Lemon Tiramisu

Lemon tiramisu, made with layers of sweetened mascarpone cheese, limoncello soaked ladyfingers, fluffy whipped cream, and lemon curd.

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5 from 2 votes

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 10

Chill Time 12

Total Time 12 40

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings12

6 large egg yolks
¾ cup granulated sugar
⅔ cup whole milk
1 lb mascarpone cheese or full fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 ¼ cups cold heavy whipping cream

2 pkg ladyfingers (a 7-oz package should contain about 24 ladyfingers, for 48 total)
1 cup lemon curd

In a saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and milk. Over medium heat, cook the mixture for about 8-10 minutes until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. It should have the consistency of a thin, pourable custard.
Pour the custard into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap resting right against the surface of the custard, and chill in the refrigerator until completely cooled. (You can speed this up by chilling it in the freezer for 30-60 minutes.)
Place the mascarpone cheese or cream cheese in a bowl, and use an electric mixer to beat until smooth, about 1 minute.
Add the vanilla and the cooled custard to the mascarpone, and beat for 1-2 minutes until smooth.
Pour the cold heavy whipping cream into a separate bowl. Use your electric mixer to whip the cream for several minutes until soft, thick, fluffy peaks form.
Add the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture and fold together with a spatula until combined.

In a saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar and limoncello or water. Bring to boil over medium high heat, then simmer for a couple of minutes, just until the sugar is dissolved.
Remove from the heat, pour into a container, and refrigerate until completely cooled.

Set out your pan and decide how you're going to arrange the ladyfingers. With two packages of ladyfingers, I had 48 ladyfingers. In an 8x11 pan, I was able to fit about 14 ladyfingers per layer, with the ones on the end cut in thirds to fit, so I assembled three layers, leaving me a few ladyfingers leftover. This size pan will make a very full layered dessert if you do three layers. If you use a 9x13 inch pan, you might also need a third package of ladyfingers to fill the pan with three layers, or you can just use two packages and assemble two layers.
Start by dipping the ladyfingers in the lemon syrup, then arranging them in the bottom of the pan. When dipping, hold the ladyfingers in the syrup for about 2 seconds.
Once the pan is filled with the first layer of ladyfingers, spread 1/3 of the mascarpone filling over the ladyfingers.
Repeat two more times, with layers of lemon-dipped ladyfingers, mascarpone filling, lemon-dipped ladyfingers, and finishing with the last of the mascarpone filling.
Refrigerate the tiramisu for 12 hours (or overnight). I found this dessert needed a long chill time, to allow the ladyfingers enough time to soften from the moisture of the filling.
Before serving, spread the lemon curd over the top. (I reserved about 1/2 cup of the mascarpone filling, whisked it together with the lemon curd, and spread that on top for a paler yellow color.)

Cover the leftover tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3-5 days.

Keyword Ladyfingers, Lemon, Limoncello, Mascarpone, Tiramisu