4 Levels of Tiramisu: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

We challenged chefs of three different skill levels – amateur Desi, home cook Daniel, and professional chef Jurgen David, director of pastry research and development at the Institute of Culinary Education – to make us their take on a classic tiramisu. Once each level of chef had presented their creations, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way. Which tiramisu will you be your next sweet treat?

Check out Chef Jürgen’s Tiramisu Recipe on the ICE blog: https://ice.edu/blog/recipe-chef-jurgens-elegant-tiramisu

00:00 Intro
00:42 Biscuit
02:31 Custard
05:50 Soaking Syrup
08:42 Garnish
10:56 Plating
11:55 Taste Test
13:03 Level 4

Director: Lisa Paradise
Director of Photography: Jeremy Harris
Editor: Manolo Moreno
Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Janke
Producer: Tyre Nobles
Culinary Producer: Mallary Santucci
Culinary Associate Producer: Leslie Raney
Line Producer: Jen McGinity
Associate Producer: Sahara Pagan
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Assistant Camera: Lucas Young
Sound Mixer: Brett van Deusen
Production Assistant: Justine Ramirez
Culinary Assistant: Jami Samuelson-Kopek
Researcher: Vivian Jao
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds

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[coffee splashing] [sieve taps] [upbeat music] – I am Desi, I’m a level-one chef. – I’m Daniel, and I’m a level-two chef. – I’m Chef Jurgen, I am the Director of Pastry Research and Development at the Institute of Culinary Education. I’ve been a professional chef for 33-years. [upbeat music]

– I’m making a classic but easy tiramisu. – I’m making a classic tiramisu, but I’m gonna spice it up a little bit with some Puerto Rican-inspired flavors. – I’m making a twist on the classic tiramisu, like the name says, it’s a pick me up and it gives you a little boost of energy.

– This is an upbeat coffee cake. – Yummy. [musical blast] Ladyfingers are a must have component for a tiramisu. – For my cookies, I’m using these Italian biscuits that I found at the grocery store. I read the back, that’s how I know they’re Italian.

– This one looks like a store-bought Stella D’oro Cookie. Yeah, that looks very dense and very dry. I would not use this cookie, bye-bye. So I’m gonna make my own today. Ladyfingers are a cookie that is made with a separated egg foam, and for that you prepare a meringue first.

– Making your own cookie, I dunno if I was cut out for that life. They’re so good out of the box, I don’t know if I could do any better. – The first thing is going to be a French meringue. French meringue consists of [blender hums] uncooked egg whites and uncooked sugar.

So if I put that between my fingers now, it feels like a cotton ball, the cotton ball test. I’m going to fold my egg yolks into this. A very gentle movement that’s gonna cut through the mass. Once it starts to look streaky like this,

I’m going to start to sift the flour on top. By gently folding, I wanna make sure that I do not deflate this batter. – I figure if I was gonna get something that was packaged, you gotta go for a little bit of a step up. Pavesini Italian ladyfinger, the good stuff, ding!

– [Chef Jurgen] That means I can get ready to put this in a piping bag. Now I like to do it diagonally, because I think that looks pretty. It’s going to make the ladyfingers have a nice texture and I could have spread it with a spatula,

But I like the little ridges on it. – [Desi] We’re doing reverse Jenga as you put these biscuits in your bowl. – [Jurgen] That powder sugar’s gonna seal the moisture in. It’s gonna give you a nice texture on the top. This will bake very fast.

I’m gonna throw this in the oven at 375-degrees, and let’s go. – All right, well we probably did the hardest part of the meal, put the biscuits in the bowl. – These ladyfingers are cooled off. I’m going to use this ring to cut uniform circles

And I’m planning on using four-disks per individual serving to make the layers for our tiramisu. – So this is good enough for me. I think the custard is a very important part. You can have ladyfingers falling apart like the cookie layer’s not that even, but if your custard’s okay,

I think it’s possible to save it a tiramisu. – For the base of my custard, start out with the heavy cream. – Heavy cream that I’m gonna whip my hand. My twist on the recipe is that the base of the mascarpone mousse is a Sabayon, it’s stirred custard.

