Speculaas Tiramisu

Tiramisu is rapidly becoming my go-to dessert when I need something easy but delicious for a group of people. There’s the classic tiramisu, but this strawberry and raspberry tiramisu is a great alternative if you don’t want to add cocoa or booze. Last week, however, I wanted something a little different than both of those.

I met up with a couple of my high school friends last weekend, and we’d agreed to all bring something to eat so the host wouldn’t have to slave away in the kitchen for hours. I was in charge of dessert (which I usually am) and decided to go for a tiramisu. I also felt like making something with speculaas, though, so I put the two together and made a speculaas tiramisu instead!

It still has one classic ladyfinger layer, but also sports a layer of speculaas biscuits, which turned out to be a great combination. I also used speculaas liqueur instead of coffee liqueur to soak the biscuits in, but did go for the usual espresso to mix it with. So, it’s still very similar to a regular tiramisu – I just upgraded it a little!

The speculaas really adds something to the flavours of the tiramisu, and it works together wonderfully. If you can’t get your hands on speculaas or speculaas liqueur where you live, I’ve listed an alternative that I suspect will work great as well (no guarantees, though)!

You’ll need…

• 125 ml whipping cream
• 75 g white caster sugar
• 500 g mascarpone
• 5 tablespoons speculaas liqueur (not available? Use almond liqueur)
• 1 espresso
• 90 g ladyfingers
• 140 g speculaas biscuits (not available? Use gingerbread biscuits)
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• an oven/casserole dish

So, let’s get baking! (Or, well, making, with this one)

1. Mix together whipping cream and 15 g sugar Take a bowl, and mix together the whipping cream and 15 grams of sugar until it’s almost stiff. I used a handheld electric mixer for this.

2. In a separate (big) bowl, mix together mascarpone and 60 g sugar Take a big bowl, and mix together the mascarpone with the rest (which is 60 grams) of the sugar until it’s nicely mixed. I used the electric mixer for this as well.

3. Add whipped cream to mascarpone and mix together Spoon the whipped cream into the bowl with the mascarpone, and fold it through with said spoon until it’s all mixed through.

4. Mix together espresso and liqueur in a small bowl Take a small, oblong bowl (so you can easily dip the biscuits in their entirety), and mix together the liqueur and the espresso.

5. Dip ladyfingers in espresso mixture and cover bottom of dish Take a ladyfinger, dip the entire thing into the espresso mixture, and place into your oven dish. Repeat this step until the bottom of the entire dish is covered in coffee and liqueur soaked ladyfingers.

6. Divide half of mascarpone mixture over the lady fingers Slather half of the mascarpone mixture on top of the lady fingers and spread it out evenly with a spatula or a knife. Make sure you even it out properly.

7. Dip speculaas biscuits in espresso mixture and cover mascarpone layer Repeat step 5, but this time use the speculaas biscuits. Cover the entire layer of mascarpone with the speculaas.

8. Add rest of mascarpone mixture Now, add the second layer of mascarpone. Again, spread it out evenly.

9. Let chill and set in fridge, add cocoa powder before serving Now your tiramisu is pretty much done – it just needs to chill and set in the fridge for at least an hour. Sprinkle the cocoa powder over the tiramisu right before serving. I used a sieve for this, and sieved the tablespoons one at a time over the tiramisu. This way, you’ll get an even layer.

And there you have it! Your own speculaas tiramisu. Enjoy!