We Tried 9 Different Tiramisu Recipes

In this video, I’m joined by Simone to taste our way through 9 popular tiramisu recipes in search of the best/most authentic recipe!

The full breakdown, including the data analysis and my top picks, is posted on my blog. Thank you to our sponsor, @imperialsugar for providing the high-quality pure cane sugar that made for perfectly sweet and creamy tiramisus!

Blog post: https://www.thepancakeprincess.com/2021/09/08/best-tiramisu-bake-off/
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Videography by Michael Ma from Makin Media: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVmDwPqO5KtK3egOqWG9xzA

Recipes (in order shown):
00:00​​​ Intro to the key lime pie bake off
01:21 A Cozy Kitchen: https://www.acozykitchen.com/tiramisu
2:38 America’s Test Kitchen: https://www.wallflourgirl.com/2013/10/24/the-very-best-tiramisu-americas-test-kitchen/
4:27 Cucina by Elena: https://www.cucinabyelena.com/zia-chiaras-tiramisu/
6:36 Bigger Bolder Baking: https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/easy-10-minute-tiramisu/
8:29 Sally’s Baking Addiction/Maida Heatter: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/tiramisu/
10:06 Giada de Laurentiis: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/tiramisu-recipe-1913608
11:23 Del Posto: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/del-postos-tiramisu
12:41 Bravetart: https://www.seriouseats.com/best-tiramisu-recipe
14:40 Kitchen Joy: https://kitchenjoyblog.com/authentic-italian-tiramisu/
16:11 Favorite picks
17:38 Wrap up + Italian lesson from Simone

In case you’re new here, here’s how a bake off works:
– I bake 9-12 different recipes in one day
– Samples of each recipe get distributed to a team of tasters
– Tasters rank each sample for flavor, texture and overall appeal
– We analyze the data and rank each recipe according to the scores!

Take out that part where i make that stupid face hey you ready yes hi i’m erica from the pancake princess and today we are tasting tiramisu so i have to say i am not actually a tiramisu expert i haven’t eaten that much of it in my life so i brought in

Backup for this tasting video fimo welcome hi ciao everyone i’m simone um i’m very excited to try your nine types of tiramisu amazing so where are you from and how much tiramisu have you eaten in your life so i’m from rome and i’ve eaten a lot of tiramisu especially from my grandma so

It’s gonna be it’s gonna be very interesting to taste like these different ones and i’m gonna tell you which one is the best and which one is the most authentic amazing so of the recipes that we tried i feel like it kind of airs on the side

Of like american tiramisu because a lot of them have alcohol i think simo said that he typically doesn’t eat a lot of tiramisu with alcohol but there’s a lot of different variations using egg yolks heavy cream whole eggs so we’re going to taste our way through nine popular recipes and let you know

Our thoughts on each This recipe is by a cozy kitchen this was highly requested um it is a recipe that only uses egg yolks and heavy cream in the mascarpone cream um the ladyfingers get soaked in coffee and some dark rum it is super easy to make you just throw everything into a bowl

Mix it together and then layer it okay as a tiramisu noob i feel like i’m gonna think these are all delicious but simo i need you to keep me real was this good i think it was it was okay um meaning that uh it is a little

Um it could be a little more more moist i would like it to be a little more moist but it was good like it was very well balanced and i think you couldn’t taste the the alcohol inside yeah you could taste like a little sweeter but not the

It wasn’t predominant so that’s that’s a good thing yeah i agree it was not too boozy like a very light flavor because i also don’t like tiramisu like super boozy um but yeah the ladyfingers were a little bit drier but that could just be that i should have dunked them a little

Bit longer in the coffee so but yeah i think the cream tasted really good like overall like the ratio was really good of like cream to ladyfinger like the flavor was good that yes for sure yeah was it authentic um clothes captioning not in the available cream um but it adds a

Little bit of instant espresso powder to the coffee mixture when you dip the lady fingers in um and it just has a slightly higher ratio of yolks and cream okay you ready yes let’s do it a little foggy no actually not you think is that like how it’s supposed

To be that’s how i like it to be um i think you can taste more the yolk in this one interesting i feel like i’m tasting a lot more coffee probably more than before yes but like still i i still like it more to have more

Coffee on it okay okay but the texture the ladyfingers is good to you i think the texture is good yeah this one is the right texture right most interesting i think it’s a little mushy but i guess that’s how it’s supposed to be i think so yeah that’s the in my opinion

That’s that’s how i like it okay okay but taste wise how does it compare it to a cozy kitchen taste wise i think um it tastes more like you can taste a little bit more the coffee and like definitely the cream um i i could taste

More the yolk of the egg for sure but yeah i would say that coffee said it’s better but like the yolk it’s a little too intense yeah okay outside so authentic right now um not really no no wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait what

So like if we took the texture of this plus the flavor of the cozy kitchen you think that would be like the ideal yeah okay okay this recipe is by cucina by elena and she is an italian food blogger so i was super excited to try her recipe her