– So the base of my cream, I’m gonna make a really simple custard. I got some egg yolks, some sugar, and Marsala wine. This is gonna go home with me. [whisk buzzes] – [Desi] Time to get the whipping. – I could use a mixer, but this is

Such a small amount of heavy cream, might just as well do it by hand. Get my little work out in. – [Desi] I’m gonna slowly add some sugar, back to stirring. [whisk buzzes] Dump the rest. – We wanna just whip this to a medium peak.

That’s ready, I’m gonna put this in the refrigerator. – I love vanilla, I always wanted to be a DJ too, it’s like I’m at a turntable right now, Master Flex, – I’m going to use sheet gelatin. It’s more precise to use this over the powder gelatin that you can buy.

Cold water, once the gelatin blooms, I am totally ready to make my mousse. I’m using a double boiler, because that is the most gentle heat, and I do not want to overcook these eggs. – I’m going to bring this water up to a simmer, and then I’m gonna whisk

My egg yolks. – [Jurgen] Egg yolks. – [Daniel] My Marsala wine. – [Jurgen] My Marsala. – [Daniel] And sugar. – [Jurgen] And sugar. – [Daniel] In a bowl separately, before putting it on top of the double boiler that I’ve created here. – [Jurgen] My water, I’m going to combine this right away.

– The steam from the water is going to heat this until I’m looking for it to kind of change. It’s supposed to get a little lighter, and the volume is going to double almost. I’m thinking maybe five, seven-minutes tops if all goes well. – [Jurgen] Hot enough so that it’s safe to eat,

’cause I’m all about food safety. – So as I’m cooking this down, the Marsala wine’s giving off those plummy red fruit notes, and that coupled with sugar, it’s like caramelized fruit. Ah, you see it’s getting a lot lighter. Yeah, creamy, not chunky. The eggs aren’t cooking on me,

But that is my custard right now. – I’m going to do this very quickly and transfer these into the stand mixer. Place gelatin in here. Look at this. [mixer buzzes] It kind of looks like mayonnaise or hollandaise. I’m going to add this mixture to the mascarpone.

– [Desi] This a spreadable cheese you use on biscuits, crackers, bread. – Like a rich, velvety sweet cheese. – I only use it because every tiramisu recipe says I gotta use this, I’m being a follower. Well according to Google, you can’t make it without it. So [lips smack].

– Thought it would be a little sweeter, but I guess that velvety mouth feel. – Okay, it’s like sour milk, but it’s gonna work. – You wanna really invest into getting a nice silky mascarpone that will allow itself to fold nicely. – Let’s get back to the whipping though.

– [Daniel] I get why it’s in this recipe. Off the rip, this looks super thick. I’m gonna lighten this up by adding and folding in some of the homemade whipped cream to give it more of that fluffy texture that we like in the custard.

– Nice and gentle so that I preserve the volume of the whipped cream – Still has a custardy texture, but it’s still airy, still white, it’s frigging delicious. – The base for this was the sabayon, and it is flavored with the Marsala wine. It is thickened with the gelatin,

And the last component is the whipped cream. It is now considered a mousse, look at this, yummy. – This looks perfect, nice and fluffy, looks good though. – Ladyfingers are soaked in a liquid before they go into the full assembly of a tiramisu. – [Jurgen] It’s got very distinct flavor combinations.

– Hey, man, I’m gonna get it real simple. Since we’re from New York, y’all drink coffee out of a cup like this. – I am Puerto Rican and I went recently to the island with my family. So I wanna bring that island vibe to this tiramisu that I’m making here.

Starting with Cafe Bustelo, Puerto Rican jet fuel for the beginning of your day. – [Desi] Some coffee. – Really nice espresso. This dessert is called tiramisu, and that means pick me up. We’re gonna add orange juice, it’s a little sweet and it’s mellow, it’s not as aggressive as lemon juice would be.

It makes a really nice, balanced, rounded out soaking syrup. I learned that one in Switzerland. – [Desi] Some Kahlua liquor. – [Daniel] Coconut rum, – [Jurgen] Amaretto. – So how stressed I are, liquor. – [Jurgen] And we have rum, gives it a nice kick. – Salute to tiramisu and the Chef, mazel tov.

