Limoncello Tiramisu. A delicious twist on the classic Italian coffee tiramisu dessert using blueberries, lemon, and limoncello, all homemade and perfect for parties.

Limoncello Tiramisu. This is such a beautiful cake / dessert, and would be perfect for any special occasion.

We've all heard of Tiramisu, a famous Italian dessert, made with coffee and Marsala wine. Well, our friend Lori has made her Limoncello Tiramisu with a twist!
Here we have the famous Italian cake, made from the second most popular liqueur in Italy, limoncello. This lovely taste is made from pure lemon zest and steeped in grain alcohol until the oils are released. It truly is a lovely liqueur.

This dessert cake has some lovely fresh blueberries to add another flavor dimension, and blueberries always go well with lemon.

This limoncello dessert recipe has been made in a cake shape. However, you can also make this in a rectangular pan and layer it up like you would a traditional tiramisu.

For the cake part, we've used a basic vanilla cake recipe. You could of course use our lovely lemon pound cake recipe. It will give you an added lemon flavor to your limoncello tiramisu.

Lori made this limoncello tiramisu cake for a very special occasion, and as with all special recipes, they often take time and a little care to make it just right. This recipe is best made the day before so it has time to chill and firm up, making it easier to cut.
Recipe by Lori Ryan

Prep Time

2 hours including overnight chilling time

Cook Time

1 hour

Yield

10 -12 Persons

Equipment you'll need

Two (8 ½ by 4 ½ by 2 ½-inch) loaf pans
A 9-inch springform or a 9-inch square sheet pan style to build the cake
1 Yard Ribbon (optional)

Ingredients

CAKE

½ pound (2 sticks) or 225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups or 400 g granulated sugar, divided
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups or 375 g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup or 175 ml buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

THE 3 FILLINGS & Syrup

Lemon Filling

1 ¼ cups / 250 g granulated sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 ½ cup / 350 ml cold water
⅛ teaspoon salt
6 large egg yolks
⅔ cup / 160 ml fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons Butter.
3 tablespoons limoncello.

Blueberry Filling

1 bag (3 cups / 450 g) Frozen Blueberries
1 ½ Cups / 300 g sugar
Up to ½ cup /120 ml Water
6 Tablespoons Cornstarch

Mascarpone Cheese Mixture

12 oz / 340 g Mascarpone cheese
⅔ cup / 130 g Powder Sugar
4 Tablespoons Limoncello
2 Tablespoons lemon Zest
2 cups / 475 ml Heavy Whipping Cream

Lemon Syrup

¼ cup /60 ml Limoncello
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest.

You will also need 24 Sponge Lady's Fingers for the outside

Instructions

Bake the cake first

1. Preheat the oven to 350F, 180 C, Gas 4. Grease and flour 2 (8 ½ by 4 ½ by 2 ½-inch) loaf pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper.

2. Cream the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. With the mixer on medium speed, beat in the eggs, 1 at a time.

3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

4. When the cakes are done, let them cool for 10 minutes. Take them out of the pans, place them on a baking rack and allow them to cool completely. Wrap well, and store in the refrigerator.

5. You could use any cake that is sturdy, I wanted to make sure that it held up so used pound cake.

Make the Fillings

To make the Lemon filling :

1. In a saucepan, add sugar, cornstarch, water, salt, and lemon zest. Stir until thick.

2. Remove the pan from the heat then slowly add the yolks, stirring all the time (avoid scrambling the eggs) and return to the heat, cook for an additional 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Remove from heat.

3. Add butter and Limoncello when removed from heat. Allow to cool completely.

Blueberry Filling:

In a pan, add all the ingredients and cook until thick. Add the water gradually until it gets thick. The water amount will depend on how ‘watery’ the frozen blueberries are. Allow to cool completely.

Mascarpone Cheese Mixture:

1. Beat Mascarpone & sugar until smooth

2. Add 4 Tablespoons Limoncello, 2 Tablespoons of Lemon Zest and 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream, beat until mixture is stiff.

Lemon Syrup:

Combine all the ingredients for the Lemon Syrup until the sugar is dissolved.

Assemble your cake

(Also used the ladyfingers as a cut line for the cake.)

1. Cut pound cake in half as there will be TWO layers. Then cut in 1" slices and place half of the cake in the bottom of the Spring Form pan, wedge ladyfingers around the edges of the pound cake so they are standing.

2. Drizzle HALF Limoncello syrup over pound cake and layer with HALF blueberry filling, HALF lemon filling, and ⅓ of the cheese mixture, add the other half of the cake as the next layer, and repeat with the fillings, so 2 layers of each and top with the last ⅓ of the cream cheese mixture and fresh blueberries and zested lemon.
I refrigerated overnight and added the birthday ribbon. I use limoncello according to taste

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our Limoncello Tiramisu recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

I used a 9" Springform and it held 24 ladyfingers perfectly. I used a yard of ribbon, you could use anything, it was just for presentation.

You want to make sure everything is cool before you start building due to the cheese mixture.

Limoncello is yummy. This is the first time I have tasted or cooked with it, Limoncello martini is next on my list!

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