Make Berries and Juice Mixture

1. Combine the berries and sugar in a large bowl. Gently toss them together so that the fruit are all coated in the sugar. Cover and refrigerate for about 2-3 hours to let the berries release their juices.
2. Drain the juices from the fruit into a measuring cup and see how much you have. You should get at least 1 cup of juice. If not, let the fruit sit a little longer and see if you can get a little more.
3. Add the amaretto, if using, to the fruit juice. Add water to the fruit juice mixture until you have 2 cups of liquid total. If you didn’t use the amaretto, you’ll just add more water.

Make Mascarpone Cream

1. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in the top of a double boiler (or in a metal mixer bowl over a pot of simmer water). Whisk to combine. The mixture will seem a little chunky at first, but will thin out as it heats up.
2. Continue cooking and whisking vigorously for about 5 minutes, until mixture grows in volume, thickens, turns a pale yellow and reaches 160°F. The sugar should melt, but if it’s still a little grainy, that’s ok. It will smooth out as you go.
3. Set the egg mixture aside to cool to a little warmer than room temperature.
4. While eggs cool, make the whipped cream. Add the heavy whipping cream to a large mixer bowl and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
5. When the egg mixture has cooled (you don’t want to melt the cheese or deflate the whipped cream), add the mascarpone cheese and gently fold together until combined.
6. Gently fold the whipped cream into mascarpone/egg mixture in two parts. Set mixture aside.

Assemble and Refrigerate

1. Dip the ladyfingers, one at a time, into the berry juice mixture for about 3 seconds each. The longer you dip the ladyfingers, the stronger the flavor will be. As you dip the ladyfingers, lay them into the bottom of a 9×13 pan. You should be able to get three rows of ladyfingers (about 8 ladyfingers across) in a layer.
2. Spread half of the mixed berries evenly over the lady fingers.
3. Spread half of the mascarpone filling evenly over the mixed berries. The berries will kind of incorporate into the filling.
4. 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

1. If using, add the freeze-dried berries to a food processor and grind into a powder. Immediately sprinkle the powder over the top of the tiramisu. If the powder sits too long, I find it gets clumpy and sticks together.
2. Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form. Use the whipped cream to decorate on top as desired, or simply spread it over the top. I used Ateco tip 847 to pipe swirls around the sides of the tiramisu.
3. Serve. Store leftovers well covered in the fridge. Best if eaten within 24-48 hours. It may last another day, but the tiramisu will become mushy and less appetizing with time.