Strawberry Tiramisu
strawberries
This strawberry tiramisu is the perfect no-bake spring and summer dessert made with fresh strawberries, ladyfingers, and mascarpone! Tiramisu is a classic Italian dessert (no-bake) that uses coffee-soaked lady finger cookies, mascarpone cheese, eggs, whipped cream and cocoa. It’s delicious! This Strawberry Tiramisu takes the basics of the traditional tiramisu and turns into a spring version of it with berries. There are different interpretations of the Strawberry Tiramisu: many use cream cheese instead of mascarpone cream, whipped cream instead of egg whites, and sponge cake instead of ladyfingers. Some use eggs some don’t. This light, creamy and delicious Strawberry Tiramisu made with juicy strawberries, Cointreau liqueur, and shavings of chocolate is light creamy and full of strawberry flavor.
Ingredients in this Strawberry Tiramisu:
- Ladyfingers/Savoiardi biscuits: traditional tiramisu is made with these biscuits -pretty widely available nowadays. Sold at grocery stores in the biscuit aisle, delis and Italian shops. They are crisp, sweet sponge fingers that taste like vanilla; but if you absolutely have no access to them you can use layers of sponge cake or pound cake
- Egg Yolks: farm fresh and pasteurized are a must (note about raw eggs and omitting them below)
- Mascarpone: it wouldn’t be true tiramisu without mascarpone! it’s a very thick, rich Italian cream that has a consistency like cream cheese but the flavour is sweeter. Make sure to use the full fat variety. Softened cream cheese can be used but it won’t be the same flavour or quite the same texture.
- Strawberries: fresh berries are best in this recipe but if frozen is all you have make sure to thaw and strain before using frozen ones
- Granulated Sugar: ½ cup plus a couple more tablespoons is all you need, but if you prefer a less sweet version feel free to reduce the sugar by a third
- Strawberry jam or preserves: this will help to give the strawberry sauce or strawberry puree some extra strawberry flavour, structure and stability.
- Orange Juice & Orange zest: freshly squeezed and zested is always best. If you prefer to use lemon juice and zest in place of the orange that works well here too.
- Orange liqueur: like Cointreau or Grand Marnier - these liqueurs add a delicious flavour and work really well with the strawberries and add only add a hint of booziness. If you are using lemon juice and zest limoncello would work really well here too. If you don’t have any orange liqueur feel free to use Marsala, Brandy, Vin Santo, Amaretto or a Nut liqueur (hazelnut would be really nice). Its optional but a nice way to add flavour, but if you are serving kids and are concerned you can leave it out
A Note About the Egg Yolks - Is it safe to eat tiramisu with raw eggs?
I know using raw eggs concerns some people. Traditional tiramisu is usually made with raw eggs. Yolks and white separated and whisked. In this recipe I use the yolks only as they add a luscious and rich flavour to the tiramisu that cannot be replaced. Many recipes make tiramisu by beating eggs over a double boiler but this is not the traditional way to make Tiramisu. That is a great option if you prefer to bring yolks to temperature without cooking them. While food safety may have been a valid concern in the past, nowadays, using pasteurized raw eggs in cooking is so much more acceptable and common and safe because the quality of fresh produce is so much better - think mayonnaise, lemon meringue pie (the meringue topping specifically) chocolate mousse, cookie batter, hollandaise and the list goes on. I understand though if you prefer to OMIT the YOLKS all together. Just beat or whisk the sugar in with the mascarpone instead of the yolks and proceed with the recipe as written. PRECAUTION: To be extra cautious, it is recommended that very young children, pregnant women, elderly or those with compromised immune systems do not eat foods made with raw eggs.
