An Asian twist on an Italian favourite, this simple tiramisu recipe is made with creamy, chocolatey Vietnamese Iced Coffee and sweetened condensed milk. Make ahead for a simple crowd-pleasing eggless tiramisu dessert – no bake, no fuss!
Why We Love This
Vietnamese Iced Coffee Tiramisu is a decadent treat that looks amazing for minimal effort – a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach! Perfect for birthdays, celebrations or special family dinners like Christmas Eve.
This quick cheat’s tiramisu is made without eggs or mascarpone, using a simple homemade whipped cream for a fluffy, airy texture that sets perfectly every time.
What is Vietnamese Ice Coffee Tiramisu?
Every now and again we like to mix things up in the Wandercooks kitchen and get a little creative. Today’s experimental Asian tiramisu fuses together two of our most favourite things in the world: Vietnamese cuisine (the most addicting of which (in our opinion) is the humble Vietnamese Iced Coffee) and sweetly delicious desserts.
Traditional tiramisu recipes often call for a few fiddlier steps like tempering eggs, or adding ingredients like mascarpone cream cheese which we don’t always have in the fridge. Today’s eggless tiramisu recipe skips them both in favour of a simple blend of thickened cream with a dash of creamy condensed milk, caster sugar and vanilla essence.
What You’ll Need
- Italian Sponge Finger Biscuits – Sometimes known as lady finger biscuits or savoiardi, these are a type of dry sponge biscuit coated in a thin icing sugar crust. They’re the perfect cheat’s cake base for tiramisu.
- Coffee – The real flavour punch in this fusion tiramisu recipe comes from soaking the biscuits in freshly brewed Vietnamese coffee. We like to brew Trung Nguyen coffee in a traditional Vietnamese coffee filter called a ‘phin’. This coffee, blended with condensed milk, tastes like no other coffee we’ve ever tried! (Mostly because there’s some craaaazy flavour alchemy going on behind it’s creation). It has a smooth, creamy consistency and a delicious chocolatey flavour that goes amazingly with sponge finger biscuits. Of course, if you don’t have or can’t get ahold of Trung Nguyen coffee or a Vietnamese coffee filter, you can use any coffee you like and brew it using your favourite brewing method. We’ll never tell.
- Cream & Condensed Milk – We use thickened cream (also known as heavy cream) which will hold its shape nicely once whipped. Avoid pouring cream, which will stay way too runny and end up with a soggy mess. Condensed milk is sweetened, thickened milk syrup that really brings out the delicious flavour of the coffee.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Be Quick – The sponge finger biscuits will soak up the coffee very quickly! Dunk and get them straight in the dish so they don’t fall apart in your hands.
- Presentation – A simple no-bake dessert recipe this may be, but feel free to get as fancy as you like with its presentation. You could serve it up in cute little individual glass dishes, or make a decadent round tower cake… But if you opt to keep things simple like we did, and dish it up in your favourite everyday baking dish, we promise it’ll be just as delicious!
- Chocolate Sprinkle – For a visually pleasing presentation, sprinkle your shaved chocolate or chocolate powder over the tiramisu just before serving so it looks its absolute freshest!
FAQs
We’ve made this in lots of different dishes, from a rectangular loaf pan to a square lamington tray to a large glass baking dish, depending on what we have on hand. If you’re using a loaf pan, you can probably go up to three layers of biscuits (see the images in this post). For other, wider but shallower dishes, you may only be able to go up to two layers of biscuits. It’s easy to adapt to whatever size dish you have on hand. If you have a really large dish or just want to make a huge batch, consider having extra biscuits on hand or double the recipe.
Store in the fridge and it will last for around 3 days.
Traditional tiramisu is made with coffee of course, but we always say it’s your kitchen – your rules! If you’d like to make this tiramisu without coffee, you can swap it for hot chocolate instead. For the best flavour, choose a good quality chocolate powder, and make it rich – aim for around 4 tbsp hot chocolate powder to 400 ml boiling water.
Variations
- Make it Boozy – Stir through a splash of Kahlua, Frangelico, Baileys Irish Creme or your favourite liqueur into the freshly brewed coffee before dunking those savoiardi biscuits.
Want more decadent desserts? These are some of our favourites:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and star rating below!
Ingredients
For the coffee:
- 400 ml boiling water
- 8 tsp fresh coffee grounds (heaped) we use Vietnamese Trung Nguyen, but you can use any coffee you like. This works out to 4 'phins' worth of coffee.
- 4 tbsp condensed milk
For the whipped cream:
- 300 g thickened cream
- 200 g condensed milk
- 60 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Everything else:
- 250 g sponge finger / savoiardi biscuits
- 2 tbsp dark chocolate shaved
Instructions
- Prepare four batches of coffee in a traditional Vietnamese phin filter (here are the full instructions for this process, or you can use your own preferred method, such as a moka pot or plunger).
- Transfer the coffee into a jug or cup (it should be deep enough for dunking the biscuits into). Then add the 4 tbsp condensed milk and stir through until evenly mixed.
