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This creamy and delicious Chai Tiramisu has lady fingers dipped in warm chai, layered with sweetened mascarpone cream and topped with a thick layer of cocoa powder.
In case you are new here, I *love* tiramisu. And I’ve made all types of tiramisu, starting with my classic tiramisu, dubai chocolate tiramisu, limoncello tiramisu, earl grey tiramisu, matcha tiramisu and now we’re talking about chai. Let’s get into it!
Ingredients You’ll Need for Chai Tiramisu
- Mascarpone cheese. This creamy, Italian cheese is an essential ingredient in tiramisu.
- Black tea bags. We’re using these to make a homemade chai. I love making it from scratch but feel free to use a store-bought version if you like.
- Egg yolks. This gives a delicious volume and richness to the filling.
- Heavy cream. I love whipping the filling to add volume and air to the filling.
- Lady fingers. I buy my lady fingers from Italian grocery stores. I find them to be the best quality there.
For the rest of the ingredients, please see the recipe index card below!
How to Make Chai Tiramisu
- Make the chai. I like to crush the spices with the back of a knife or spoon. It helps open them up and create a delicious concentrate.
- Steep the tea with spices. Pour in the hot water and the spices. And then turn the heat off and add in the tea bags. Set it aside and let it cool.
- Make the tiramisu filling. Whip the mascarpone cream, eggs, rum, heavy cream and vanilla until it’s soft and voluminous. I like to do this for about three minutes.
4. Layer the lady fingers with the filling. Dip the lady fingers into the chai concentrate. And then transfer them into your baking dish. Top it with half of the filling and spread it out into an even layer. Add the second layer of dipped lady fingers. Pour in the remaining filling and spread it out evenly.
5. Chill in the fridge. I like to chill it in the fridge for at least four hours. This helps marry all the flavors together.
6. Dust on the cocoa powder. And serve. Yum!
Recipe Tip
- Make this alcohol-free? Simply exclude the rum all together. No need to replace it with anything–it’ll still taste delicious.
- Extra spices. If you’ve bought these spices and are like, “what else can I make with them?” I got you. Make some of my favorite chai recipes my like chai chocolate chip cookies, chai snickerdoodles and chai apple skillet cake.
More Cozy Recipes to Make
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Chai Tiramisu
Equipment
- 1 (2-quart) baking dish
Ingredients
Chai Tea Concentrate:
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, (about 10 peppercorns)
- 5 whole cloves
- 3 whole cardamom pods
- 2 inch knob fresh ginger, (peeled and cut into rounds)
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 3 cups filtered water
- 3 bags black tea
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Mascarpone filling:
- 2 cups mascarpone
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- Pinch kosher salt
- 24 lady fingers, (from a 7-ounce package)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted, for topping
Instructions
To Make the Chai Concentrate:
- On a cutting board, using the back of a chef’s knife, crush the black peppercorns, cloves, and cardamom pods. Place them in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger and cinnamon sticks and toast for 2 to 3 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Add the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the tea bags, turn off the heat and cover the pot so the tea can steep for 5 minutes. Discard the tea bags and pour in the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour the tea through a strainer and set aside. If you’re moving super fast through this recipe, you may need to transfer the bowl of chai tea to the fridge to chill faster.
To Make the Mascarpone Filling:
- In the stand-up mixer (with the whisk attachment) or using a hand-held electric mixer, combine the mascarpone, sugar, egg yolks, dark rum, heavy cream and salt. Beat for about two minutes, until light and fluffy. The mixture should fall back onto itself.
To Assemble the Tiramisu:
- Spread about 1/3 cup of the mascarpone filling onto the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish. Dip about 6 to 7 lady fingers, one by one, into the chai tea, arranging them side by side. If there’s a gap between the lady fingers and the baking dish, place a few in the opposite direction.
- Spread about 1/2 cup of the mascarpone filling atop the lady fingers. Repeat layering with the remaining two layers. Smooth the top layer of mascarpone filling until nice and even. Lightly cover the tiramisu and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours (or up to 1 day). Dust the top with the cocoa powder.
Notes
- Before you start the recipe, give your lady fingers a taste test. If they’re hard and dry, then feel free to dunk the lady fingers in the chai tea for about 5 long seconds. if they’re not dry, then I recommend doing a super fast dunk.
- Let’s talk different brands of mascarpone. I tested this with two different brands. Bellwether Farms was much thicker than Vermont Creamery. I love both brands but for this particular recipe I favored the thickness from Bellwether Farms. But both will work great!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just saw this, making it tonight. Omg.
Erin | http://www.erinelizabethmiller.com
yum! this tiramisu is gorgeous, and I totally want to dive into that chai goodness.
What a fun take on the traditional tiramisu! I love the idea of soaking it in tea instead of coffee. Can’t wait to make it!
I’m totally creazy about chai tea and I just bought some new yesterday. Your twist to this tiramisu is just fantastic. I need to try asap! 🙂
This is such a great idea – I love tiramisu (a LOT) and love chai tea lattes*, so I imagine this is a beautiful merger of both worlds. Bookmarked!
*I’m ashamed to admit the really authentic chai tea doesn’t do it for me
Few years ago I used to make a lot of tiramisu. I loved it and so did the people around me and I always brought some with me. But I always tuck to the classic coffee-amaretto one.
This recipe looks so interesting and I can not wait to try it out! 🙂
http://potsofsmiles.blogspot.co.uk/
xxxx
What a nice post. I never heard about chai Tiramisu. What a brilliant idea. Great Job. xoxo Janine
Hmmm… I’m wondering if I can just use chai tea bags from
the grocery store, and steep it strong???
It would make it so much easier.
Yep, you totally can. And your instinct to brew it stronger is a wise one because I have a feeling if you didn’t the chai flavor would be too faint. So definitely brew on the stronger side!
Wow… I was so so so happy that I had all of the ingredients to make this cake this morning. It is so yummy, perfectly light and sweet, but not overly sweet.
Its great because I just ordered a chai spice blend off of etsy and it was a perfect excuse to throw it in the cake. It was truly incredible in there, thanks so much for sharing!
Here is the chai spice if you are interested
https://www.etsy.com/listing/263470098/medicinal-masala-chai-blend
YAY! Awesome. So glad you loved it! xo
Would you be able to use chai tea bought from Starbucks instead of making your own?
That should work! Just make sure it’s very strong. The flavor with this comes through but it’s not overpowering so if Starbucks Chai is a little weak, it most likely won’t come through at all. If that’s the case you can just add an extra tea bag.