This Tiramisu Ice Cream Pie may look different than a traditional tiramisu, but it brings all the same flavor. With a lady finger crumb crust and no churn mascarpone ice cream, you’ll want to make this again and again.
Let’s get something out there right now: I love tiramisu. Usually, I take the stance that pie is better than cake, but when tiramisu is involved, I will always opt for that before anything else.
I tested this pie on a few different people who all said that they would like tiramisu, but they can’t stand the texture. Typically, with soaked lady fingers and layered with a cream made from mascarpone and eggs, tiramisu has a tendency to be a bit soft all around. This pie adds a bit of texture and firmness to the dessert without sacrificing on any of the flavor.
The crust is made from blitzed up lady fingers mixed with instant coffee. The filling is a no churn, super simple ice cream based off the idea of 3-ingredient-ice cream that you can find all over the internet from Martha Stewart to Spend With Pennies and The Roasted Root (among others). You mix together vanilla and sweetened condensed milk, whip up some heavy whipping cream, and then gently fold the two together. We’ve jazzed that up a bit here with some mascarpone cheese, instant coffee, and some alcohol of your choice (I use San Marzano Amaro liqueur which comes in a bottle from Italy that we’ve had in our pantry forever–I’ve seen it at Binny’s recently so if you want to give that a go, it may be worth calling a liquor store to see if they have it, if not, brandy, dark rum, or marsala will work great here!). This filling is creamy and smooth and will have you thinking it churned for hours.
Layer the ice cream with lightly soaked lady fingers and you have a pie that looks mighty impressive once sliced into. As a huge fan of tiramisu, this pie definitely checks all the boxes.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10-12 minutes |
| Passive Time | 4-12 hours |
| Servings |
slices
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- 300 grams lady fingers
- 30 grams granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp instant coffee
- 156 grams salted butter melted
- 1 Lady Finger Crumb Crust
- 226 grams mascarpone cheese
- 396 grams sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp instant coffee
- 30 mL brandy, dark rum, marsala, or San Marzano amaro liqueur
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 450 mL heavy whipping cream
- 50 mL brewed espresso or strong coffee cooled
- 5-8 lady fingers
- 1-2 Tbsp cocoa powder
Ingredients
Lady Finger Crumb Crust
Tiramisu Ice Cream Pie
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- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9" pie dish (1 1/2" to 2" deep). Set aside.
- In a food processor, grind the lady fingers until you're left with fine crumbs. There may be some slightly coarse crumbs in there still. That's okay. (You can also crush the lady fingers with a rolling pin or gently with a glass).
- Pour the crumbs into a large bowl. Whisk in the granulated sugar and instant coffee until thoroughly combined. Stir in the butter until all of the crumbs are wet and you can squeeze the crumbs between your hands and they'll stick together. Gently press the crumbs up the side and into the center of the prepared pie dish. There may be some extra crumbs depending on the size of your pie dish. Save these.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the pie dish from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon to beat together the mascarpone and sweetened condensed milk until smooth and combined.
- In a small cup, dissolve the instant coffee into 15 mL of the liquor. Stir the coffee and alcohol mixture into the mascarpone and condensed milk. Stir in the vanilla until combined.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer using a whisk attachment (you can also use a hand mixer or whisk by hand), whisk the heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold half of this whipped cream into the mascarpone mix, being careful not to beat out the air. Once combined, fold in the second half of the whipped cream until you have a creamy mix.
- Layer half of this ice cream into the prepared and cooled lady finger crust. In a small bowl, stir together the cooled espresso or coffee and the remaining 15 mL of alcohol. Gently dip the lady fingers into the coffee and press into the bottom layer of ice cream. (Be careful not to dip for too long, only 2-3 seconds each--you don't want the lady fingers to be soggy). You may need to cut the lady fingers before dipping to fit in the pie dish. Top with the other half of the ice cream and smooth over the top (if your pie dish is on the shallow end, you may have a bit extra left over; see instructions for extra ice cream and crust below*).
- Freeze 4 hours or overnight. I usually allow the pie to freeze uncovered for the first couple of hours until the ice cream firms up, then cover tightly with foil.
- Remove the pie from the freezer about 10-15 minutes before serving to thaw. Sift cocoa powder over the top. Slice and serve.
- If you have extra crumb crust, feel free to use as a decoration and sprinkle on top of the pie.
- If you have extra crumb curst AND extra ice cream, lightly grease a ramekin and press the crumbs into the bottom. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Layer with the extra ice cream and freeze 4 hours to overnight for a little tiramisu ice cream treat you can enjoy before cutting into the pie!*
- We have an old bottle of San Marzano Amaro Liqueur from Italy that I use whenever I make tiramisu. It may not be the easiest to find though I have seen it at some liquor stores recently. Brandy, marsala, or a dark rum will work well in this so pick your favorite :).