Tiramisu — mascarpone cream, espresso-soaked savoiardi (ladyfingers), and cocoa — is the Italian dessert most frequently made incorrectly outside Italy. The errors are consistent: over-soaking the biscuits (producing a soggy base), insufficient aeration of the mascarpone cream (producing a heavy, dense result), or using the wrong coffee (making espresso-level intensity non-negotiable). Hazan's technique produces the correct result: a cream that is simultaneously rich and light, biscuits that are soaked but not dissolved, and a preparation that holds its structure when cut.
- **The mascarpone cream:** Egg yolks beaten with sugar until pale and thick (the ribbon stage) — this aeration is structural. Mascarpone folded through. Egg whites beaten to soft peaks and folded through — this second aeration makes the cream light. [VERIFY] Hazan's specific egg quantities - **The coffee:** Espresso — or coffee at espresso strength. Weak coffee produces a pale, flavourless base. The coffee must be cooled completely before soaking — hot coffee dissolves the biscuit rather than soaking it - **The soaking:** A brief dip (1–2 seconds per biscuit) — enough to moisten throughout without saturating. The biscuit should be wet when removed but still holding its shape - **Marsala or rum:** [VERIFY] Hazan's position on the alcohol addition - **The rest:** Minimum 4 hours refrigerated — the cream sets and the layers integrate. Made the day before is better than made the same day Decisive moment: The biscuit soaking — the 1–2 second dip rather than extended immersion. Hold the biscuit in the coffee and count: 1-one-thousand, 2-one-thousand, remove. The biscuit should spring back very slightly when pressed — moist but not waterlogged.
Hazan