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A delicious creamy tiramisu cheesecake recipe with a biscuit base, mascarpone cheesecake filling, coffee soak sponge fingers and more

I am genuinely telling the truth when I say this is my favourite cheesecake i have made so far… it might have something to do with the fact that I adore tiramisu and cheesecake, but combining them is the best of the best.

Tiramisu

Google says that “Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made of ladyfinger pastries, dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and mascarpone, and topped with cocoa powder.” and it’s one of my favourite desserts on the planet. I did grow up thinking I would hate tiramisu, because I thought I didn’t like coffee, but now as an adult I realised it’s just completely different to what I thought, and I do like coffee now anyway.

It’s a dessert that is light, creamy and I always have room for it. The recipe for my tiramisu is in my third book, Everyday, and I have made it countless times now. It’s as close to accurate as I can make it really, using the egg yolks, not adding whipped cream etc. However, this cheesecake version is the happy twist of everything.

Cheesecakes

This is going to sound a little ridiculous, but in the now over ten years of running Jane’s Patisserie, I have published over 100 cheesecake recipes. This doesn’t seem quite possible, but I did check before writing and realised I may have a bit of a problem and obsession.

I mainly publish no-bake cheesecake recipes because I find that they are more successful in the amount of views that they get, but also I often prefer them. I do love baked cheesecakes, like the classic new york cheesecake, but I love the light and sweet creaminess of a no bake cheesecake.

I typically use a biscuit base, often with a digestive base, a simple no-bake filling of a cream cheese, sugar, cream and a flavour whipped together and on top of the base, and some sort of decoration. They are quite easy to make, but take a while to set – but I will always say that it’s worth it.

Classic desserts with a twist

So we all know that I love to add two recipes together and make something new… I am a little known for it, and I love doing it, messing with the classics ever so slightly. My latest book, Classic, is coming out at the end of July 2025 and it’s based on the idea of the classic desserts/bakes/ideas mixed with classic me.

Merging together the idea of a classic tiramisu, with a cheesecake, is obviously the premise for today. I think, due to the fact that a classically no-bake cheesecake is so creamy and light, it would work wonders with the ideas of the tiramisu. Like with most merging recipes, I like to keep the main core of a recipe involved, so in this case it’s the mascarpone, sponge fingers, and the creamy cocoa powder.

Biscuit base

On a typical biscuit base, I use a ratio of 300g of biscuits, and often about 150g of melted butter. I usually use digestives as I prefer the flavour it creates for a biscuit base, but you can use other biscuits. However, because this recipe also has to fit in the sponge fingers, I purposely went for a smaller ratio of base.

I blitz the biscuits to a really fine crumb using a food processor/blender, and then I mix in the melted butter. I find it best to make sure the biscuit base is super fine as it tends to stick together better to prevent a crumbly base. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a bowl/bag with a rolling pin instead, obviously. Mix the butter in to make a wet sandy texture, and then I use an 8″/20cm springform cake tin for my cheesecakes as I find it the perfect depth and size of a cheesecake.

Cheesecake filling

The cheesecake filling in this tiramisu cheesecake is actually quite simple, and it’s needed really. I use a mix of full-fat mascarpone cream cheese, icing sugar, double cream, vanilla extract and coffee liqueur for the mix – and it’s delightfully moreish.

I add the mascarpone, which you really should use to make it more like a classic tiramisu compared to a soft cheese like philadelphia, and then the icing sugar, vanilla extract and coffee liqueur into the bowl. I whip these together until combined and smooth, and then I add the double cream and whip again until thick. You can substitute the coffee liqueur for dissolved coffee if you don’t want to use alcohol.

I always add the double cream in liquid, and then whip everything together, but you can whip the cream separately and then fold through the rest of the mixture. It’s important to use full-fat cream cheese and cream to make sure that the recipe sets – you can use a lower fat one, but you must use a setting agent such as gelatine (which will change the texture of the bake)

Sponge fingers

As with a classic Tiramisu, they HAD to be in the cheesecake. I created a mixture of instant coffee, boiling water and coffee liqueur and let this cool before making this layer of cheesecake. I use a strong coffee mix as I adore the flavour and I adore coffee liqueur, but you can use just coffee if you want to avoid alcohol.

The biscuit base is on the bottom of the tin, I evenly spread on half of the cheesecake mixture and then you add the sponge fingers. I used one packet of sponge fingers because it was the perfect amount for one layer in the cheesecake. I soak the sponge finger briefly in the coffee mixture, and then add it onto the cheesecake and create a layer of sponge fingers. Most of them stay hole to make the cheesecake easier to cut once set, but I do fill in the gaps as well.

Cream topping

I let the cheesecake set overnight as I always think longer the better when it comes to a cheesecake, because when it’s the next day it’s really easy to take the cheesecake out of the springform cake tin as you can just unclip and pull the tin off without disrupting the bake.

The cream topping resembles the look of a tiramisu, even without being entirely accurate. I used a mix of double cream, icing sugar and vanilla bean extract whipped to soft peaks (I hate to overwhip cream as it doesn’t pipe well – it’ll firm up when piping usually). I used a round piping tip when piping the cream on top of the set cheesecake.

And for the iconic look, I add a little dusting of cocoa powder to the top of the cheesecake – for flavour, for decoration, for deliciousness. It’s a simple yet affective way of decorating a tiramisu cheesecake.

Tips & Tricks

This recipe lasts for 3+ days in the fridge once made
I use a strong instant coffee in the sponge fingers section – you can use anything really
I use kahlua/tia maria for the coffee liqueur – you can substitute for dissolved coffee
I use an 8″/20cm springform cake tin for this recipe
I used a round piping tip for the decoration