Tiramisu is all about layers — so you'll want to be sure that your layers are perfectly balanced for all the textures in every single bite.