Recipe uses whole eggs no cream she separates the eggs whips the egg whites and kind of folds everything together for the mascarpone cream she doesn’t use any alcohol and she uses coffee as opposed to espresso to soak the ladyfingers all right you ready to try yes of course taste is very good

I like when the chocolate stays overnight um yes i think she was one of the only ones that had cocoa like sprinkled in the in between layer not just on top oh yeah that’s very that’s very good actually i really like it i think it could be a little bit more

Uh moist a little bit more coffee i would like to taste a little bit more like coffee but it’s very it’s a very good one and yeah and also like having the coffee staying overnight on top of the top of the tiramisu in the fridge i think it’s good it removes like the

Usual choking hazard that like cocoa powder like it can create like whenever you eat it so it’s very important that when you actually go and eat the tiramisu you don’t inhale well while the tiramisu is close to your mouth when it’s like freshly dusted on top and

There’s like half an inch and you’re just like so excited to eat it but then you inhale as you’re you’re gonna like choke and feel like dying it’s uh it’s horrible that’s horrible being there cool um i actually am kind of missing the alcohol in this one i didn’t realize i

Mean to me it tastes like just a little bit bland like i think the flavor is good but i think like a little bit of rum would have like enhanced it for me but you like it without it i yes i like it without it i prefer it without it um but also

I think it would need more a little bit more coffee like okay so that’s probably my fault and like the coffee that i brewed and also not dipping it for long enough so noted for next time is it authentic i think so great congratulations elena fellow italian that gives it the thumbs up

This recipe is by bigger bolder baking and it stood out for a couple reasons so it doesn’t use any eggs so the cream is just mascarpone cream and sugar it also uses homemade ladyfingers so not sure if i really made those correctly but we’re going to taste it and see all right

Oh it’s already firmer than some others the ladyfingers are kind of dry yeah yeah that’s what i was gonna say yeah but it is very good yeah i like this lady thing like in particular really like the texture i think i think the texture is it’s really good the texture

Of the lady finger not really the texture of the flavor okay the texture of course for the tiramisu it should be like i think it should have more coffee and like so being more moist but i guess like being homemade like maybe changes a little bit like the

Time that you need to dip in and everything but oh yeah i was afraid that they were going to be too soggy because it seemed like they were just like absorbing so much of the espresso but okay so next time dip them for longer um but the cream

Even without having eggs like it’s very good yeah it’s really light like you don’t really taste the egginess as much yeah i like it okay authentic or no um i would say it’s like on a scale one to ten it’s like seven authentic okay wait so what would make it more authentic um

I think yeah maybe just putting like i i just like it more coffee okay okay more coffee is the theme so i think this is my error that i just needed to like soak the lady fingers for longer but i was so scared of making them soggy because i

Hear that if you like soak them for too long like longer than a second outside yeah yeah that is true well would you rather have a soggier tiramisu or a drier one i would rather have a suggestion i think so too okay so next time just like air on the side of

Like soaking them longer This recipe is by sally’s baking addiction which is actually adapted from made a heater’s recipe and this stood out for many reasons so it is quite labor intensive you have to whip the egg yolks the egg whites and the cream separately it also uses a combination of dark rum and grand marnier

Um and she sally uses home or store-bought ladyfingers but made up does offer an option where you can use homemade ladyfingers you can even make a chocolate ladyfinger variation so lots of options all right you ready to try it let’s get into it oh that’s bluesy sally says for the

Espresso that the ladyfingers are brewed or dipped in um she just mixes espresso powder in hot water which he says is stronger than just like brewing espresso and like it literally looked like sludge like mud when i was like mixing it so does this have an appropriate amount of

Coffee for you it tastes very coffeish yes but you can you can taste the alcohol i know this is very pretty it’s pretty boozy it’s not bad but i wouldn’t say that is authentic okay but overall i like it yeah coffee flavor is good texture is good texture is good maybe

Another night in the fridge and that could that could make it okay so we don’t love the booziness of this a little too boozy but we like the coffee flavor and the texture overall maybe i just needed to dip those lady fingers a little longer again and just

Let it sit or let it sit more okay okay this did sit for like 24 hours so yeah the longer the better okay okay good to know This recipe is bye and her recipe stood out because she uses egg yolks only no cream she has a little bit of espresso to the cream she uses dark rum soaks the lady fingers in espresso and her recipe calls for being made in a 9×13 but a lot of the

Commenters said that it was better made in an 8×8 so that’s what i did and i think it worked out pretty well so let’s give it a try i really like it i feel like the texture the ladyfinger is is perfect to me yeah yeah it’s it’s perfect and the cream is

Super good and i think and i can’t taste the rum like i can taste a little bit of like the flavor of it like but it’s very mild and i can’t cannot taste the alcohol yes it’s not overly boozy it’s just like enough to add a

Little bit of flavor yeah very very good how about the coffee flavor coffee flavor i think at some point yeah i think this is probably like the strongest like best coffee flavor yeah yeah strongest definitely i mean i do like a lot of coffee so better the more the better for me but

