Tiramisù alle ciliegie (Cherry Tiramisu)

Even though it was only invented in the late 1960s or early 70s, tiramisù has become one of the best known—and loved—Italian desserts. It may be younger than I am, but I think it fully deserves its status as a classic. That marvelous combination of flavors, and its subtle combination of creamy and soft textures, prove irresistible to just about everybody, even someone like me who ordinarily doesn’t go in for rich desserts.

Over the years the classic tiramisù. flavored with chocolate and coffee, has given birth to all sorts of equally delicious offspring. The classic version is lovely anytime of year, but I generally enjoy it best in the cooler months. In the spring, I like to make tiramisù alle fragole with strawberries. And as summer approches and cherries come into season, my all time favorite is today’s featured dish: tiramisù alle ciliegie.

Tiramisù alle ciligie is made by layering ladyfingers, mascarpone cream and a filling of cherries briefly simmered in sugar, lemon and water to create a lovely scarlet syrup. Most of this syrup you thin out with more liqueur to form a bagna or liquid ‘bath’ to moisten the ladyfingers. After several hours’ rest in the fridge, you can serve your tiramisù topped with some of the cherry filling, fresh cherries, or even some best quality Maraschino cherries.

It sounds like a production, and yes, it does involve several steps. But don’t let that deter you. The prep should only take 45 minutes or less. Then you just need to ‘chill’ while your tiramisù chills in the fridge.

And it’s totally worth the wait. If you’re a cherry lover like me, you’ll be in heaven.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 400g (14 oz) store-bought ladyfingers aka sponge fingers or savoiardi (or two packages)

For the cherry filling

• 700g (1-1/2 lb) cherries, stems removed, pitted and halved
• 100g (3-1/2 oz) sugar, or more to taste
• Juice of half a lemon
• 250ml (1 cup) water
• 50ml (1.5 oz or one shot) maraschino or other cherry liqueur (optional)

To make the mascarpone cream: 

• 500g (1 lb.) mascarpone
• 5-6 eggs, separated
• About 250g (1/2 lb.) sugar, preferably caster aka superfine sugar

For the bagna:

• All but a few spoonfuls of the cherry syrup from the filling
• 125ml (1/2 cup) Maraschino or other cherry liqueur

For the topping:

• A few additonal cherries, whole or pitted and halved, or
• Some of the simmered cherries and their syrup or
• Best quality Maraschino cherries

Directions

Prepare the cherry filling

Stem, pit and halve the cherries.

Place the pitted cherry halves in a saucepan, along with the lemon juice, sugar, water and, if using, the liqueur. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes or so until the cherries have softened and their juices have reduced to a syrupy consistency so that it coats a spoon.

Let cool for a few moments and taste for sweetness. Add more sugar if it needs it.

Transfer the cherries and their syrup to a bowl and let cool completely. 

Prepare the mascarpone cream

While the filling is cooling, separate the yolks from the whites. Set the whites aside for the moment.

Whisk the yolks together with the sugar briskly until they emulsify and thicken; you should be able to see ribbons in the mixture as you whisk it. (A stand mixer makes short work of this job.)

Then add the mascarpone, a bit at a time, and continue whisking until you have a homogeneous creamy mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold the egg whites gently into the egg and mascarpone mixture until fully incorporated.

Prepare the bagna

Drain all but a few spoonfuls of the syrup from the cherries into a low bowl, then stir in the liqueur.

Assembling and chilling 

Take a ladyfinger, dip it briefly on both sides in the bagnata. As you dip the ladyfingers, arrange them in a tight layer on the bottom of a serving bowl or dish, or, if you prefer, individual serving bowls as pictured in this post. 

NB: Depending on the size of your bowl or dish, you may need to lay the ladyfingers in different directions and/or break them into shorter lengths so they fit snugly.

Lay down a layer of marcarpone cream on top of the ladyfingers.

Once you have laid down your first layer of ladyfingers, spread some of the mascarpone mixture over them, enough to cover them entirely. Then lay on some of the cherries. Continue layering until you have used up the ingredients (reserving some of the cherries if you wish as a topping) or filled the serving bowl or dish.

Make sure the top layer is the mascarpone mixture. Smooth out the top if need be with a spatula. 

Put the dish into the fridge for at least two hours, or better several hours.

Topping and serving

When you’re ready to serve your tiramisù alle ciliegie, place a few whole cherries, or some of your reseved cherry filling, and perhaps a drizzle of the cherry syrup, over the top of the mascarpone in a decorative pattern.

Notes on tiramisù alle ciliegie

The main trick to making a perfect tiramisù alle ciliegie—just like making a classic tiramisù—is to dip the ladyfingers just long enough in the bagna but not too long. You want the ladyfingers to be well coated and to absorb some of that lovely cherry flavor, moistening them just enough so they acquire a cake-like consistency as they soften further in the fridge layered between the cherry filling and mascarpone cream. On the other hand, you don’t want to soak them either, or the ladyfingers will turn to mush as they chill.

Otherwise, the recipe is an easy one. Don’t let the number of steps fool you. The only tedious part of the recipe is prepping the cherries, especially pitting them, which is admittedly a bit of a chore. A cherry pitter makes short work of the task, but if you don’t have one, you can halve each cherry and then pick out the pit. It’s a little finicky but it works. You could save yourself the trouble by using best quality Maraschino cherries in lieu of fresh. Luxardo produces delicious cherries preserved in Maraschino. But at $20 for 400g (14 oz) jar, it’s an extravagant solution.

Cherries

You can use any kind of cherry you like to make tiramisù alle ciliegie. The amount of sugar in the recipe above is meant for sweet cherries, but even supposedly sweet varieties can sometimes be quite tart. So do taste your cherry filling and add more sugar if it needs it. You can even use proper sour cherries to make your tiramisù, provided you’re generous enough with the sugar.

Eggs

As you will have seen, this recipe uses raw eggs. Although there are some rather tricky recipes for pasteurizing them yourself, an easier precaution if you have any concerns over using raw eggs is simply to buy pasteurized eggs at the store. (Just for the record, “pasteurized” is not the same thing as “pasture raised” so take care.)

Some recipes for tiramisù alle ciliegie will have you whisk the egg yolks and sugar over a very low flame, which ever so slightly cooks the yolks and, presumably, kills off the bacteria. (NB: No guarantees from me this works!) There are also recipes that eschew eggs altogether in favor of whipped cream. Haven’t tried it so I can’ t endorse the result, but I suppose it wouldn’t have quite the same velvety texture as the eggy original.

Ladyfingers aka Sponge Fingers

Here again, feel free to use the brand of you choice, though personally I favor imported Italian ones. (Of course…) I have noticed that brands can vary as to just how dry they are. Some are down right cakey right out of the package. So bear this is mind when you moisten your ladyfingers in the bagna. Use more if they’re very dry, less if they’re already a bit soft. And if you want to make your own—which apparently isn’t terribly hard, though I’ve never tried—kudos to you!

Variations

If you have some really top notch, sweet and plump cherries, then you could consider a variation of tiramisù alle ciliegie where you macerate rather simmer your cherries. Just place your cherry halves in a bowl with the sugar, lemon juice and liqueur and let them rest for a good 20-30 minutes, by which time the cherries should have exuded considerable juice.

As for the liqueur, feel free to use Kirsch or any other cherry liqueur you might have on hand in lieu of the Maraschino. Or, if you really want to lean into the red color, you could use the red Tuscan liqueur alkermes. And if you want to avoid alcohol altogether, you could use cherry juice or even water to thin out your bagna.