I made a tiramisu brownies recipe around a year ago….THEY WERE THE BEST BROWNIES I HAVE EVER MADE IN MY LIFE.
I truly never stopped thinking about them, everything about them was perfect. The flavour, the smell, the texture, it was all sooo good.
I never posted a full written recipe for them, that seems not right, so here we are!
Video Tutorial
Breakdown of the process
These brownies have 3 layers to them, and then some cocoa powder. I don’t know if the cocoa powder on top counts as a layer. If it does, I guess these brownies have 4 layers.
Anyway, the layers are made separately. Here’s a quick breakdown:
- The brownie – you can’t have a tiramisu brownie without making a brownie, also this brownie is the base layer and the only thing that needs to be baked. So we’re making this first.
- The sponge finger layer – for this layer all we’re doing is dipping some sponge fingers into some coffee and then adding this on top of the baked brownie.
- The mascarpone layer – for this layer, it’s essentially a mascarpone whipped cream. It’s pretty easy to make, all you need to do is whip the ingredients together.
- The cocoa powder layer – I still don’t know if this counts as a layer. But the last thing you need to do for these is dust some cocoa powder on top.
Ingredients for the brownie
For the brownie layer, it’s pretty much a regular brownie recipe. There were just a few ingredients I wanted to talk about.
The unsalted butter
I’m using unsalted butter, I use unsalted butter for everything I make. It’s always what I have in my fridge.
You’ll see that this brownie recipe has 1/4 teaspoon of salt in it. It’s nice to be able to control the amount of salt going into my desserts, that’s why I like to use unsalted butter, and then add in salt separately.
However, for these, you absolutely can use salted butter. Either works. Just make sure not to add the 1/4 teaspoon of salt if you use salted butter.
The dark chocolate
YOU HAVE TO USE DARK CHOCOLATE WHEN MAKING BROWNIES.
Milk chocolate just adds extra sweetness which is not needed, there’s already a lot of sugar in brownies.
That’s why dark chocolate is best to use. It adds a good chocolate flavour, without adding extra sweetness.
The coffee
I added 2 teaspoons of coffee into this brownie recipe.
Tiramisu is coffee flavoured, so I felt like adding coffee to my brownie batter was fitting.
To be honest, it doesn’t add a huge coffee flavour though, most of the coffee flavour in these is coming from the sponge fingers layer.
So you can leave this 2 teaspoons of coffee out if you wanted to!
Baking the brownie
I baked the brownie in a 9×12 inch cake tin.
When lining this tin with baking paper, I recommend lining each side of the tin with the baking paper. This will just make it a lot easier to take out after all the layers have been added to it.
In the next few pictures, you’ll see that I didn’t line each side. I normally do, I forgot this time.
It’s not that big of a deal though, it’s just a little harder to get out of the tin when you don’t.
Putting the layers together
To assemble this brownie, you’re going to bake the brownie, let this cool down, then add a layer of the sponge fingers on top of this.
I ended up using 37 sponge fingers, in the recipe I said that you need around 40.
I don’t know if sponge fingers come in different sizes, I’ve only ever seen them be one size. But I don’t know, so it’s hard for me to say how many you’re going to need exactly.
I think around 40 is a good amount though.
Anyway, back to the assembling. Once you add the sponge fingers, add the mascarpone cream, smooth this out then let the brownie chill.
Then the next day, add the cocoa powder after you have taken the brownie out of the tin.
It doesn’t really matter when you add the cocoa powder but I think it’s best to add it after you’ve taken the brownie out of the tin. The cocoa powder can get ruined whiles you’re taking it out.
Do I have to leave this in the fridge overnight?
Chilling this brownie is extremly important.
I think chilling any brownie before you cut it, is good to do. But for this brownie, the chilling is not optional.
You need to give everything time to set. It will just all fall apart if you take it out of the tin too soon.
Does it have to be chilled overnight though…..no, I guess not. I say 3 hours is good, however overnight is way better.
The taste of these is so much better the next day, the flavours need a chance to marinate you know.
So I recommend just waiting till the next day, but 3 hours is good enough!
Taking the tiramisu brownie out of the tin
I feel like I need to talk about this, I get asked a lot how I take things out of the tins.
For these, the next day, after it had chilled, I added a piece of baking paper on top, then flipped it over.
Then I shook it, until the brownie came out, then flipped the brownie over.
The mascarpone layer will have fully set at this point, so it won’t get ruined. You might have to smooth it out a little after you’ve flipped it, but it has set enough for it not to completely smush.
This is why I recommend adding the cocoa powder after you have taken it out of the tin!
Other brownie recipes
Tiramisu Brownies
Ingredients
- For the brownie:
225g unsalted butter
140g dark chocolate
2 teaspoons instant coffee
5 eggs
200g granulated sugar
200g brown sugar
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
- For the sponge finger layer:
Around 40 sponge fingers
150ml strongly brewed coffee
- For the mascarpone layer:
340g mascarpone
380ml double cream
120g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Plus some cocoa powder to dust on top
Directions
- Making the brownie:
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c/350f. Also grease and line a 9x12 inch cake tin. Make sure that each side of the tin is lined with baking paper, it will be a lot easier to take out this way.
- In a pot, add the butter, chocolate and coffee granules. Place this pot over medium-low heat and heat, whiles stirring, until the mixture has melted. Leave this aside to cool.
- In a large bowl add in the eggs and both sugars. Whip this until the mixture lightens in colour and almost doubles in volume.
- Pour the cooled down butter/chocolate mixture into this and whisk. Then add in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, whisk just until you get a smooth batter.
- Pour this into your prepared tin and bake for around 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Once baked, leave aside to cool.
- The sponge finger layer:
- Once the brownie has baked and cooled down slightly, you can add the sponge finger layer.
- Dip your sponge fingers into the strongly brewed coffee. You don't want to soak the sponge fingers in the coffee, just do a quick dip on both sides.
- Place these on top of the brownie. You might have to cut some of them in half so that they fit.
- Making the mascarpone layer.
- Place the mascarpone into a small bowl and mix this with a spoon just to make it smooth.
- In a large bowl, add the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla. Whip this until the mixture starts to thicken slightly.
- Add the mascarpone into this, then whisk it all until the mixture is thick.
- Add this into the tin, on top of the sponge finger layer. Smooth it out, then cover and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is better.
- The next day take it out of the tin, use a sieve to dust some cocoa powder on top, cut into it and then you are done!
Generally I do not read article on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice article.
What’s the height/depth of the pan. You used for this recipe?
Author
2 inches!
Can this tiramisu brownie be frozen??
Author
yesss it will last about 3 months in the freezer!
Hello! Just wanted to ask, as you say it’s better to make it the day before so that it can soak. I dont know when Eid is but I wanna make for eid, but if I make on Friday, what if Friday is, and if I make it om Thursday, what if Saturday is eid, you know? So my question is, can I make this Thursday morning, and if Saturday is Eid, leave it in the fridge covered until Saturday morning? So 2 full days in the fridge, is that fine?
P.S love your recipes, I’m known as the chef/baker in the family but they don’t know that I just use all your recipes, so thank you!!🤫🤣
Author
hello hello so basically 2 days in the fridge is fine. honestly the flavour of these develop the longer it sits in the fridge, so leaving it for 2 days is great.