This vegan tiramisu is rich and decadent and insanely delicious. It’s perfect as a make-ahead dessert option and the only tiramisu recipe you’ll ever need.
This vegan tiramisu is amazingly delicious and super fun to make!
Note: I said ‘fun’ and not ‘quick’.
It’s layers of vanilla sponge cake, soaked in kahlua spiked coffee syrup, topped with a cashew ‘mascarpone’ and coconut whipped cream. It’s creamy dreamy boozy bliss.
It’s also a perfect make-ahead dessert because it’s at its best the day after making it.
How To Make Vegan Tiramisu
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Make a vanilla sheet cake. This bakes for 20 minutes, so while that is baking;
- Make a cashew mascarpone. This comes together in your blender and is then mixed with;
- Vegan Whipped Cream. Whip up some coconut cream and then fold that into your cashew mascarpone.
- Prepare your coffee syrup. This is done on the stovetop and is a wonderful mix of coffee, sugar and coffee liqueur.
- Assemble your tiramisu. Cut the vanilla sheet cake to fit the bottom of a 9×9 square dish and pour over half the coffee syrup. Add half the cashew mascarpone followed by the next layer of vanilla cake, the remaining coffee syrup and top it with the remaining cashew mascarpone and a sprinkling of cocoa powder.
- Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. Slice and enjoy!
Ingredient Notes
The coconut whipped cream. For the coconut whipped cream, we scooped the hardened cream from the top of two chilled cans of coconut cream (chilled at least overnight in the fridge). Alternatively you can use ONE can of Nature’s Charm Coconut Whipping Cream. This cream also needs to be chilled first but then it whips up beautifully. If you’re using a different vegan whipping cream then you need 1 and ⅔ cups (400ml) of cream prior to whipping it.
Coffee Liqueur. We used kahlua but you can use any coffee liqueur you like or you can leave the alcohol out altogether. If you leave out the kahlua then you can replace it with water and an extra teaspoon of coffee granules or replace it with filter coffee.
Baker’s Tips
Baking Pan. We made our vanilla sheet cake using a 10×15 half sheet pan. If your sheet pan is 11×15 this is also completely fine. The ideal is to use a half sheet pan and these can sometimes be slightly different sizes.
If you only have a quarter sheet cake pan (9×13) then you can also use this to make your sheet cake. It will need a longer baking time in that case (check it at 30 minutes and see from there), and then you may need to assemble your tiramisu in an 8×8 square dish instead of a 9×9 like we used.
Your tiramisu dish should be deep. Fitting all the layers for this dessert requires a fairly deep dish. Ours was 9×9 square and 2 and ½ inches deep.
Make it gluten free. For a gluten-free version of this tiramisu simply use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend when making the vanilla sheet cake. It has to be a blend that is meant to replace regular flour in baking.
Make Ahead and Storing
This dessert really comes into its own the next day. The extra time in the fridge allows the flavors to really blend beautifully and that really makes the magic happen. So if you need to make it the day before, this works out perfectly.
Leftover tiramisu will last up to 4 days (covered) in the fridge. It’s not ideal for freezing.
More Delicious Vegan Desserts
- Baked Cheesecake
- Vegan Malva Pudding
- Vegan Bread Pudding
- Vegan Mousse
- Vegan Apple Crisp
- Dairy Free Chocolate Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Tiramisu
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Sponge Cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour (330g)
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ cups Soy Milk (360ml) or Almond Milk
- 3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Distilled White Vinegar
For the Vegan Mascarpone:
- 1 ¾ cups Raw Cashews (262g)
- ½ cup Maple Syrup (120ml)
- ⅓ cup Coconut Oil (80ml) Melted
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Almond Milk (120ml)
For the Whipped Cream:
- 2 ½ cups Canned Coconut Cream (600ml) hardened cream only from 2 14-ounce cans, chilled overnight in the fridge
- ¼ cup Powdered Sugar (30g)
For the Coffee Syrup:
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- ½ cup Water (120ml)
- 2 teaspoons Instant Coffee Powder
- ¼ cup Coffee Liqueur (60ml)
For Decoration:
- Sprinkle Cocoa Powder Unsweetened
Instructions
- Prepare your vanilla sheet cake. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 10×15 half sheet baking pan with non-stick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Add soy milk, vanilla extract, oil and vinegar and mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
- Transfer to your prepared baking pan and smooth it out into the corners.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Prepare your cashew mascarpone. While your sheet cake is baking prepare your mascarpone.
- Add the cashews, syrup, coconut oil, salt, vanilla and almond milk to the blender and blend. Transfer the mascarpone to a bowl and set aside.
