Easy no-bake tiramisu is the pick me up you need when it’s too hot to bake
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This easy no-bake tiramisu is made from coffee soaked ladyfinger cookies covered in an eggy custard laced with luxurious mascarpone cheese then topped with cocoa and grated chocolate.
When it’s too hot to bake, but you’re still wanting a fun dessert, tiramisu has a lot to offer. The cold coffee bathed ladyfingers topped with mascarpone cream make for a trifle kind of texture that’s always comforting. It’s a simple simple dessert to put together.
Can you make the ladyfingers from scratch? Yes, of course, but I feel like it goes against the spirit of tiramisu. In Italian tiramisu means, “pick me up,”. It’s what you put together quickly to lift your mood and spirits. I don’t buy a lot of pre-made ingredients, but doggone it, Italian ladyfingers are lovely crunchy sweet perfectly shaped things. It’s almost a crime not to use them.
So, if it’s 95 degrees outside and you don’t feel like ice cream, let’s make some no-bake tiramisu.
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bakingwithtradition.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to recommended products. Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
No-bake tiramisu
What even is tiramisu?
Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made up of layers of coffee soaked sponge cake and a cream made with custard mixed with mascarpone cheese. Non-traditional tiramisu recipes will often add whipped cream in that mix. My guess is that people do that because you can’t always find mascarpone in the US. Find a good cheese shop or counter!
The coffee and the custard are also spiked with coffee liqueur or sweet Marsala wine.
After assembly, you chill the whole creation and top it with cocoa and grated chocolate.
As a kid of the 90s, I ate my first tiramisu at Macaroni Grill. It was one of those things that sounded exotic and intriguing. From the first bite, I was hooked on the coffee creaminess against the soft trifle texture. It wasn’t till years later and a couple weeks in Italy that I realized how genius tiramisu really is.
Tiramisu is a good example of the beauty so much of Italian food. Take a handful of good quality ingredients, put them together simply, and you get something that very much transcends any one component by leagues.
Tiramisu ingredients
- Ladyfingers: These are little oblong sponge cakes. They’re sold dried, so they’re more like a cookie. Many Italians will make their tiramisu from good ladyfingers for convenience and because they soak up more coffee when dried. Look for them in the cookie aisle.
- Coffee: brew up your favorite or use Espresso powder in boiling water for a deeper coffee flavor. I’ve been using Medaglia d’Oro for years in my bakes because it has such a rich consistent taste.
- Mascarpone cheese: Mascarpone is a rich triple-cream cream cheese. It’s not as tangy as American cream cheese and it is much smoother and creamier. If you can’t find it, good old Philadelphia cream cheese is still good, though mascarpone is worth seeking out.
- Eggs: large, as nice as you can find.
- Sweet Marsala wine: this will give your tiramisu some good authentic Italian flavor. If you don’t like or want the taste of alcohol or you’re serving this to kids, skip it.
- Cocoa: dusted over the tops of the layers
- Grated chocolate (optional): not necessary for a classic tiramisu, but it looks pretty on the top layer
Process of making no-bake tiramisu step by step
Disclaimer: for food safety reasons, the food safety people will tell you that you should heat your eggs to 160 F. I will tell you that that’s all well and good, but you will also lose a lot of volume and change the flavor and texture of your custard cream as you do this. For the best traditional tiramisu, warm up your egg parts until the sugar just dissolves.
I feel comfortable not heating my eggs to 160, meaning that they will be slightly undercooked. I know where my eggs come from and am okay doing so. I have never once gotten food poisoning from eggs, but if you have, you probably feel different than me. You follow your conscience.
- Make your coffee, then blend it with half the Marsala and set it in a shallow dish like a pie plate.
- Cook the egg whites: separate out the eggs and set the egg whites in a bowl with half the sugar over simmering water. Whisk the eggs continuously until the egg whites are warm and the sugar has dissolved completely. If you’re worried about your eggs, continue to heat the eggs to 160 F on an instant read thermometer.
- Whip the egg whites: whip the egg whites until they fall off the beater in soft peaks. This should take just about a minute since they’re warm. They will be voluminous and soft.
- Cook the egg yolks: set the egg yolks in a bowl over simmering water with the other half of the sugar. Whip the egg yolks until they are lighter in color and the sugar has dissolved. Continue heating the egg yolks until they are also at 160F.
