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The History of Tiramisu Cake
There is no doubt: Tiramisu is the most popular Italian dessert, known worldwide.
It is quite extraordinary how this cake conquered the entire word in very short time. It was "invented" in the 60's in the town Treviso in the northern region of Veneto, at a stone's throw from Venice, but became really popular only in the early 90's.
Today is considered a classic, has innumerable variations, and it is present in every restaurant menu.
Why is Tiramisu so popular? The answer is simple: It is DELICIOUS! . . . when it is properly done. It is one of those rare instances when a combination of flavors is created, that blends all the components perfectly together, and takes the taste of the whole preparation to a higher level. We could say that Tiramisu' is like Black Powder: the parts taken separately are innocuous but when they are blended together they become an explosion of taste.
Tirami su' is a dialectal expression of Veneto that means "pick me up", in the sense of re-energize, regain strength, or waking-up. The meaning becomes apparent when you analyze what goes into this dessert. The main ingredients of Tiramisu are: Mascarpone cheese, Zabaglione cream, Espresso coffee, Savoiardi cookies (also known as Ladyfingers) and a topping of chocolate.
Mascarpone has very old origins and it appears that it was already produced in the 13th century in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, where took its name from mascherpa which is the local term for a sort of ricotta cheese. Mascarpone is more than a cheese: it's a concentrate of milk cream, with a fat content up to 75%, with a smooth, creamy and sweet texture. It was considered a winter product for its caloric content and especially because it is very delicate and didn't keep for long in the hot temperatures before the advent of the refrigerator. There are many American makers of this cheese but none has the same delicate taste, smoothness, and refinement of the Italian freshly made one. Still, even if American Mascarpone is not the best, do not even think about substituting it with cream cheese: the result would be disastrous.
Zabaglione cream is a classic Italian dessert originally from Venice. The famous Italian gastronome Giuseppe Maffioli was writing that the name of this cream originates from zabaja, a sweet dessert popular in the Illiria region. It is the coastal area across the Adriatic Sea that was Venetian territory for long time during the golden age of the "Repubblica Serenissima" (The Most Serene Republic) of Venice. Zabaglione was prepared in those times with yolks, honey, and sweet Cyprus wine. Today sugar is used instead and most often Marsala wine, that gives it a distinctive flavor. It is a simple and quite easy recipe to make, in spite of many food writers describing it as a complicated and laborious thing.
Espresso coffee is obtained by forcing pressurized water through coffee powder. It is made from a blend of roasted grains of different origin, often ground on the spot to maximize the flavor. Naturally espresso ends up being much stronger that regular American coffee: It is a true shot of caffeine.
Savoiardi: These delicate cookies, also known as Ladyfingers, were originated at the court of the Savoia Dukes around the 1500's in the Northern Italian region of Piemonte, at the boundaries with France. Apparently they were created for a lavish reception organized in honor of a visit of the King of France. Later, thanks to the extraordinary success in this memorable banquet, these cookies were "adopted" officially by the Royal House of Piemonte. They were renamed "Savoiardi" from the name of the Savoia dynasty, and they became the most appreciated dessert of the house. Savoiardi are very light because they are prepared with a dough rich of whipped egg white. Very popular for the preparation of layer cakes, they are also served as complement to custards, ice cream or fruit salad.
In conclusion: a very rich cheese; the eggs yolks, sugar and sweet wine in the zabaglione; the caffeine of the espresso coffee, and the chocolate make this cake an ultra-nutritious combination, guaranteed to pick-you-up.
Open an old Italian cookbook, browse through the index and... surprise! No Tiramisu' cake recipe.
Everybody knows by now that Tiramisu' means "pick-me-up" in Italian, for the high energetic content (eggs and sugar) and the caffeine of the strong espresso coffee. There are many different stories about the origin of Tiramisu'. It is a layered cake; therefore some people place its origin in Tuscany, where another famous layered Italian dessert is very popular. It is called "Zuppa Inglese" (English Soup). It is not English and it is not a soup. Instead is a simple cake of ladyfingers or sponge cake, soaked in "alkermes" liquor, and alternated layers of chocolate and egg custard.
Layered cakes have been around for long time. The brilliant idea in Tiramisu' is not in the technique of layering, but in the components. The great invention of combining together coffee, zabaglione cream, and chocolate: This is the true innovation in Tiramisu'.
Let's try to trace the origin of Tiramisu' investigating many Italian cookbooks.
The first clue is by the famous Italian gastronome Giuseppe Maffioli. In his book "Il ghiottone Veneto", (The Venetian Glutton) first published in 1968, he talks extensively about Zabaglione custard. The name of this cream originates from Zabaja, a sweet dessert popular in the Illiria region. It is the coastal area across the Adriatic Sea that was Venetian territory for long time during the golden age of the "Repubblica Serenissima" (The Most Serene Republic) of Venice. Zabaglione was prepared in those times with sweet Cyprus wine.
"The groom's bachelor friends", says Maffioli, "at the end of the long wedding banquet, maliciously teasing, gave to him before the couple retired a big bottle of zabajon, to guarantee a successful and prolonged honeymoon". "The zabajon", Maffioli continues, "was sometimes added of whipped cream, but in this case was served very cold, almost frozen, and accompanied by the baicoli, small thin Venetian cookies invented in the 1700's by a baker in the Santa Margherita suburb of Venice". The addition of whipped cream, the serving temperature, the cookies, all these elements are close to the modern Tiramisu' recipe. And even the allusion to the energetic properties of the Zabaglione, seem to refer to the Tiramisu' name.
The oldest recipe that could be found is in the book by Giovanni Capnist "I Dolci del Veneto" (The Desserts of Veneto). The first edition was published in 1983 and has a classic recipe for Tiramisu'. "Recent recipe with infinite variations from the town of Treviso", says Capnist, "discovery of restaurants more then family tradition".
But the final word on the origin of Tiramisu' is from the book by Fernando e Tina Raris "La Marca Gastronomica" published in 1998, a book entirely dedicated to the cuisine from the town of Treviso. The authors remember what Giuseppe Maffioli wrote in an article in 1981: "Tiramisu' was born recently, just 10 years ago in the town of Treviso. It was proposed for the first time in the restaurant Le Beccherie. The dessert and its name became immediately extremely popular, and this cake and the name where copied by many restaurants first in Treviso then all around Italy".
Still today the restaurant "Le Beccherie" makes the dessert with the classical recipe: ladyfingers soaked in bitter strong espresso coffee, mascarpone-zabaglione cream, and bitter cocoa powder. Alba and Ado Campeol, owners of the restaurant regret they didn't patent the name and the recipe, especially to avoid all the speculation and guesses on the origin of this cake, and the diffusion of so many recipes that have nothing to do with the original Tiramisu'.
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