Berry Tiramisu

I absolutely love tiramisu – especially when it’s homemade. The soft ladyfingers, the creamy and light filling – it’s so good. This time of year though, I also love berries. So, I thought it would be fun to change it up and add berries to my tiramisu!

Ingredients and Notes

Here’s a look at what you’ll need and a few things to keep in mind (look for precise measurements in the recipe card below):

What Berries to Use?

I used a combination of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. I really love strawberries, and they release juices better than blueberries, so the recipe is written to include more of them. Feel free to adjust to your favorite berries, just keep in mind they may release a different amount of juice.

I also highly recommend using fresh berries, rather than frozen berries. Frozen berries often have added water, which will water down the flavor of the berry juice. You also may not get as much juice from frozen berries.

How To Make Berry Tiramisu

Here’s a quick look at how to make this amazing dessert, along with step-by-step photos. For more thorough instructions, scroll to the recipe card below.

Prep Berries and Juice

• Make berry juices – Combine the berries and sugar and gently toss them together. Cover and refrigerate for about 2-3 hours to let the berries release their juices. Drain the juices from the fruit into a measuring cup.
• Finish making berry juice mixture – Add the amaretto, if using. Add water to the fruit juice mixture until you have 2 cups of liquid total. If you didn’t use the amaretto, just add more water.

Make Mascarpone Cream

• Combine yolks and sugar – Combine the egg yolks and sugar in the top of a double boiler. The mixture will seem a little chunky at first, but will thin out as it heats up.
• Heat and whisk until cooked – Continue cooking and whisking vigorously for about 5 minutes, until mixture grows in volume, thickens, turns a pale yellow and reaches 160°F. Set the egg mixture aside to cool to a little warmer than room temperature.

• Make whipped cream – While eggs cool, make the whipped cream. Add the heavy whipping cream to a bowl and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
• Add mascarpone cheese – Add the mascarpone cheese to the cooled egg mixture and gently fold together.
• Fold in whipped cream – Gently fold the whipped cream into mascarpone/egg mixture in two parts. Set mixture aside.

Assemble Tiramisu

• Soak ladyfingers – Dip the ladyfingers into the berry juice mixture for about 3 seconds each. As you dip the ladyfingers, lay them into the bottom of a 9×13 pan.
• Layer berries and filling – Spread half of the mixed berries evenly over the lady fingers. Spread half of the mascarpone filling evenly over the mixed berries.
• Repeat layers and chill – Repeat another berry juice and ladyfinger layer. Then use the remaining mixed berries for another layer of berries and top with remaining the mascarpone filling. Set in the fridge to chill for at least 3-4 hours, or overnight.
• Decorate and serve – Sprinkle powdered freeze-dried berries over the top of the tiramisu. Use whipped cream to decorate on top as desired. I used Ateco tip 847 to pipe swirls around the sides of the tiramisu.

What type of pan should I use?

While testing this recipe quite a bit, I noticed the pan I used made quite a difference to how much coverage the fruit and mascarpone cream layers got. Many glass and ceramic 9×13 pans have a more narrow bottom, which means you use less ladyfingers per layer (6 or 7), the berries are more densely packed and the mascarpone cream layer is thicker (and the tiramisu ends up taller). A true 9×13 cake pan has a wider bottom, so you use more like 8 ladyfingers per layer and everything adjusts a bit. I adjusted the recipe a few times so that it works well for either type pan and there’s enough of everything either way, but just something to keep in mind.

If you’d like to make a smaller version, you can cut the recipe in half and use an 8 or 9-inch square pan.

Tips For Success

• Mascarpone cheese temperature – You’ll want to use slightly softened, but still cool, mascarpone. Remove it from the fridge about 10-15 minutes before you’re ready to use it so it has time to soften just a bit. Keep in mind that if it gets too warm/soft, it can start to separate and there’s no fixing it.
• Get enough berry juice – The sugar in the berries draws out their juices and helps you get all the juice you’ll need. Please don’t reduce the amount used in the recipe, even though it may be tempting, or you may not get enough.
• Cold heavy whipping cream – Be sure it’s nice and cold so it whips properly. I leave it in the fridge until right before I need it.
• Stable whipped cream for decorating – If using whipped cream to decorate your tiramisu, the powdered sugar will stabilize it so that it doesn’t wilt – ever! Be sure not to leave it out.

What can I use instead of mascarpone cheese?

If you can’t find mascarpone cheese, or just don’t want to use it, cream cheese would be ok. The flavor of cream cheese is just different and stronger, so keep that in mind.

Can I substitute the liqueur?

Absolutely! While I think it adds great flavor, I know not everything wants to use it. You can replace it with additional water.

Can I use soft ladyfingers?

Not in this tiramisu. They will be too soft to hold up with all of the moisture from dipping the ladyfingers in fruit juice.