Make your eyes pop, but it’s good. – Now, the beauty behind powdered sugar is that it dissolves into this very easy, and doesn’t leave me with any chunks, like regular granulated sugar would. – A little bit of vanilla mellows out the flavors in here. It takes the edge off things. [Daniel sniffs]

– Ah, I’ve got everything I need. Time to assemble this bad boy. – Let’s start building my reverse Jenga. take my little biscuit, get the dipping. – Little ladyfingers, remember, nice and crispy. Don’t want ’em nice and crispy, want ’em nice and soft. – Everyone else is dunking, ’cause I’m a pro.

Anyways, I’m going to use a pastry brush, because I have the best control, and I can do it the fastest. The syrup gets soaked into the nooks and crannies here, and also that way I guarantee that they’re not completely soggy and wet. I wanna preserve a little bit on the bottom

So that we have a little bit of the cookie texture. – [Daniel] Line the bottom of this. – [Desi] From Jenga to Tetris. – And if all goes well, it’ll be nice and photogenic, but if it’s not, don’t tirami-su me [laughs]. – I’m a big fan of making individual portions,

Because I’m special, you’re special, I wanna have my own. I’m gonna do this on the scale so that all my layers are uniform. I’m placing one cookie at the base of each of my rings. – [Daniel] The next layer is custard. – [Desi] We wanna cover all cookies. – [Daniel] Layering this out.

– I’m gonna fill it like a pro, I’m just going to check what’s happening on the scale, and it should be 25-grams each. I’m making this uniform so that each dessert is exactly the same as the other, ’cause you don’t wanna make anyone jealous by having a much bigger serving.

– Time to add another layer, back to soaking. Look at that drip, nice little teardrop. – Going now to another layer, and I get to collect my tax for doing such a good job. This is gonna be great. Rest of the custard is going on.

The last thing I’m gonna do is dust this with some chocolate and some special friends, and get this in the fridge. [biscuit crunches] – The last layer, I’m gonna do a thin layer of this custard to just kinda make it flat. It’s gonna look very pretty

When we put our cocoa powder on top. I’m gonna pop these in the fridge for about one to two-hours until they’re completely set. – I’m in love with the cocoa, I love cocoa. – First thing I’m gonna do is sprinkle a little bit of nutmeg, not too much,

Just enough of bring out more of the chocolate flavor. Add a little bit of that subtle like, “Hmm, what is that?” Nutmeg! – I am going to make an nice chocolate sauce. Milk, I’m going to heat it up, put it over the chocolate and let it melt the chocolate for me.

Nobody wants burnt chocolate. I’m going to let this sit a couple of seconds. I’m going to take the cream, the sugar, and my butter, which is unsalted. I’m making this first, so when I put the two together, I will bring this to a boil, that way the chocolate won’t burn.

I want this to look nice and luscious. Hmm, that’s yummy. Cream and butter and sugar are boiling. I’m going to add my chocolate ganache to this. Look how luscious this looks, it’s beautiful. Bring that to a boil one more time. I’m not really thickening the sauce by boiling it.

I just wanna make sure that all these flavors and ingredients really melt together. Look at all the bubbles, here we go, and when it looks like this, we can turn this off. And I will refine this by adding a little bit of coffee extract,

And we’re gonna do a nice healthy pinch of salt. That’s a ganache-based chocolate sauce now, look at how luscious this is. It will then hold its shape on the plate once it’s cooled down. [sniffs] Oh, it’s delicious. – Next cinnamon, I will be a little more heavy handed on this.

I also love cinnamon and coffee together. It goes well with the custard, the chocolate, the coffee. Last, this is what I’m gonna be super liberal with, so I’m using 100% cocoa powder, because there’s a little bit of bitterness that I like and that’s gonna cut it back a little bit,

And bring it all together really nicely. I think the layers are pretty good looking. All that’s left to do is put this into the fridge for a couple of hours, let the custard sets, get nice and cohesive, so when I cut into it, it stays together. And then I can eat this thing.

– I’m going to melt some chocolate over this double boiler, and while this melts, I’m going to prepare some paper cornets. I will cut a small opening. I’m gonna make an oxo, because it’s hugs and kisses, since it is a romantic dessert. I can also make a little heart.

