All over both Brazil and Argentina, dulce de leche was all the rage. Pastry chefs filled croissants, cream puffs, and crepes with the delicious caramel. Creameries flavored gelato with it. Hotels served it with bread at breakfast time. And it was everywhere; they sold it in grocery stores, wine stores and cheese shops. Of course I hauled some back to Philly, along with plenty of Argentinian wine, and lucky for you, this Dulce de Leche Tiramisù is the result. Why Tiramisù you might ask? Because of all the different ways we had it in Brazil and Argentina, in Tiramisù was not one of them. Well, believe it or not, Argentina has a strong Italian presence and the cuisine is very influenced by the Italian immigrants. So believe it or not, it makes a lot of sense, despite the fact that we didn’t see it anywhere. And the combination of a South American ingredient like dulce de leche utilized to enhance a traditional Italian dessert fits a lot of what we saw while dining in South America. But mostly, I love a good Tiramisù and it was the first thing that came to mind as something I thought would be fun to combine with dulce de leche. I think the subtle addition of dulce de leche in this Dulce de Leche Tiramisù elevates the dessert and provides a small but welcome caramel surprise.
- 7 ounce package lady fingers (about 18)
- cocoa powder
- 3 yolks
- 1-2 tablespoons marsala (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 8 ounces mascarpone
- 1 cup dulce de leche
- 1 cup whipped cream
- ½+ cup strong espresso
- ¼+ cup Kahlua
- ½ cup water
- Brew espresso (or very strong coffee) and mix it with Kahlua and water.
- Arrange about ½ of the lady fingers on the bottom of an 8”x8” pan to cover completely. In a thin stream, pour half of the espresso mixture over the lady fingers soaking them evenly.
Let sit. - In a double boiler (you can make one yourself with a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water beat the egg yolks, sugar and marsala with a hand-held electric mixer until the mixture is light yellow and has doubled in volume.
- Beat in the mascarpone.
- In a clean bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the mascarpone mixture.
- Divide the mascarpone mixture in half (reusing the whipped cream bowl works well).
- Add the dulce de leche to only one half. Spread dulce de leche half over the soaked lady fingers.
- Layer the second half of the lady fingers over the dulce de leche cream.
- Pour the rest of the espresso mixture evenly over the ladyfingers.
- Top with the remaining mascarpone cream (the bowl without dulce de leche).
- Dust with cocoa powder.
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- Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight for best flavor and texture. Slice and serve on some colorful plates. This one reminded me of the Brazilian rainforest.
- This recipe serves 8. It doubles easily for a 9x13 pan. Use only 5 yolks in that case.
Oh yum! My all time favorite dessert, and I shall never forget the time you and Maggie made it for your two families! Scrumptious!
I love tiramisu and dulce de leche, and combining the two? Brilliant!
Sometimes genius strikes, right? The real question is why didn’t I think of this earlier?
Yum! Tiramisu is one of my absolute favorite desserts. You’re right. There is a lot of Italian influence in South America. During the massive emmigration from Italy in the late 1880’s to early 1900’s, a lot of Italians settled there. Thanks for the great recipe!
Drooling over this! I love tiramisu and I love dulce de leche–talk about a marriage made in heaven!
Thanks!
Wow…mouth is very literally watering…and really broken down it’s not that hard. So why have I avoided it forever? That needs to change!
It’s true. It sounds harder to make than it is. And it’s a great make ahead. It’s better the 2nd or even third day.
I never knew it was that simple! My mom loves tiramisu. I’ll def save this recipe for a mother’s day treat
That sounds like a really nice Mother’s Day present.