Irish Coffee Tiramisu
I am well into my thirties and only now is my friend group having the “wedding cluster f*” that seems to happen to most people in their late twenties. My wedding was this past September and one of my best friends is getting married this coming February. We were/are in the other’s wedding parties and loved knowing we had someone going through the same thing at the same time.
When it came time for her shower, I knew that I needed to make her a special cake! After all, a party without cake is just a meeting (according to Julia Child and sensible people everywhere). When I think of this friend enjoying sweets, I always imagine her unabashed enjoyment of tiramisu, despite the cocoa powder inhalation hazard. And what’s not to love? It’s rich but light, with just enough booze and coffee to keep it from floating away. She’s very proud of her Irish heritage, so I thought I’d turn the flavor profile away from Italy and go to Ireland where Irish Coffee is a popular evening beverage. Despite the mundane name, Irish coffee is a boozy beverage made with lightly sweetened hot coffee spiked with Irish whiskey and served with whipped cream on top. It would be the perfect gift for one of my best friends.
While the traditional tiramisu is somewhere between a cake and a trifle, I knew I wanted a cake like presentation - so not in a container - where it cuts cleanly, holds its shape, and you can see layers of ladies fingers and cream. And I had another challenge: over the years, my friend had developed an egg allergy where she can no longer enjoy undercooked eggs. Most classic tiramisu recipes use raw yolks or a delicate zabion sauce blended with whipped cream, which I wasn’t sure would denature the proteins she’s allergic to enough to make if safe for her. With a little more research and thought, I came across the perfect solution: use a Bavarian cream as the base!
While Bavarian cream sounds fancy, it’s a straightforward blend of a gelatin stabilized creme anglaise and whipped cream. If you’ve watched The Great British Bake Off, you might recall Paul’s “favorite” showstopper challenge featured in the Victorian episode: Charlotte Russe. A Charlotte Russe is an elegant French dessert consisting of ladies fingers, jelly, and Bavarois (aka Bavarian) cream filling. Bavarian cream has a lot of elements that mirror a traditional tiramisu filling: an egg yolk thickened sauce for texture and whipped cream for volume. Add mascarpone and alcohol, and you get a stable, sliceable tiramisu filling! And unlike zabion, which is barely cooked to hold its creamy texture, creme anglaise is fully cooked, rendering the allergy triggering proteins harmless to my friend.
I looked at a few different Bavarian cream recipes when developing my base. The cream settled somewhere between the Bake like a French Pastry Chef recipe (a fun book by Michel De Rovira and Augustin Paluel-Marmont but has numerous ingredient typos throughout so I can’t really recommend it for a baking beginner) and The Cake Bible’s Vanilla Bavarian Cream (the classic by Rose Levy Beranbaum). My favorite tip is incorporating the gelatin powder in with the egg yolks and sugar, which will prevent it from clumping and eliminates the need of adding additional liquid. Thanks, Rose!
V2 of this recipe consumed at the winter themed bridal shower
Serves 8-12 people
Total time: 5 hours
Active time: 1 hour
Mascarpone Bavarian Cream
1 cup (250 g) whole milk
3 large egg yolks (about 55 g)
¼ cup + 2 tbsp (75 g) granulated sugar
1 tsp + ¼ tsp (4 g) gelatin powder
8 oz Mascarpone cheese
2 ½ oz (¼ cup + 1 tbsp) Irish whiskey (like Jameson’s )
1 cup (225 g) heavy cream
Espresso Soak
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp (7 g) instant espresso powder
1 tbsp (12 g) Light brown sugar, packed
½ oz (1 tbsp) Irish whiskey
To assemble
1-2 boxes Ladies fingers cookies; soft ones are preferable
Dutched cocoa powder for finishing
Special Equipment
8” cake ring or springform pan
Acetate (if using the cake ring)
To start the mascarpone Bavarian cream, place your milk in a small pot (1 quart capacity is good) and heat your milk over medium high to bring it to a boil.
As your milk is heating, combine your egg yolks, sugar, and gelatin in a small bowl and whisk it well so it becomes thick and a paler yellow color. I like to put this bowl on a damp towel or a silicone trivet to help hold it in place. It will make the next step easier as well.
