The awkward truth behind this favourite Italian dessert

The dish

Tiramisu, Italy

Plate up

If you’ve been to Italy, you know this already. Some tour guide has included it in their spiel. Some waiter has shared the knowledge. Tiramisu means “pick-me-up” in Italian because that’s exactly what it does, thanks to the liberal slosh of espresso that goes into the traditional recipe.

Tiramisu – the original Italian pick-me-up.Credit: Christopher Pearce

This is one of those glorious dishes that has achieved worldwide fame to the point of cliche, and yet it is still regularly eaten in its homeland. And what is it? For those who have never dined at a restaurant with a chequered tablecloth, tiramisu is a classic dessert, based on savoiardi biscuits that are soaked in coffee (and maybe some Frangelico or Marsala wine) and then layered with a rich mix of egg yolks, sugar and mascarpone cheese. The whole lot is dusted with cocoa powder and is then served in wedges like a gloriously caffeinated lasagne. And it appears on every Italian menu from Roma, Italy, to Roma, Queensland.

First serve

This is not some deeply historic dish, an ancient recipe handed down between nonnas over centuries. Tiramisu has been around for only 50 years or so. Its origins, as is the way with these things, are disputed, via a beef between two northern Italian regions, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The former points to the restaurant Le Beccherie, in Treviso, which is widely accepted to have invented tiramisu in 1972. The latter says it has had a semi-frozen dessert called tiremesu since the 1930s. In 2013, Veneto authorities sought EU protection status for their cherished dessert. In 2017, Friuli-Venezia Giulia registered tiramisu on a list of traditional foods from the region. Awkward.

Order there

This is an easy one. Go to Treviso, and order yourself a tiramisu at Le Beccherie (lebeccherie.it).

Order here

In Sydney, Fratelli Paradiso in Potts Point does an excellent tiramisu (above) (fratelliparadiso.com). Melburnians, check out the “Tipomisu” at Tipo 00 (tipo00.com.au). And if you’re in Brisbane, head to Bianca in the Valley (anyday.com.au).

Make it

Create your own tiramisu at home following Adam Liaw’s recipe for a “flat white” version.

One more thing

There’s another version of the tiramisu origin story. Some have it that the dish was invented in a Treviso brothel in the 1950s, where it was used as a “pick-me-up” to boost its clients’ energy before they went home to their wives.