Look at that, yes, this is it, little hugs and kisses. See how fast that went? You can do this too. Now I’m ready to assemble my tiramisu, and I’m gonna get ready to eat it. ♪ First cut is the hardest ♪ ♪ Baby I know. ♪ – Seriously though…

– Just look at it [sniffs]. I’m proud, proud. – Release the kraken, no, it’s tiramisu. – [Desi] Let’s cut our first slice. Sorry, I gotta do this to you. No offense. – [Daniel] I’m gonna try my best. – I’m pushing the knife against the ring. I’m gonna check, look, is it moving?

Yes, it is, hooray. I find it less messy to do the cocoa powder on top right now and then remove the ring, so that way I have a little less spillage of the cocoa powder, yes. Using the chocolate sauce, I’m gonna make a teardrop shape.

Nice little scoop, and it will make it look fancy. – [Desi] Ooh, it’s like a cake version of a big man. Look at that, see the layers. – [Daniel] Lay this down on here. – Using the whipped cream, I’m using a silver spoon that I warmed in hot water to make my quenelle,

By making the spoon hot the cream will not stick to it. I’m gonna share my heart with you. – And this is my tiramisu. – This is my take on tiramisu, baby. – This is my tiramisu. – This is perfect, man. I don’t even want to eat it, man.

– That was the whole point of the operation was to establish some layers and I think we did it. This is like pretty textbook tiramisu, if I do say so myself. – I’m gonna taste it right away, because I can’t wait any longer. – Even break off smooth. [Daniel hums]

– I’m speechless, it’s amazing, – Especially with a little bit of that coconut, it’s just enough coconut with the rum, and I think the chocolate does exactly what it was intended to do, cuts through a lot of that sweetness brings you back down to a place you can eat this whole thing.

– The texture of the ladyfingers, they’re not oversoaked, that means it still has a little bite to it. – Honestly, I think it is the perfect combination of like traditional Italian tiramisu and a little bit of that island home spiciness that I like.

– I’m about to buy myself a trophy as soon as I leave here. – Tiramisu is a silky darkly robust, layered dessert. Let’s see how each of our three chefs made theirs. [drum music] Desi and Daniel used store-bought sponge cake piped into finger length strips, aptly called ladyfingers.

They’re light and airy, but slightly dry, so they absorb liquid flavors well. Jurgen made his own ladyfingers by beating egg whites to soft peaks and gradually adding finely granulated sugar, making a French meringue. He sifted cake flour over the meringue and then folded in whipped yolks. This is a real balancing act.

The weight of the flour and the fat from the egg yolks can both easily deflate the delicate air pockets in the meringue. [drum music] Desi used cold coffee. The flavor of coffee is derived from various chemical reactions such as caramelization, paralysis and polyphenol degradation. Over 1,000-complex flavor and aroma molecules

Have been isolated in brewed coffee. To his coffee, Daniel added sugar and coconut liqueur, which has a lower ABV than rum. This alcohol imparts a coconut essence and a sharp sweetness. Jurgen combined amaretto, an almond-flavor liqueur, rum, and orange juice. There’s more alcohol in this syrup and the base is espresso.

Espresso is a concentrated coffee made by forcing pressurized hot water through very finely ground and compacted coffee beans. The increased surface area from the fine grind allows maximum extraction of coffee, aroma, and flavor compounds. This is an intensely concentrated flavor, which works so well with a delicately neutral flavored ladyfingers and mascarpone cream.

[drum music] Desi used whipped cream and mascarpone, the traditional cheese used. Mascarpone is like an Italian version of cream cheese from the Lombardi region of Italy, but it’s less tangy due to the lack of starter culture or rennet in this recipe. Warm heavy cream is coagulated by citric or tartaric acid.

It resembles a dense cream. The addition of the whipped cream made the thick mascarpone easier to spread. Daniel made a custard base, which is sweet and thick from slowly cooking egg yolks with sugar and Marsala, a sweet wine. The acid from the wine keep the coagulated egg proteins soft and tender.

Whipped cream helped to lighten up his custard base. Jurgen made a silky sabayon, a custard stirred overheat promoting the thickening of the sauce. He stabilized the sabayon by adding gelatin, a protein made from hydrolyzed collagen, an animal protein derived from connective tissue. He too added mascarpone and whipped cream. Absolutely heavenly.

Tiramisu is more than a pick me up, as the name suggests, it’s a showstopper dessert. If you’re making it for a crowd or as an individual treat, we hope you’ll take tips from our three creative chefs.