Instructions
- Place about one inch of water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and place a bowl on top of the small pot so it's sitting on the pot without touching the water.
- Add the egg yolks (room temperature) and sugar to the bowl, whipping to mix the ingredients together.
- Place the bowl on the small pot of simmering water. Using a whisk to mix, whip the egg/sugar mixture constantly for about 10 minutes. This will cook the eggs. The mixture will increase in volume as it thickens. If the bowl starts to get too hot, lift it off the pot of water for 15 seconds or so while continuing to whip the mixture. You can do this as often as necessary.
- After you have finished whipping the sabayon, remove the bowl from the heat and continue to whip yolks to help it cool. The mixture should be thick and a lemon yellow color. If you used regular sugar instead of superfine / castor sugar your finished sabayon may be grainy. That's okay it will finish dissolving while your tiramisu is firming up.
- Allow to cool briefly before mixing in mascarpone. Add room temperature (but not warm) mascarpone to the whipped yolks, mix until well combined. Don't overmix this can cause curdling.
- In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer whip the cream to stiff peaks (hand mixer or stand mixer is fine). This process should start on low, slowly increasing the speed over about ten minutes. This is how you keep the whipped cream from breaking. (The cream should be ice cold and as fresh as possible. Look for heavy cream with the longest expiration date.)
- Gently fold the whipped cream in the mascarpone sabayon mixture and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the tiramisu.
- Mix the cold espresso (or strong coffee) with the coffee liqueur and dip the ladyfingers into the mixture just long enough to get them wet, do not soak them!
- Arrange the ladyfingers in the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish (or similarly sized container).
- Spoon half the mascarpone cream filling over the ladyfingers.
- Repeat process with another layer of ladyfingers, and another layer of tiramisu cream.
- Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Overnight is best.
- Dust with cocoa powder before serving.
Ingredients
- 6 large egg yolks (approx. ½ cup of yolks)
- 1 cup sugar (superfine or caster if possible)
- 1¼ cup mascarpone cheese (room temperature)
- 1¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- 30 each Italian ladyfingers (about 1½ of the 7 ounce packages (Savoiardi style))
- 1 cup cold espresso or strong coffee
- ½ cup coffee flavored Liqueur (optional)
- 1 ounce unsweetened cocoa for dusting