Once the milk just comes to a boil, turn off the heat. While whisking your egg mixture with one hand (with the towel or trivet holding it in place), pour in just a bit of the boiling milk, less than a tablespoon. Once it’s incorporated add a bit more milk. You’ll notice your egg mixture begin to thin out, but it should not clump like scrambled eggs. Continue like this until you’ve added about half of the milk, whisking the entire time.
Return the pot to the stove top and add the now warmed egg mixture to the pot with the remaining milk. Turn the heat on medium and stir the mixture constantly with a spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot as you do so, until the mix reaches 180F. It will be steaming and will coat the back of a spoon so that you can draw a clean line out of it with your finger. If you notice that you do have some small clumps, just pour the creme through a sieve and discard the clumps, no one will be the wiser.
Pour your hot creme anglaise into a larger clean bowl and let it cool for a moment. This is a good time to start boiling water for your espresso soak. Once the creme is slightly cooled, add your Irish whiskey and stir the mixture well. Cover the creme with plastic wrap so it touches the surface of the cream (to prevent it from forming a skin) and pop it into the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours.
Time to make your espresso soak! Mix your boiling water with the instant espresso powder and light brown sugar. Let the mix cool slightly and add 1 oz of Irish whiskey. Let the soak cool completely before use. It can rest at room temperature as the creme anglaise chills.
After 2 hours, check on your creme anglaise. Does it jiggle like jello when you gently shake the bowl (temperature is about 50F)? Perfect! If it sloshes like liquid, it needs more time to cool.
Remove the plastic wrap from the creme and add the mascarpone to the bowl. Add about 1 inch of water to a pot that the bowl can sit on top of without touching the bottom and bring the water to a boil. Set the bowl over the boiling water, double boiler style, and whisk the creme anglaise and mascarpone together over the boiling water until they are a smooth mixture with no clumps of cheese. I like to take it on and off the heat as needed because while I want the mixture to come together I don’t want it to get too hot. Your finished mixture should be no warmer than 80F. It will feel cool to the touch. Put it back in the fridge for the moment.
Using a stand or hand mixer, whip your cream to a firm peak. The cream should look glossy and thick, with distinct mounds left by the whisk. When the beater is lifted from the bowl, it should hold a gently curved peak and not look dry.
Bring the mascarpone cream out of the fridge and gently whisk in about ⅓ cup of whipped cream to lighten it slightly. Add the remaining whipped cream and gently fold it into the creme. Work quickly but aim to maintain as much volume as possible. Once the whipped cream is folded in, pop the bowl back in the fridge so it stays cool.
If you are using a cake ring, place it on the plate from which you’d like to serve your tiramisu line the inside of the ring with acetate, making sure that there is at least a 1” overlap of the two ends of the acetate. If you are using a springform pan, there is no need to line it, but you will want to place it on a large plate in case there are leaks.
Dip your ladies finger cookies into the espresso soak one by one, submerging them for 2-3 seconds. The bottoms might look more soaked than the tops, but that is ok. You don’t want them to be too soggy. Arrange the cookies into an even layer. I like to have some arranged around the inside of the ring so they will look like a single layer once finished.
Layer on ½ mascarpone cream, airing on the generous side for the middle layer. Gently usher the cream into an even layer that covers the fingers and comes right up to the sides of the cake ring. Place the first two layers into the fridge for about 5 min so the cream starts to set around the ring and firms up a bit more before adding your next layer of ladies fingers.
14. Lay your remaining ladies fingers down on the cream and top them with the cream. Smooth the top layer of cream and let the tiramisu rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours or ideally overnight.
After letting the tiramisu fully chill, dust the top with dutch cocoa powder using a sieve. If some of the coffee has leaked out of the bottom layer of fingers and onto the plate, use a paper towel to wick it away from the ring and clean the plate rim.
If using a cake ring, gently lift the ring off the tiramisu but leave the acetate. You should see distinct layers of ladies fingers and cream! Before serving, remove the acetate. If using a springform pan, remove the ring when you are ready to serve. This cake is best served chilled and can keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container, if it isn’t devoured first!
A possible way to arrange your ladies finger cookies.