This is the official Local Aromas recipe to the classic tiramisù made with coffee (and, by the way, we always use our moka pot coffee machine when preparing it!). For safety reasons, since this is an uncooked dessert, we pasteurize the eggs to make them safe and we'll show you how. Hands up who has prepared this recipe with us during our cooking classes in Rome!

A tale about tiramisù. It is said that this dessert was invented by a clever 'maitresse' of a house of pleasure in the center of Treviso, in Italy's northern region of Veneto. She developed this aphrodisiac dessert to offer to customers at the end of the evening in order to reinvigorate them and solve the problems they may have had with their conjugal duties when returning to their wives. The word tiramisù literally means 'pick me up' and it comes from the local dialect Tireme su, Italianized into tiramisù. This would seem to be the origin of tiramisù, a natural Viagra from the 19th century, served to customers in a brothel.

When to have it. Tiramisù is an after-meal dolce al cucchiaio, so serve it after lunch and dinner. It also makes a great birthday cake that you can prepare in a large serving dish and then cut small squared or rectagled slices when serving it (we never slice tiramisù in triangles!).

First let's see how to prepare the mascarpone cream.

Once the base mascarpone cream is ready, it's time to assemble your coffee tiramisù!

Straight From Our YouTube Channel

Watch Benedetta and Valeria, the Foodie Sisters in Italy, prepare their family coffee tiramisù recipe.

Then learn all about Italy's world-famous dessert!