Last Updated on April 19, 2023 by Heather Wibbels
Shake up a chocolate and coffee-flavored Tiramisu Cocktail, inspired by the Italian dessert flavors. Like a tiramisu martini, but with rum!
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Skip the meal and head straight to dessert with this chocolate dessert drink. It’s unabashedly sweet and rich. It combines all the wonderful flavors of tiramisu – coffee, chocolate, vanilla and rum/cognac – with a cream float and a dusting of cocoa powder. Make a batch of these for any holiday gathering that includes coffee- or chocolate-lovers and you will be the crowd favorite.
What is Tiramisu?
If you’ve gotten to this post you likely already know (and love) Tiramisu. It’s a decadent dessert with layers of coffee and brandy or rum soaked ladyfingers and a healthy layer of sweetened mascarpone cream. Top it all off with a generous dusting of cocoa powder and you have heaven in a dessert.
The layered flavors of coffee, chocolate, cream, sweet sponge cake and spirits combine into a perfect end to a great meal. Especially if you didn’t have to make it.
Flavors in this Tiramisu Cocktail
Like the dessert, we’ll combine some dark rum or cognac, coffee liqueur, Licor 43, Tuaca or another vanilla flavored liqueur (or vanilla infused spirit) with coffee flavors and a healthy dose of whipping cream.
While I experimented with adding mascarpone cream to the cocktail, the flavor didn’t push through all the ingredients. So I used whipping cream instead.
If you find the cocktail too sweet, add some additional chocolate bitters or coffee bitters if you have them. Even a touch of an amaro like Foro or Averna would add lovely bitter notes to this gem of a cocktail.
You could also transform the drink into a tiramisu martini! Simply use crème de cacao and coffee liqueurs, then substitute vodka for rum.
How to Make the Dessert Cocktail
Make this sweet tiramisu drink when you need a cocktail in place of dessert, or to impress family and friends after a beautiful meal.
Because it’s made with cream, it would be easy to batch for a holiday party, too.
Head to How to Batch a Cocktail for a Party for an easy method to turn this recipe into a batch for 8 or more!
- Start by preparing the cream for the top the cocktail.
Add the whipping cream to a shaking tin or small mason jar and add amaretto if using. This will give the cocktail a slight aroma of almonds. Shake in the jar until thickened, but still pourable. Put in the fridge to chill while you make the cocktail.
- Measure and pour the ingredients.
To put this together, we’ll add the rum or cognac to a mixing glass. For a tiramisu martini, use vodka. Pour in the coffee liqueur, vanilla liqueur, crème de cacao and bitters.
- Fill the glass with ice and stir.
Just 30 seconds or so should do it – enough to give chill the drink.
- Strain into a chilled martini glass.
- Garnish the tiramisu cocktail.
Float the chilled cream on top of the cocktail and add a dash of cocoa powder.
Sip and enjoy!
OTHER DESSERT COCKTAILS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
Recommended Bar Tools
You don’t need every slick, beautiful bar tool out there, but there are several I’ll recommend. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. However, that does not affect the cost of the items below.) My favorite pieces usually come from the Cocktail Kingdom section of Amazon:
- Shaker Tin Set
- Jigger
- Hawthorne Strainer
- Bar Spoon
- Muddler
- Nice to have: mixing glass
You may already have these bar essentials, but just in case:
Tiramisu Cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 oz dark rum or cognac
- 1 oz coffee liqueur
- ½ oz Licor 43 vanilla liqueur
- ½ oz crème de cacao
- 2 dashes chocolate bitters
- 2 oz whipping cream
- dash of Amaretto optional
- Garnish: cocoa powder
Instructions
- Shake the whipping cream with the dash of amaretto until slightly thickened. It should be still be pourable. Set in the fridge.
- Add rum, coffee liqueur, Licor 43, crème de cacao and bitters to a mixing glass.
- Add ice and stir for 30 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled martini glass.
- Float 1-1.5 oz of the cream on the top of the cocktail and add a dash of cocoa powder.
Legit.
So delicious I made a second one immediately after the first. Well balanced in flavors and not too sweet, although I like sweet.
Float of cream on top was what put it over the top.
Thank you, Michael. It is definitely one I return to at the holidays. Plus I love how easy it is to batch, except holding off on the cream float at the end. Cheers!
So I’ve played around with this a little, the recipe is very good, and on the right track for sure.
Right now I have
1.25 of espresso liquor
I split the cognac/rum into
0.5 of dark good rum
0.5 of contreau
0.5 of creme de cacao
0.5 liquor 43 (I didn’t have the vanilla so I went with 3 drop vanilla extract)
1oz heavy cream
Shake with tin full of ice til frosted, well frosted if you don’t want it too strong. Pour into frozen coup and garnish with cocoa powder.
Amaretto Float on top sounds nice, but I can’t seem to get it to behave right yet.