Easy Tiramisu Mousse (2024)

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This Easy Tiramisu Mousse contains my favorite part of the Tiramisu: the mousse! Just a few accessible ingredients mix up to make the most delicious and creamy tiramisu mousse. I’m all about the mousse (no cake).

How to make Tiramisu Mousse Video

What Inspired Tiramisu Mousse

Watching a group of food/dessert bloggers eat dessert at a restaurant is like watching vultures attack. It’s hysterical. But I digress.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen that I was in Santa Barbara this past weekend for the #SBFoodieEscape. I apologize for my overgramming, I just wanted to share allthethings. In fact, I have so much to share about the weekend that I’ll have a whole post soon, but for now I just wanted to talk about Tiramisu.

Because we were a group of food bloggers, eating was a central theme to our weekend. Each meal and restaurant was planned with a group of food and dessert bloggers in mind. Our last dinner was eaten at the Santa Ynez Kitchen in Santa Ynez, CA.

OMG. You guys. That food. If you’re ever in the Santa Barbara/Solvang area go here to eat. Some of the best Italian food ever. Also? I tried octopus, beets, and artichokes. It was a red letter weekend for this picky girl!

{BTW, beets will forever and always taste like dirt to me. How do people eat them and like them???}

The highlight of the dinner wasdessert. #obviously

The highlight of dessert, for me? The layered Tiramisu.

When the waiter placed the selection of 4 desserts on the table, the 8 of us attacked them so fast with our spoons that literally the plates were licked clean in less than 5 minutes.

At one point Julianne was laughing so hard because there were 6 spoons at once in the teeny tiny jar of pana cotta and she decided to just let it go rather than fight it.

That’s how food bloggers do. Making copycats of my favorite things is how I do. Hence this Tiramisu Mousse copycat.

It was the best thing I ate all night. (Exceptfor the mushroom pasta that was life changing.)

I absolutely love Tiramisu. I would order it at every single restaurant I go to except for one thing: I’m not much a fan of the cake or ladyfingers in the center. What I really love about Tiramisu is the cream. The marscarpone, espresso, whipped cream, and chocolate are what I dream about when I think about tiramisu.

Lady fingers dipped in espresso? Meh.

Piles of tiramisu mousse in a glass? YES!

That’s what I loved about the dessert at the restaurant last weekend: there was no cake. It was a jar full of my favorite stuff in the world, which is kind of genius.

Also? Do you know how hard it is to find mainstream lady fingers? When I was writing my book I wanted to find some to go with the Tiramisu Dip. I went to 4 grocery stores – NADA.

Which is why just making a bowl of all the other good stuff is perfect. No ladyfinger hunting is needed.

Learn to Make Easy Tiramisu Mousse

This Tiramisu Mousse recipe is super easy, fast, and delicious. Just a few components go into making the best Tiramisu Mousse you’ll ever eat, I promise.

1. Marscarpone. Tiramisu is traditionally made with marscarpone, which is an Italian cheese. It’s very similar to cream cheese, but smoother. You can use marscarpone in this recipe or you can use cream cheese. I used cream cheese because I didn’t want to go to the store and I wanted tiramisu NOW. Use what you have or what you can find.

2. Coffee. Tiramisu has a varying espresso flavor depending on where you get it. I like a strong tiramisu, so I add more coffee than some. You make the coffee flavor by brewing instant coffee in a small amount of water.I always have little instant Starbucks Via coffee packets on hand (what? doesn’t everyone travel with them?) One of those packets plus 1/4 cup of hot water will make your espresso flavoring. You can add from 1 tablespoon of this espresso up to the full amount in your tiramisu. Add to your flavor palate.

3. Whipped Cream. I used fresh whipped cream, but you can substitute whipped topping if you want, which can also make this lower in fat and calories or sugar, depending on your preference. See the notes in the recipe.

4. Chocolate. Instead of layering the tiramisu with cake or ladyfingers, I layered it sand-art style with unsweetened cocoa powder. The top gets a dusting of grated semi-sweet baking chocolate. I don’t recommend using the unsweetened cocoa on top because it’s bitter. The first bite that hits your tongue shouldn’t be bitter.

Mix, chill, pipe, repeat. That’s it. 20 minutes to an addicting dessert.

For me, this Tiramisu Mousse dessert just reminds me of a very fun weekend. Hopefully it’ll make memories for you too!

I piped this Tiramisu Mousse recipe using a ziploc bag instead of a pastry bag. See how I did it here:

S’mores Pudding

Chocolate Malted Pudding

Tiramisu Cups to go

Sweets from friends:
Classic Tiramisu by Life, Love, and Sugar
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Tiramisu by Grandbaby Cakes
Tiramisu Pana Cotta by Heather’s French Press

Last Updated on March 4, 2023