Tiramisu Latte
A latte under a cap of whipped mascarpone cream, dusted with cocoa. The mascarpone is the whole drink, and it splits if you look at it wrong.
At a glance
- Espresso : milk
- 1:4
- Active time
- 8 min
- Total time
- 10 min
- Makes
- 1 large cup
- Serve
- Hot, with cocoa
- Kit
- Espresso machine
Ingredients
Note: Everything for the cream must be cold, including the bowl if you can manage it. Warm mascarpone splits almost immediately.
Method
-
Loosen the mascarpone first
Put the cold mascarpone in a bowl with the icing sugar and vanilla and stir it smooth with a spatula before any cream goes in.
Mascarpone straight from the tub is stiff and lumpy, and trying to whip cream into a lump gives you a grainy cream that never comes together.
-
Add the cream and whip gently
Pour in the cold double cream and whisk slowly until it just holds a soft peak. Stop there.
Mascarpone is about 44 percent fat, far more than cream, so this mixture whips much faster than cream alone and splits into a grainy, buttery curd if you keep going. Thirty seconds of hand whisking is often enough.
Whisk 30 seconds -
Build the latte underneath
Pull a double into a large cup and pour in 150 ml of steamed milk. Keep it a little shorter than a normal latte, because the cream takes up the top third.
-
Spoon the cream on and dust heavily
Pile the mascarpone cream on top and smooth it flat, then dust cocoa over the whole surface until it is properly dark.
Be generous with the cocoa. It is bitter, and it is what stops the drink being merely sweet.
Why this works
Tiramisu is four flavours in a specific arrangement: strong coffee, rich dairy, bitter cocoa and a sweet biscuit. This drink keeps the first three and puts the biscuit on the saucer. What makes it read as tiramisu rather than as a sweet latte is the contrast between the bitter cocoa on top and the rich cream underneath, which is why the dusting needs to be heavy rather than decorative.
Mascarpone is the technically awkward part. It is not a cheese in the usual sense but a cream that has been acidified and drained, and at around 44 percent fat it is considerably richer than double cream. High-fat emulsions whip fast and then break fast: the fat globules link into a network, and if you keep beating, that network collapses into butter and whey. With mascarpone the window between soft peak and grainy curd is a matter of seconds.
Cold is the defence. Fat is firmer at refrigerator temperature, the network forms more slowly and more evenly, and you get a wider margin. A warm bowl or a tub that has been on the counter removes it.
Loosening the mascarpone before adding cream solves a separate problem. Stiff lumps do not incorporate; they stay as lumps and you keep whisking to clear them, which is exactly how you overwhip the rest.
The traditional dessert uses raw egg yolk in the cream. This version leaves it out, which is both safer and simpler, and the mascarpone supplies the richness the yolk would have.
Variations
- Iced: build over ice with cold milk and float the cream on top.
- With marsala: half a teaspoon in the cream, which is the traditional flavour.
- Coffee-soaked ladyfinger pushed into the cream, so it softens as you drink.
- Lighter: half mascarpone and half cream.
Made it?
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Questions
Why did my mascarpone cream go grainy?
Overwhipped, or too warm. Mascarpone is about 44 percent fat and whips far faster than cream, splitting into a buttery curd within seconds of reaching soft peak. Keep everything cold and stop early.
Can I use cream cheese instead?
It will work but it is noticeably tangier and less rich, since cream cheese is around 33 percent fat and more acidic. The drink becomes more of a cheesecake latte, which is not a bad thing.
Do I need the ladyfinger?
No, but it is the thing that makes people recognise the drink. Dunked, it softens into the cream the way it does in the dessert.