Nicholas Gavin is the Culinary Creative Director of ChefSteps, where he develops recipes and is responsible for making all the food look beautiful. Nick has worked at ChefSteps for over a decade; he and ChefSteps co-founder Grant Crilly worked together at Modernist Cuisine. Nick has worked in professional kitchens both in the United States and abroad, most notably at Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain.

Nicholas Gavin

If you’re going to put a spin on a classic, you gotta take a big swing. So here it is, our fine-dining take on tiramisù: espresso-soaked ladyfingers enrobed in a super-stable whipped mascarpone cream, coated in a magic shell of dark chocolate, and set on a crispy, crunchy tuile. Originally developed to be one of the desserts for a 14-course tasting menu, it’s designed to be visually striking and completely delicious. The key to the presentation is the chocolate coating. By using a paint gun to spray the exterior of the molded tiramisù with warm melted chocolate, we create a gossamer shell that has a unique, fluffy texture, and it’s a dead ringer for the fine dusting of cocoa powder that typically gets dusted over tiramisù.This recipe requires a little (okay, a lot) more effort than our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/tiramisu-icebox-cake">Tiramisù Icebox Cake</a>, and it takes way more time than our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/quick-and-easy-tiramisu">Quick and Easy Tiramisù</a>, but the final result is a stunningly beautiful riff on the classic.

Ultimate Tiramisù