Like i i also think that it’s very it’s it’s very well balanced okay authentic or no i would say so yeah authentic is it the best one so far let’s save it for later okay okay This recipe is by del posto which is a restaurant in new york it stands out because it uses a sponge cake that’s made from scratch um it also uses espresso to soak the lady fingers a little bit of dark rum and the cream is actually quite similar to a cozy kitchen

In both the ratios and the method which is like dump everything in a bowl mix it so you ready all right great I like the taste it is very creamy it is very creamy there is a little cream yeah but it’s like the right texture i think like the ladyfinger is the right texture yes maybe a little less cream but still like very good that’s what i was gonna say

Like i like the texture of the ladyfingers but for some reason i like giada’s like overall tiramisu a little bit better like this is somehow way creamier to me yeah it feels a little more heavier when you eat it yeah um and i don’t really taste the booze as

Much i feel no no no but i don’t i struggle to taste the rum as well yeah the taste of the ramen how about the coffee coffee i think at some point okay authentic or no it could be like an eight on authenticity okay that’s pretty high yeah okay that’s good all right

This recipe is by brave tart and in classic brave tart form it is quite a few steps so this recipe stood out because it uses whole eggs no cream a lot of mascarpone like three times what other recipes use um she uses a coffee syrup that includes espresso some cocoa

Powder um i think i used both kahlua and i’m gonna use marsala one uh she calls for like slightly different liqueurs but says that you can sub in different like chocolate or coffee based liquids um and i think that’s it actually oh she also uses homemade ladyfingers so i gave those a try

Let’s see how they turned out it tastes more chocolate like the chocolate is more phenomenal than like the coffee okay i can barely taste the coffee that’s true and i think so far this is the least authentic authentic but i like it okay but if there was more of like a

Prominent coffee flavor would that be more authentic or is it like also the ratio it’s also the ratio of like there’s a lot of cream but yeah so probably that cream and coffee like more like tasting more the coffee okay but what about the flavor of the cream

The i like the flavor of the cream okay yeah i think i think it’s like it’s very tasty like it has like a very that’s also what makes it probably less authentic because like the cream becomes more predominant like with all the oh interesting okay so

I don’t know i think the lady fingers could have been some baker’s era because mine turned out pretty flat when i made them so i think that’s why there’s like very thin layers of like ladyfingers to the cream um but yeah i agree with you i want more

Coffee flavor i think i even want like a little more booze flavor like i’m not getting a ton from the kahlua or not a lot i’m surprised i would i would expect to like taste more alcohol in there but yeah okay overall a little too creamy for me not authentic but still delicious This recipe is by kitchen joy and this recipe stood out because it uses more egg yolks fewer egg whites which one blogger said creates like a lighter texture to the cream it actually doesn’t use any heavy cream and it uses a little bit of marsala wine and espresso um simo what are your

Thoughts on the look of this tiramisu i think it looks really nice i think presentation wise this one is the one that looks that looks better i like the how you can the ratio between the cream and the ladyfinger and also how it the the coffee how you can see the coffee that’s

Soaking into the ladyfinger yes very distinct layers between each okay let’s do it more coffee i feel like the lady fingers are a little dry for me but like good coffee flavor no i think it’s okay the coffee is great i can’t taste it it can taste the

Bitterness of the coffee yeah i can taste it it’s it’s i like that the coffee exactly and but i agree it tastes um it’s the lady thinks the little finger a little bit too dry i feel like yeah the cream layer is like very thin and like

Maybe that’s why it’s not as moist probably from authentic yeah very close out of ten out of ten i would say an eight okay so if the ladyfingers were moister anything else not really no okay great okay simo after tasting all nine tiramisu what is your favorite i

I would go with the one from jada i think it’s the best one and it’s i can really taste the coffee in there and that’s also my personal preference i really like the contrast between sweet and bitter in in sweets in general and that one is

It’s a good it’s it’s very well balanced in that sense um as i said i think it just needed to be a little more soggy like the number two that we ate uh which one america’s kitchen um but that one was like best texture best texture but way too boozy okay

Okay and then you were saying kitchen joy if it had the same texture of the lady fingers as america’s touch kitchen like that would be it would be it would be better but it would still miss that kick of the coffee okay so giada’s like best coffee best texture overall i would

Say sorry okay i actually agree i think giada was my favorite um but the most important question what do you think your nana would pick as the best or most authentic tiramisu i would still go with jonah i think that’s why i like it because like that’s what reminds

Me more like that’s what um matches my taste more um but yeah thank you guys so much for watching thanks semo for being here um for more bake offs you can visit my blog at the pancake princess or me on instagram at the pancake princess how do you say see you next time

How do you say like and subscribe i’m not going to try to say that how do you say really delicious can you say it okay so not this not that no that is for when you’re asking questions like what are you talking about or i don’t know yeah something like that or

When you’re confused and you’re like why but why okay how do you say nana approved I’ll sign it for you later brian i’m filming a youtube video right now