How to make Strawberry Tiramisu
This recipe is fairly easy but it does require dirtying up a couple of bowls. Now you definitely can mix the cream and mascarpone cheese all together but there is a big threat of the mixture becoming overly grainy and the whip cream not thickening that is why I do them all seperatley then fold everything together. So here is the step by step for making this delicious strawberry tiramisu:
- Prepare STRAWBERRIES blending half into a strawberry puree to make a strawberry sauce
- Beat the YOLKS with the sugar
- Beat the heavy WHIPPING CREAM until soft peaks
- Fold the MASCARPONE with the whipped cream then the yolk mixture
- ASSEMBLE tiramisu: layer Strawberry sauce then biscuits (flipping them gently to soak both sides) then the cream; then repeat
- Cover the strawberry tiramisu with cling film (plastic wrap) and place in the fridge to CHILL for at least 4 hours or 8 if possible. The longer you leave it the better because the biscuits get a chance to soak up all the extra flavour
Tips For Making this No-Bake Strawberry Tiramisu Recipe:
- You can use any berry or fruit: blueberries, raspberries or blackberries if you prefer or even blood oranges. I think this just might become your new favorite dessert.
- The freshly squeezed orange juice and orange liqueur adds flavor to the ladyfingers.If you don’t want to use orange juice, you could use lemon juice as well.
- Adjust the liqueur to your liking
- Make sure to flip the lady’s fingers so that both sides soak up the strawberry puree or strawberry sauce.
- Snap or cut the biscuits to fit your dish.
- Make sure the mascarpone is at room temperature before whisking to avoid lumps.
- If you are not able to find mascarpone cheese, you can use cream cheese instead in this recipe.
- This dessert needs to be kept refrigerated.The tiramisu should last about 2-3 days if stored covered in the refrigerator.
- I don’t recommend freezing this dessert as the texture will be compromised when you go to defrost it when ready to eat.
- Refrigerate for at least 4-5 hours or even over night. Top with fresh strawberries before serving. Enjoy!
If you love berry desserts like this you will love these:
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (such as Cointreau)
- 2 teaspoons orange juice or lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
- 1¼ pound fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (3 cups sliced strawberries), plus more for topping
- ½ cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
- ¼ cup strawberry jam or preserves
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (from 1 small orange)
- 1 (400 gram) package ladyfingers
- Shaved dark chocolate or white chocolate for garnish (optional)
Directions:
For the strawberries:
- Stir 3 cups of strawberries together with the liqueur, salt, orange juice, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar in a medium bowl. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until berries release some juices, about 10-15 minutes.
- Transfer half of the mixture to a blender or food processor; add strawberry jam, and process until smooth. Stir pureed mixture back into remaining strawberry mixture in bowl; set aside.
For the egg yolks:
- Using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and remaining ½ cup sugar in a large bowl on high speed until pale yellow and tripled in volume, about 4 minutes.
For the whipped cream:
- In a separate large bowl beat the heavy cream, orange zest and vanilla until soft peaks form. (I usually use the same mixing attachments for each part but feel free to switch to a whisk attachment if you would like to)
For the Mascarpone:
- In another separate bowl place the mascarpone and fold in approx ¼ cup of the whipped cream,to lighten. Fold the remaining whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture until combined.
- Fold mascarpone mixture into egg yolk mixture until combined.
For Assembling:
- Spread about ⅔ cup strawberry mixture evenly in bottom of an 9-inch square baking dish.
- Top with a single layer of ladyfingers, gently turning ladyfingers in strawberry mixture until completely coated. (You will need to break some ladyfingers and arrange them in order to cover the bottom of the pan)
- Spread ladyfingers with 1 heaping cup mascarpone mixture.
- Repeat layers of strawberry mixture, ladyfingers, and mascarpone mixture 2 times, ending with mascarpone mixture. (You will have three layers of lady fingers)
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 8 hours or up to 12 hours. Decorate top of tiramisu with sliced strawberries and shaved dark chocolate. Slice and Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
- This dessert needs to be kept refrigerated.The tiramisu should last about 2-3 days if stored covered in the refrigerator.
- I don’t recommend freezing this dessert as the texture will be compromised when you go to defrost it when ready to eat.
- Refrigerate for at least 4-5 hours or even over night.
- PRECAUTION: To be extra cautious, it is recommended that very young children, pregnant women, elderly or those with compromised immune systems do not eat foods made with raw eggs
