Pu-erh Tiramisu

by Tea Cachai

>This is the second post from my baking with tea collaboration with Haley from Flour Covered Apron. In case you missed the previous recipe, we made Earl Grey Lavender Scones, click to see it here. They were a hit! We saw many people replicating them and posting their photos in social media, we were so excited about it!

Haley is an amazing baker, she does extensive research for her recipes and develops new ideas from her findings. When we brainstormed about what to do for this collaboration, she asked if a tiramisu could work in some way with tea, so the idea of switching out the coffee for tea was obvious. I have a crazy sweet tooth but have never been attracted to tiramisu because of the coffee in it. Making it with tea was an exciting twist and a chance for me to love it!

I chose a Pu-erh because it is a strong brew, with earthy notes, that could come through the cake and mascarpone nicely and not get lost. When baking with tea, you need to brew much stronger than you would a regular cup, because the flavors can get lost easily. So you might want to use more tea and let it steep for a bit longer.

Pu-erh Tiramisu- Flour Covered Apron and Tea Cachai Collaboration

*Photo by flourcoveredapron.com

This pu-erh tiramisu recipe yielded 4 beautiful mini tiramisus (and trust me, you’ll have to share one because they’re big!) which we mounted on mason jar lids using clear acetate, but you can also make it in a rectangular glass bakeware dish.

Haley modified the ladyfingers from the traditional recipe for an easy sponge cake. Since it’s airy and not too sweet, it is the perfect ‘medium’ to soak with tea and add that pu-erh flavor. We brushed the sponge cake layers of the tiramisu with the strong ‘pu-erh soak’ with a silicone brush until the cake absorbed it.

For the Pu-erh soak we used 1 cup of milk and 3 teabags, but after a few tests, I recommend to do double the amount of milk and use 5 teabags. This will depend on how much you want the pu-erh flavor to come through. If you want it to be quite noticeable you’ll need to make double the soak recipe and brush the sponge cake until it’s fully covered and it looks brown.

NOTE*** Make sure the sponge cake is fully soaked with tea (even more so than how it’s shown in the photos), but do this carefully with a brush or a spoon, don’t submerge the cake.

*Photo by flourcoveredapron.com

The result was a delicious tiramisu recipe with a modern tea twist! If you want to try a different tea option I suggest you try a full body black tea like an Assam or you could also try it with a Masala Chai.

Let us know if you make this recipe and comment or tag us in your post so we can see it too. Find us on Instagram @teacachai and @flourcoveredapron, we’d love to hear from you!

For the FULL PU-ERH TIRAMISU RECIPE, click HERE.