Celebrate berry season with a crazy delicious and beautiful Raspberry Tiramisu! This summery twist on the Italian classic is fresh, light, and creamy. Plus, this version comes in individual portions to avoid overindulgence and is ready in just 20 minutes!
This recipe was originally published in July 2014 and was republished in June 2020 to add better quality photos, re-test the recipe, and add more helpful tips.
It’s berry season! I always look forward to eating fresh-picked berries, warm from the sun, so juicy and sweet. Or going to the farmer’s market and seeing all the varieties to choose from. Then I can mix and match them for summer treats like a raspberry and blueberry snacking cake.
I especially love getting lots of fresh raspberries (especially when my mother invites me to go pick them) because they have such a short season, but then I struggle to use them up while they are at their peak flavor. They go bad so quickly!
That’s where this great twist on the Italian classic tiramisu comes in. It’s a great balance of fresh berries with the standard coffee, chocolate, and cream flavors.
This recipe for raspberry tiramisu is perfect because you can make as few or as many servings as you would like. While I love my creamy treats, I don’t always want to make a whole cake or large batch that feeds 8 people. Mostly because I love my creamy treats and will eat it all! I have no will power for eating healthy when there is most of a large tiramisu sitting in the fridge the next day.
I love this version that comes in individual portions, so you only have two servings that get eaten right away. No extra tempting goodies in the fridge. Just that one evening of raspberries and cream indulgence (preferably with a glass of wine). You can always double or triple the recipe for more people.
Besides being made in individual servings, this fresh, summery version of tiramisu can be made in just 20 minutes. That makes it perfect for summer dinner parties. Prep it beforehand and keep it in the fridge until dessert. Then just pull them out and serve. No extra dishes or fuss over portion size.
How to store raspberries
Raspberries are tricky. They go bad so quickly once you bring them home. So it is important to store them properly.
The way raspberries are harvested leaves them very prone to rotting before you get around to eating them. First raspberries don’t ripen much after being picked, so they are picked when ripe. This shortens their shelf life considerably. And second, raspberries get detached from the central “plug” they grow out of when picked. It’s very similar to the white center part on a blackberry if your have never had the opportunity to pick raspberries. Removing that plug leaves the raspberries at much greater risk of molding but you can’t avoid it when picking them.
To prevent raspberries from going bad you can do several things to keep the moisture low which prolongs their storage time:
- Don’t store them in the vegetable drawers.
- Keep them where there is a lot of air flow (no closed or airtight containers)
- Add a piece of paper towel to the container and change it daily.
- Don’t wash the berries until you are ready to eat them.
- Check the package daily and remove any fruit that is getting dark mold spots.
Freezing raspberries
If you don’t think you will have time to eat them before they go bad, freeze your raspberries! You can easily freeze raspberries in a few steps. Wash them and gently pat them dry. Lay them out on a baking sheet or tray in a single layer so that they are not touching. Freeze them uncovered before moving into an airtight freezer container.
The great part is that you don’t have to have a bunch of berries to do this. If you just have a few raspberries left over, you can freeze them and start a larger container you add fruit to as the season goes on. Keep doing this all season and you will have lots of frozen berries for the winter! And it works with almost any other type of berry.
Can I use frozen raspberries in this tiramisu?
Unfortunately, frozen raspberries just won’t be the same in this dessert. While you can use them, I don’t recommend it as this is a recipe that embraces the fresh fruit. However, if you simply cannot find fresh raspberries and are craving a fruity tiramisu, you can use frozen fruit by defrosting them individually at room temperature and patting them dry. But they will be watery and disrupt the silky texture of the cream. Frozen raspberries are better for jam, scones, or smoothies.
But if you have just a few fresh raspberries that you need to eat up (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it), this two serving raspberry tiramisu is perfect.
Raspberry Tiramisu
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup mascarpone cheese , at room temperature
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 5-6 ladyfingers
- 1/4 cup cold-brewed coffee
- 1 1/4 cups fresh raspberries
- cocoa powder , for dusting
Instructions
- In a heatproof bowl mix the egg yolks and sugar together until they become pale yellow. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Cook on low heat, stirring and whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and forms a ribbon trail on the surface when the whisk is lifted (5-7 minutes). Remove from the heat and let cool a little.
- Whisk in vanilla. Beat in the mascarpone until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold into the mascarpone cheese mixture.
