Key Lime Tiramisu
A No Bake Key Lime Silky Tiramisu: A multi-generation Florida Native takes the flavors of a key lime pie and turns it into layers of rum soaked lady fingers, tart custard and sweet mascarpone cream.
What is Key Lime Tiramisu?
If you are looking for a Key Lime dessert that isn’t key lime pie- look no further.
Key Lime Pie is easily my favorite dessert. I will take a pass on chocolate any day to have Key Lime pie.
For this recipe, I wanted several things- a no bake/ make ahead dessert, key limes, but light, tart, sour and sweet. I started thinking about my favorite kinds of desserts and tiramisu kept popping into my mind. So I deconstructed a tiramisu and added Key Lime Pie components to come up with this amazing dessert. Instead of an espresso soaked lady finger, a drizzle of an amped up simple syrup with rum and lime.
Ingredients for No Bake Key Lime Tiramisu:
- Key lime and Persian limes- you can use just Persian limes if Key limes are not available.
- sweetened condensed milk
- white or light rum
- lady fingers- I like Alessi Brand
- heavy whipping cream
- mascarpone cheese
- egg yolks
- sugar
- confectioner’s sugar and vanilla sugar
How to assemble this recipe:
- Allow the mascarpone cheese to come to room temperature. Juice the limes. Set aside.
- Combine the juice, sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks. Let chill and set up for 1 hour.
- Whip part of the heavy cream and mascarpone cheese. Chill.
- Make a simple syrup with water, sugar, lime zest, and the rum. Let cool.
- Dip each lady finger in the cooled simple syrup and layer in an 8 x 8 dish.
- Top lady fingers with key lime juice custard, a layer of mascarpone cream, and repeat.
- Finish with a layer whipped cream and garnish with lime zest.
- Chill overnight or for 8 hours.
Tips:
- Read the entire recipe through and build out each component before trying to assemble.
- You can make the simple syrup, juice the limes and make the Key lime filing in advance.
- Do not add the final layer of whipped cream until just before serving for the freshest finish.
- Top with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and extra lime zest and lady finger cookie crumbs for a garnish.
Special Equipment needed for this recipe:
Commonly Asked Questions-
Yes, just add the same amount of water as you would rum to increase your simple syrup.
The lime juice basically cooks the eggs, just like in a Ceviche recipe. I always buy pasteurized eggs just to be safe. Make certain there are no cracks in your eggs and they are fresh.
IF you have any leftovers, they will last about 3 days. After that, the lady finger are too mushy and the whipped cream falls apart.
You can use standard limes from the grocery store. These are commonly called Persian limes. make s certain they are not hard- they will not yield much juice.
There are many components in this dessert that have dairy: whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk and the mascarpone cheese. If you have low tolerance of lactose, you may want to skip this desert.
The simple syrup and other components would soak right through h soft lady fingers making the dessert a bit of a mess to serve. Stick to the firm lady fingers. If you cannot find them try using these two cookies for your layers: Ines Rosales Sweet olive oil torta or Stella D’oro Cookies
Yes- it will not be quite as tart. Nellie and Joe’s is the best brand on the market.
Other Citrus Desserts from Pine & Palm Kitchen
- Classic Key Lime Pie
- Calamondin Pie
- Florida Grapefruit & Cointreau Golden Cake
- Guava Grapefruit Cocktail
Key Lime Tiramisu
Ingredients
Key Lime custard
- 1 cup Key Lime Juice
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 2 large egg yolks use pasteurized eggs
Whipped Cream layer
- 8 oz heavy whipping cream cold
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese softened- room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp lime zest
- 3 TBSP light rum
- 14 oz lady fingers cookies – crisp style 2- 7oz packages
Whipped cream topping
- 6 oz heavy whipping cream whipped
- 1 TBSP Sugar Vanilla Sugar works beautifully with this recipe
Garnish
- 1 TBSP Confectioner’s sugar sifted
- 1 TBSP lime zest
- 2 TBSP Lady finger crumbs
Instructions
Making the Key Lime Filling and Mascarpone Cream :
- In a medium bowl, combine the key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk and pasteurized eggs yolks. Cover and chill for 1 hour until thick and firm.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form, about 3-4 minutes. Whisk in the mascarpone until light and well combined. Cover and chill.
Make the Lime Infused Simple Syrup:
- In a small saucepan, bring to a simmer the 1 cup of water, 1 TBSP of sugar, and 1 tsp of lime zest. Stir on a low simmer until the sugar is dissolved. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Do not let the mixture boil. Turn off the heat and pour in the rum. Pour the lime infused simple syrup into a shallow dish. Let cool.
For the Whipped Cream Topping
- Whip remaining 6 oz of heavy cream and add 1 TBSP of sugar until sugar dissolves. Keep chilled until time to assemble the tiramisu.
To Assemble:
- Take each lady finger cookie and gently dip them one by one into the lime infused simple syrup for just a moment. Place in the bottom of an 8 inch x 8inch dish. You may need to break a few of the cookies to make them fit in a single layer. Reserve one lady finger for the topping.
- Using an offset spatula, spread the mascarpone cream mixture over the top of the rum-simple syrup soaked lady fingers.
- Add another layer of rum soaked -simple syrup dipped lady finger cookies on top of the mascarpone cream. Top with the Key Lime filling.
- For the topping, spoon the chilled sweetened whipped cream over the top.
- Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
To Serve:
- To Serve: Dust with powdered sugar and sprinkle with lime zest and reserved cookie crumbs. To serve, cut into squares and top each slice with a thinly sliced lime wedge.