- Prepare your whipped cream. Add the coconut cream (separated hardened cream at the top of 2 chilled cans) to the bowl of a stand mixer, leaving the watery parts behind. Starting at slow speed gradually increase speed until the cream is whipped. Add the powdered sugar and whip again.
- Fold the whipped coconut cream into the cashew mascarpone. Place into the fridge.
- By this time your sheet cake should be ready, let that cool on a wire cooling rack.
- Prepare your coffee syrup. Add the sugar and water to a saucepan and heat, stirring all the while until boiling.
- Once boiling, allow to boil for 2 minutes (time it) and then remove from the heat. Dissolve the instant coffee in the coffee liqueur before adding to the sugar syrup and mixing in. Allow to cool before using.
- Assemble the tiramisu. When the cake has cooled and the coffee syrup has cooled cut the sheet cake to fit the bottom layer of a square 9×9 dish and pour over half the coffee syrup.
- Add half the cashew mascarpone cream mix on top and smooth it down into a smooth layer.
- Cut the remaining half of the cake to fit the next layer (it’s okay if you don’t have one piece but rather have to cut the cake into a few pieces to fit) and pour over the remaining half of the coffee syrup.
- Add the remaining half of the cashew mascarpone cream mix and smooth it down.
- Sprinkle cocoa powder on top.
- Place into the fridge to set for 2-3 hours or overnight to let the flavors soak in. Cut into slices and enjoy.
Notes
- There is no need to soak your cashews first unless you have a very weak model blender. If you want to soak them first then place them into a bowl, pour over boiling water and let them soak for 10-15 minutes. Drain and continue with the recipe.
- If (and only if) your vegan whipped cream is very floppy and won’t whip to firm (or medium) peaks, you can add in a ¼ to ½ tsp of xanthum gum as a fix. Just be careful as this firms it up very fast, and can firm it up almost too much. So go slow.
- Prep time includes the making of the sheet cake and the prepping of all the other ingredients plus the assembly of the tiramisu but not the time spent chilling.
Love it! So yummy like all your recipes! I find that if I cut the cake in pieces and submerge them in the coffee syrup it absorbs more liquid and it is more wet and yummy! Just a detail but I really like the result.
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review Patricia!
can you use regular white vinegar?
That should be fine!
hello, the recipe sounds yummy except my family can’t eat cashews or pine nuts bc of an allergy. Can we use macadamia nuts instead? Thank you!!
Hi Nina! We haven’t tested it that way – but that would probably work!
Oh my, this is so fantastic. I was so looking forward to this recipe. I know I asked you for this in another post (feta cheese making). Thanks so much for replying to me. I received your email for this link. You are so awesome. I was going to thank you for your reply in the post, but could not see my comment or your reply. So thought to leave a message directly on this post. Definitely I am going to make this awesome recipe.
Awesome! Hope you love it! 🙂
One of the best things I’ve ever baked. Made it twice within one week cause it’s so darn tasty. I’ve found it best to poke holes in the cake layers before pouring on the coffee mixture for optimal soakage.
Awesome, thanks so much for sharing and the amazing review Anna!
Can you help me with the quantities for the sponge cake if im making it in a 8×8 square tin?
Btw i tried your chocolate cake and as my first ever cake bake, it was so good, moist and delicious. Wish I could share the pic.
I’m not sure, you could probably halve the recipe in that case. Glad the chocolate cake came out well!
Looking forward to trying this recipe! Could I use coconut milk (from a can) rather than coconut cream? Or could I sub with soy liquid cream?
Coconut milk can work for making coconut whipped cream, as long as it’s full fat coconut milk. Otherwise if the soy cream can be whipped then that will also work.
Approximately how much whipped cream would I need if I used store bought whipped cream? I have a 9 oz tub of So Delicious Dairy Free Original CocoWhip.
I’m not sure, you’d have to play it by ear, we have only measured the amount prior to whipping it.
This looks amazing, can’t to try it! A couple of questions, we don’t have a 10×15 baking pan so going to buy one, how deep does it need to be to ensure it makes cake not biscuit (I’ve seen cookie baking ones but not sure if these will be deep enough)? Would a handheld electric whisk be okay to make the whipped cream? We also don’t have any Kahlua so going to use rum instead, will I need to add extra coffee to compensate? Thanks
Hi Olwynne, the tray doesn’t need to be very deep, ours is only an inch deep. Handheld electric whisk should be fine. As far as whether or not you need extra coffee, just taste test and see how it goes.