Tiramisù gelato

Mascarpone and egg-yolk gelato, layered with espresso-soaked ladyfingers and dusted with cocoa.

The famous dessert from the Veneto turned into gelato: a base of mascarpone and a few egg yolks tastes like tiramisù cream, and the coffee-soaked ladyfingers are layered in only when you transfer it to the tub. Mascarpone is over 40 % fat, so the recipe needs no cream. The yolks are heated to 82–84 °C, so the gelato is safe with no raw egg.

Type: Italian gelato · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 560 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 35 g skimmed milk powder
  • 40 g egg yolk (2 yolks)
  • 140 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 45 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 150 g mascarpone
  • 80 g ladyfingers (savoiardi) (for topping or folding in at the end, about 10)
  • 100 g espresso (brewed) (for topping or folding in at the end, cooled, for dipping)
  • 10 g cocoa powder (10–12 % fat) (for topping or folding in at the end, for dusting)

Making the mix

  1. Heat the milk with the milk powder in a pan until almost boiling.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar and dextrose until pale and thick.
  3. Whisking constantly, pour about a third of the hot milk onto the yolks in a thin stream, then tip everything back into the pan.
  4. Stir over a low heat with a wooden spoon until the custard reaches 82–84 °C and coats the back of the spoon (a line drawn with your finger stays clean). Do not let it boil — the yolks would curdle.
  5. Take the custard off the heat, add the mascarpone and blend until smooth with a stick blender.
  6. Strain the custard into a bowl set in iced water and cool it below 5 °C, stirring now and then.
  7. Press cling film onto the surface and leave to age in the fridge for 4–12 hours.
  8. Just before churning, dip the ladyfingers briefly in the espresso (1–2 seconds), break them into pieces and put them in the fridge.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch the ice cream maker on 5–10 minutes in advance so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Give the aged mix a quick blitz with a stick blender and pour it into the bowl, no higher than the max line.
  3. Churn for about 30–40 minutes, until the gelato is thick and glossy and clings to the paddle. Then switch the machine off — churning any longer would only whip in unnecessary air.
  4. Layer the gelato and pieces of soaked ladyfinger alternately in a chilled tub, dusting each layer of gelato with cocoa. Cover with cling film and leave to harden for 1–2 hours.

Total time: 7 h 45 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the bowl, frozen for at least 24 hours, out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the well-chilled, freshly blended mix — filling the bowl no more than two-thirds full.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the gelato thickens to a soft-serve consistency. There is no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Layer the gelato with the ladyfinger pieces and cocoa in a chilled tub, cover with cling film and leave to harden for 2–3 hours.

A freezer bowl only partly freezes the mix, so the gelato needs longer to harden in the freezer and tends to be slightly less smooth than from a compressor machine. A well-chilled, properly aged mix helps.

Total time: 8 h 35 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Pour the aged mix into the CREAMi tub up to the MAX line, put the lid on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  2. Fit the tub into the machine and run the Gelato programme (if your model doesn’t have it, use Ice Cream).
  3. If the gelato is powdery or crumbly, run Re-spin, and a second time if needed (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).
  4. Put a handful of soaked ladyfinger pieces into a well in the centre and run Mix-in. Sift cocoa over the top.
  5. Serve straight away. Level off whatever is left, refreeze it and process it again before the next serving.

Programme: Gelato

Total time: 29 h 15 min

Method — No-machine method

  1. Pour the aged mix into a deep metal or glass container (a baking dish, for example) and put it in the freezer.
  2. After 45 minutes, mix it thoroughly with a whisk or stick blender, stirring the frozen edges into the centre.
  3. Repeat every 30 minutes, 5–6 times in all, until the gelato is thick and smooth.
  4. After the last stir, layer the gelato in the container with the soaked ladyfinger pieces and cocoa.
  5. Smooth the surface, cover with cling film and leave to harden for an hour.

Without a machine the gelato freezes more slowly and entirely at −18 °C, so the adjusted recipe has more dextrose (higher PAC). That way it stays scoopable even without tempering.

Total time: 9 h 40 min

Stages

Preparation
25 min
Cooking
15 min
Cooling
30 min
Ageing in the fridge
4 h
Churning
35 min
Hardening in the freezer
2 h
Total time
7 h 45 min

Serving and storage

Dust the scoops with cocoa and serve with a cup of espresso. Gelaterias keep it in the display case at −11 to −13 °C, while a home freezer runs at −18 °C — straight out of it, gelato is hard. So move the tub to the fridge 15–20 minutes before serving (or leave it at room temperature for 8–10 minutes) and work the gelato with a spatula before scooping, just as they do in a gelateria.

Artisan gelato is made to be eaten fresh: it is best on the day you make it and within 3–5 days. In a closed tub with cling film pressed onto the surface it will keep in the freezer for up to two weeks, but it gradually hardens and ice crystals build up. Over time the ladyfingers turn soggy and then hard — tiramisù gelato is best within two days.

Tips

  • Really do dip the ladyfingers only briefly. Soaked through with coffee, they would freeze into hard lumps in the gelato.
  • For adults, add 2 tablespoons of Marsala or rum to the dipping espresso.
  • Add the mascarpone to the warm custard, not the cold one — it blends in better and won’t split.

Why it works

Mascarpone replaces the cream: 150 g adds about 6 % fat, and together with the milk and yolks the total comes to around 9.5 %. The ladyfingers and coffee are not mixed into the base, so they are not counted in the composition. Anti-freezing power (PAC) tells you how much water stays unfrozen at a given temperature — the higher it is, the softer the gelato. Dextrose has almost twice the anti-freezing power of granulated sugar but is about a third less sweet, which is why gelaterias combine the two sugars.

Sources