Chocolate Tiramisu with Amaretto Liquor

Chocolate tiramisu with amaretto liquor is the perfect summer dessert. It’s easy to make, delivers a lot of flavour and actually doesn’t involve a lot of work. What’s not to like!? I added chocolate sauce to make this treat extra special…

I have so many humble memories from my childhood that involve tiramisu. It may sound quite strange, because Lithuania isn’t really a country known for the best tiramisu. However, this dessert was always the showstopper during our family celebrations.

The reason for this odd dessert choice was my amazing aunt. She was always tempted to try new things and discover new flavours. One time, her local shop introduced tiramisu to their dessert assortment, and the rest is history! My auntie tried it and fell in love with this treat. She bought it constantly – birthdays, family gatherings or just Friday’s… you name it.

Tiramisu became synonymous with celebrations in our family. This incredible woman created the most memorable events in our family with a simple slice of delicious tiramisu.

Funnily enough, when I think about the past now, I realise she never actually made this dessert herself. She would always grab it in the shop. We all thought tiramisu was the most difficult recipe in the world because it delivered so much flavour. Nobody even tempted to recreate it.  

Many years later, tiramisu is still one of my favourite desserts. Every time I eat it, I relive all those happy memories. In some way, it helps me reconnect with my family, through this amazing silky, smooth and sweet treat.  

Chocolate Tiramisu – Everything You Need To Know

I wanted to incorporate some new excitement into a classic recipe, so I came up with this chocolate tiramisu recipe. You are welcome to skip the chocolate layer and keep it very traditional, but if you want a little change – try it with the chocolate ganache.

To make the chocolate tiramisu extra special, I baked ladyfingers from scratch. It really made a lot of difference. They are soft, fluffy and give more flavour to the tiramisu. If you’re running out of time though, feel free to skip this step and swap them for shoppable options.

I know many of you don’t feel OK with using uncooked eggs, but for classic tiramisu (same for chocolate tiramisu) you can’t skip this ingredient, so please choose the best quality eggs you can find! If you’re still concerned, you can pasteurise your eggs before adding them to the cream layer. To do this, just put the eggs in 60-degree water for 3 minutes. After that, leave the eggs in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Chocolate Tiramisu Recipe Swaps

This is an easy recipe, so all the swaps come naturally, but here are some suggestions:

• Let’s start with the easiest and the most obvious swap – the dish. Tiramisu can be served in one big dish or in a couple of individual jars. There is no right or wrong answer, just your preference.
• Chocolate layer – you can mix different types of chocolates to make the best flavour combinations.
• As always, I love to add a splash of alcohol to my desserts. This time I added amaretto liquor, but you can skip this ingredient or swap it for rum, whiskey or brandy.
• If you don’t like coffee, feel free to swap that for tea.

If you love desserts which chocolate, give these recipes a go as well:

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Orange Tart with Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Cake with Baileys Liquor and Coffee
Rich Chocolate Cake with Orange Cream and Chocolate Pudding
Chocolate Swiss Roll with Cherry Jam and Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Tiramisu Recipe

Ingredients

Ladyfingers:
3 eggs
100g caster sugar
45g plain flour
45g cornstarch

Chocolate layer:
100g milk chocolate
100ml double cream

Mascarpone layer:
1 egg
100g caster sugar
250g mascarpone cheese
150ml double cream

Dipping sauce:
100ml strong coffee
50ml amaretto

Method

Prepare the ladyfingers:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Whisk the egg whites (adding the caster sugar in 3 equal quantities) until you reach stiff peaks.
3. Beat the egg yolks until they turn pale in colour.
4. Add a big spoonful of the egg whites into the egg yolks and mix for a looser texture.
5. Pour the remaining egg whites into the egg yolks and gently fold in until everything is combined.
6. Add the sifted plain flour and cornstarch and gently mix.
7. Add the mixture into a piping bag with a round nozzle. Pipe out logs about 8-10cm long onto the prepared baking tray.
8. Bake the ladyfingers in the oven for 6-8 minutes.

Prepare the chocolate layer:

1. Heat the double cream and add the chocolate. Let the chocolate melt and after that mix everything together. Leave on aside to cool down.

Prepare the cream layer:

1. Separate the eggs and add sugar into egg yolks. Whisk everything together until the mixture gets pale.
2. Add the mascarpone cheese. Mix everything.
3. Add the double cream into the mixture. Gently fold in.
4. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
5. Add the egg whites into the mascarpone cheese mixture and fold them in.

Prepare the dipping sauce:

1. Mix the strong coffee with amaretto.

Assemble tiramisu:

1. Prepare the dish (or dishes!) in which you want to serve the tiramisu (I used 5 small jars).
2. Add the cream layer to the bottom of your dish.
3. Dip the ladyfingers into the dipping sauce for a second and add them on top of the cream.
4. Pour the chocolate layer on top.
5. Repeat the process and finish with the cream layer.
6. Dust the tiramisu with cocoa powder.