- Next, add the thickened cream, 200 g condensed milk, caster sugar and vanilla essence into a mixing bowl. Whip for 6 – 10 mins using a hand beater or stand mixer until strong peaks form.
- Dip the biscuits into the sweetened coffee and place into baking dish. Cover with a layer of whipped cream. Continue adding more layers of biscuits and cream. Pour any remaining coffee over the last layer of biscuits before spreading out the final layer of cream.
- Transfer to the fridge until ready to serve. Just before serving, sprinkle with shaved dark chocolate.
Recipe Notes
- Italian Sponge Finger Biscuits – Sometimes known as lady finger biscuits or savoiardi, these are a type of dry sponge biscuit coated in a thin icing sugar crust. They’re the perfect cheat’s cake base for tiramisu.
- Coffee – The real flavour punch in this fusion tiramisu recipe comes from soaking the biscuits in freshly brewed Vietnamese coffee. We like to brew Trung Nguyen coffee in a traditional Vietnamese coffee filter called a ‘phin’. This coffee, blended with condensed milk, tastes like no other coffee we’ve ever tried! (Mostly because there’s some craaaazy flavour alchemy going on behind it’s creation). It has a smooth, creamy consistency and a delicious chocolatey flavour that goes amazingly with sponge finger biscuits. Of course, if you don’t have or can’t get ahold of Trung Nguyen coffee or a Vietnamese coffee filter, you can use any coffee you like and brew it using your favourite brewing method. We’ll never tell.
- Cream & Condensed Milk – We use thickened cream (also known as heavy cream) which will hold its shape nicely once whipped. Avoid pouring cream, which will stay way too runny and end up with a soggy mess. Condensed milk is sweetened, thickened milk syrup that really brings out the delicious flavour of the coffee.
- Be Quick – The sponge finger biscuits will soak up the coffee very quickly! Dunk and get them straight in the dish so they don’t fall apart in your hands.
- Presentation – A simple no-bake dessert recipe this may be, but feel free to get as fancy as you like with its presentation. You could serve it up in cute little individual glass dishes, or make a decadent round tower cake… But if you opt to keep things simple like we did, and dish it up in your favourite everyday baking dish, we promise it’ll be just as delicious!
- Chocolate Sprinkle – For a visually pleasing presentation, sprinkle your shaved chocolate or chocolate powder over the tiramisu just before serving so it looks its absolute freshest!
- Which Dish – We’ve made this in lots of different dishes, from a rectangular loaf pan to a square lamington tray to a large glass baking dish, depending on what we have on hand. If you’re using a loaf pan, you can probably go up to three layers of biscuits (see the images in this post). For other, wider but shallower dishes, you may only be able to go up to two layers of biscuits. It’s easy to adapt to whatever size dish you have on hand. If you have a really large dish or just want to make a huge batch, consider having extra biscuits on hand or double the recipe.
- Make it Boozy – Stir through a splash of Kahlua, Frangelico, Baileys Irish Creme or your favourite liqueur into the freshly brewed coffee before dunking those savoiardi biscuits.
Nutrition
12 Comments
Huw
30/03/2021 at 6:17 amThere are eggs in the sponge finger biscuits so be careful not to give this to anyone with an egg allergy
Wandercooks
31/03/2021 at 10:03 amCheers Huw – I’ll make a note to make egg free lady fingers / savoiardi for anyone with egg allergies. When we said no egg, we were referring to the traditional way to make tiramisu with raw eggs, which some prefer to make without. 🙂
georgie
15/04/2020 at 5:54 pmholy moly this is my kind of dessert! how decadent, combining two of my favourite desserts!
Wandercooks
16/04/2020 at 10:59 amRight! I was like, why hasn’t this been done before! It’s too good a combination to resist. Hope your taste buds enjoy the discovery! 😀
Nart | Cooking with Nart
15/04/2020 at 1:16 pmOoh, I’ve heard so much about Vietnamese coffee! This dessert looks delicious, girls! i’ll have to try it!
Wandercooks
16/04/2020 at 11:02 amCheers Nart! Vietnamese coffee is so interesting because it’s a lot smoother with chocolate notes that go so well with the rest of the tiramisu flavours. If you do give it a go – we recommend Trung Nguyen brand. It’s so delish and exactly like what we had back in Vietnam.
Emily
15/04/2020 at 12:38 pmThis recipe is absolutely delightful! So many layers and so many flavors!
Wandercooks
16/04/2020 at 11:02 amThanks Emily! 🙂
Anita
15/04/2020 at 12:17 pmThis tiramisu is so delicious. And it’s so much easier using heavy cream and condensed milk compared to getting mascarpone. 🙂
Wandercooks
16/04/2020 at 11:03 amAgreed! Also, confession, I just prefer the simpler flavour of cream rather than mascarpone. Hehe!
Emily Liao
15/04/2020 at 12:10 pmOmg, this tiramisu cake is so good! The texture was airy and fluffy, and the flavors were delicious.
Wandercooks
16/04/2020 at 11:04 amYay! So glad you liked it Emily! 😀