- Whip the egg yolks: whip the egg yolks until they are thick and light yellow. The yolks should fall in a ribbon off of the beater. Whip in half the Marsala wine and the mascarpone cheese until smooth.
- Mix the eggs together: Stir in a scoop of the egg whites to the egg yolk mix to lighten it. Fold in the rest of the egg whites.
- Layer the tiramisu: Dip the tops and bottoms of the ladyfingers into the coffee, then lay them in a dish in one layer. Cover the ladyfingers with the mascarpone cream. Sift cocoa powder over the top. Repeat this layering until you run out of ladyfingers. Grate chocolate over the top with a hand cheese grater.
- Chill: chill the no-bake tiramisu for at least 2 hours before scooping out a portion to enjoy.
Easy No Bake Tiramisu
- Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings
Description
When it’s too hot to bake, it’s nice to be able to make something simple like this easy tiramisu in less than 30 minutes of active time. Filled with luscious mascarpone and rich custard spiked with sweet marsala and coffee, this is a great ending to a good family meal.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups strong coffee or 1 1/2 tsp instant espresso in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water (see note)
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1/2 cup sugar (divided into two 1/4 cup portions)
- 4 tablespoons sweet marsala wine (divided into two 2 tablespoon portions)
- 8 oz of mascarpone cheese
- 2 packages Italian ladyfingers (7 oz each)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- Dark chocolate bar (optional)
Instructions
- Brew your coffee (or use leftovers from your morning pot), then set aside to cool. If using instant espresso, bring 1 1/2 cups of water to the boil, then mix with 1 1/2 tsp of espresso powder. Mix in 2 tablespoons of the marsala.
- Bring about 1 inch of water to a boil in a small pot. Reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Whisk the egg whites and 1/4 cup of sugar in the bottom of a stand mixer bowl. Keep whisking until the eggs come up to 160 F (71 C). Check this with an instant read thermometer. You’ll notice that the egg whites will be quite warm and all of the sugar will have dissolved.
- Whip the egg whites on the mixer until they hold soft peaks. This should take just about a minute. Transfer the egg whites to a large bowl.
- Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in another heatproof bowl over the simmering water. Keep whisking until the egg yolks are at 160 F (71 C). Again, check this with an instant read thermometer.
- In the same bowl you mixed the egg whites, whip the egg yolks until they are lighter and noticeably thicker. At this point, add the remaining marsala wine and whip for a few more seconds.
- Whip the mascarpone into the egg yolks until smooth.
- Place a generous scoop of the egg whites on top of the egg yolks, then stir to lighten the mixture.
- Fold the remaining egg whites into the egg/cheese mixture. At the end, you should have a light, creamy, fluffy custard.
- Pour the coffee into a shallow dish.
- Working quickly, dip the tops and bottoms of 2 ladyfingers at a time into the coffee, then set them into a serving dish in one layer.Keep soaking the cookies and laying them in the dish until you have covered the bottom.
- Scoop out a portion of the cream over the tops of the coffee soaked ladyfingers, then smooth to cover.
- Sift some cocoa powder all over the top of your ladyfingers.
- Repeat layering the ladyfingers with cream until you either run out of cookies or coffee. Finish with the cream on top, then generously dust with cocoa.
- Cover and chill the serving dish for at least 2 hours before serving.
- Before serving, grate some chocolate over the top if you’d like.
Notes
- Use your favorite coffee here, though I love Medaglia d’Oro instant espresso. I keep it specifically for baking because it’s so handy for recipes with coffee when you may not have leftover coffee from the morning.
- Look for ladyfingers in the cookie aisle at your supermarket. Savoirardi or Vincenzovo are my favorite here as they both soak up the coffee well.
- You can whip the whole eggs together, though the mix is lighter when you keep the egg parts separate.
- Use whatever serving dish you have: a glass bowl is nice so that you can see the layers, but a rectangular glass baking dish or other casserole pan is good too.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Additional Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Family favorites
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 generous scoop
- Calories: 269
- Sugar: 8
- Sodium: 80
- Fat: 13
- Saturated Fat: 6
- Carbohydrates: 29
- Fiber: .64
- Protein: 6
- Cholesterol: 146
Have you ever made tiramisu?