- Using a pastry brush, brush tops of each ladyfinger with coffee and cut them into 3-4 pieces. Place a layer of ladyfingers in the bottom of 2 serving glasses. Add a layer of mascarpone cheese mixture and a layer of raspberries and repeat, ending with a layer of mascarpone cheese mixture. Dust with cocoa powder, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
23 Comments
dina
July 16, 2014 at 1:02 pmit looks delicious!
Jovita
July 16, 2014 at 1:44 pmThanks a lot!
Melanie @ Carmel Moments
July 16, 2014 at 2:09 pmThese are beautiful! Love the flavors. Pinned.
Jovita
July 16, 2014 at 7:04 pmHi, Melanie! I’m so glad you liked these! Thanks for the pin. 😉
Issy
July 22, 2014 at 5:51 pmThis looks so good, cant wait to try the recipe 🙂
Jovita
July 23, 2014 at 4:55 pmHi, Issy! Thanks for your kind words. You should try this, I know you’ll love it as much as I do! 🙂
Kim
October 16, 2014 at 11:54 amHi. This recipe is making me salivate at my desk! I’m having a dinner party this weekend and thought that this would make a wonderful dessert. I note that your recipe feeds two people. If i wanted to make enough for say 8 people, would it be fine to merely increase the quantities accordingly i.e. multiply each ingredient by 4 (so to make 8 servings)?
Jovita
October 16, 2014 at 5:15 pmHi Kim! I’m so glad you decided to make this for your dinner party! I haven’t tried making it for more people but I think it would be fine to multiply the ingredients by 4. Keep in mind that egg yolk mixture may cook longer… Just cook until the mixture thickens and forms a ribbon trail on the surface when the whisk is lifted. Hope it helps!
Emily
September 30, 2016 at 9:15 pmDoes it matter if the cocoa powder is sweet or unsweetened?
Jovita
November 26, 2016 at 2:12 pmIt depends on your preferences, Emily. I like the unsweetened cocoa more 😉
Debby
December 12, 2016 at 12:19 amLooks delicious. I am thinking of making parfaits for Christmas dinner’s desert. How do you think these would hold up if I made them the day before? Or early Christmas morning to serve around 6 pm?
Jovita
December 21, 2016 at 1:59 pmI don’t know about overnight, Debby, but on the Christmas morning should be fine 😉
Julie Mohan
December 27, 2016 at 1:21 pmThis looks great! I’m wondering if I could expand this into a trifle. What are your thoughts on layers/quantity of ingredients?
Jovita
January 23, 2017 at 6:57 pmOf course, you can, Julie. What about quantity, you’ll have to test it yourself because it’s kinda hard to say without trying 🙂
Gary White
January 3, 2022 at 2:55 amMay I make a suggestion or two for Julie’s trifle (great idea, by the way). I would work some coffee liqueur in there, perhaps mixed with the coffee (be careful with Jovita’s advice to test quantities (too much testing a cook drink doth make). I plan to make these cups and do that with them too. For the trifle jelly, use some sort of compatible berry flavour and colour.
As for: “ Just that one evening of raspberries and cream indulgence (preferably with a glass of wine). You can always double or triple the recipe for more people.” [or for additional indulgence!]. ?
Amaryllis @ The Tasty Other
January 10, 2017 at 1:11 pmThis looks just perfect! I love turamisu, it’s one of y favourite desserts, but I’ve never combined it with fresh fruit. I bet it rocks! Thanks so much for the inspiration, Jovita!
Jovita
January 23, 2017 at 6:43 pmIt’s really awesome. Tiramisu is way better with some fresh fruit!
Patricia
November 8, 2018 at 8:58 amI should have left a comment. But I made this a few months back and it’s so decadently delicious. Lovely to present in the glasses. Thanks for the great recipe!
Jovita
August 6, 2020 at 12:25 pmThank you so much, Patricia!
Rina Raimondo
March 27, 2019 at 9:05 pmThis recipe is for two servings – how would I increase the recipe for 8 people
Jovita
May 1, 2019 at 12:55 pmJust quadruple the ingredients, it should work 🙂
Terri
July 2, 2022 at 12:20 pmDoes the coffee have to be cold brew or can you let regular coffee cool down?
Jovita
July 17, 2022 at 8:59 amTerri, you can use regular cooled-down coffee 🙂