These luxuriously delicious gluten free tiramisu cups are a really fun and cute idea to serve at parties, and they’re also a great alternative if you want to make a smaller batch of tiramisu. With homemade mini gluten free ladyfinger biscuits and a velvety-smooth mascarpone cream, they’re very easy to assemble and they look amazing. This recipe is really more of a serving suggestion, so it’s super flexible and you can easily tweak it and adapt it however you fancy – just have fun with it!

True story: this recipe happened because I once piped my homemade gluten free ladyfinger biscuits in small dollops instead of the typical long “finger” shape and very quickly realised that small round ladyfingers are the absolute cutest thing ever.

And they’re also the perfect size and shape to use in these fabulous gluten free tiramisu cups. This way, you don’t have to worry about breaking them in half to fit the smaller size of a serving cup or dessert glass, you can just dip them in the coffee and pop them right in.

Of course, if you don’t have the time or just don’t fancy making your own homemade gluten free ladyfingers, you can absolutely use shop-bought ones and break them to fit the size of your serving containers. That option is definitely there – though I do really recommend making them yourself.

Because gluten free ladyfingers are incredibly easy to make from scratch – whereas they can be rather tricky to find in shops. Plus, they’re really delicious and any leftovers are brilliant for dipping into coffee, hot chocolate or cocoa.

Now, I adore tiramisu in any and all forms. (By the way, if you haven’t tried my gluten-free tiramisu Swiss roll yet, you’re seriously missing out because it’s INCREDIBLE.)

And these mini tiramisu cups are just the cutest and really fun – to both make and eat. They’re very easy to assemble, they’re perfect for parties or other occasions (or even just because you fancy some tiramisu, which is a perfectly valid reason for making them) and I just really love that you can see all the individual layers through the wall of the glass cups.

They also allow you to easily scale down the recipe if you don’t want to make a full, large batch of tiramisu. You could easily make just one or two cups at a time.

And, honestly, this recipe is more of a serving suggestion. It’s super flexible, so you can use whatever size of cups or glasses or other containers you have on hand, you can play around with the mascarpone cream (for example, if you have your own favourite mascarpone cream recipe, just use that), you can add a liquor such as Kahlua, rum or Baileys, and so on.

Basically, just have fun with it – because there’s really not much that can go wrong here and the result is bound to be ridiculously delicious.

Before we get to the bits and bobs of making these amazing tiramisu cups – if you like what you’re seeing, subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date on the latest recipes and tips!

Note: the whole recipe, including the ingredient quantities, can be found at the bottom of this page – just scroll down to the bottom, or click the ‘Jump to Recipe’ button at the top of this post.

Mini gluten free ladyfinger biscuits

This recipe is based on the gluten free ladyfinger biscuits recipe from my gluten free cookbook, Baked to Perfection (get it here!). They’re really incredibly easy to make – you just need to separately whip up the egg yolks and the egg whites with some sugar, fold them together, sift in the dry ingredients and fold them in until you get a smooth, ultra-fluffy batter.

**Ladyfinger biscuits (also knows by their Italian name as savoiardi) rely on two things for their airy, light texture: the whipped egg whites and yolks, and baking powder.** So, it’s very important that you’re careful and gentle when you fold together the whipped egg yolks and the whipped egg whites, and especially when you’re folding in the dry ingredients. You want to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.

Another thing that might not be as obvious but that also greatly contributes to them puffing up nicely in the oven is dusting them with a mixture of powdered/icing and granulated sugar. While the granulated sugar provides some crunch, the powdered sugar ensures that they get their characteristic tall shape with cracks running along the sides. Without the powdered sugar, the ladyfingers will spread out (instead of puffing upwards) and rise only minimally.

Finally, baking the gluten free ladyfingers at 340ºF (170ºC) for about 22-24 minutes ensures that they have enough time to dry out in the oven. You want them to be very crisp and dry in texture.

As mentioned above, for this tiramisu cups recipe, you need to pipe the batter in little round dollops (about 1½ inches/4cm in diameter and ¾ inch/2cm in height) to get small round ladyfingers that fit nicely into smaller containers, such as serving cups or dessert glasses.

The recipe makes about 48-50 mini round ladyfinger biscuits. Depending on how many tiramisu cups you make, how many layers of ladyfingers you add to each cup and how many ladyfingers you use per layer, you might have some biscuits left over. They store really well for a week or two in an air-tight container, and they’re amazing for dipping into coffee or hot chocolate.

The silky-smooth mascarpone cream

Traditionally, tiramisu is made with a mascarpone cream that contains whipped eggs which give it a lighter and airier texture. These eggs can be incorporated either raw or heat-treated in the form of zabaglione. And if you have a go-to mascarpone cream recipe that includes eggs, you can absolutely use that in this recipe.

However, I went with the simpler and quicker method of making mascarpone cream with whipped heavy/double cream. It’s slightly richer in flavour and texture, but just as delicious. In addition to the mascarpone cheese and the heavy/double cream, the filling also includes some powdered/icing sugar for sweetness and a good dose of vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract).

Make sure not to over-whip your mascarpone cream as you’re making it, as that can result in a split, curdled filling – you want to keep it smooth and silky.

Assembling the gluten free tiramisu cups

To assemble the gluten free tiramisu cups, you need to layer the mascarpone cream with coffee-dipped ladyfinger biscuits in your dessert glasses (starting and ending with the cream). There are no firm rules here, you can make as many layers as you wish and use as many ladyfingers per each layer as you want – taking into account the dimensions of the cups or glasses you’re using.

In my case, I used about 420ml/1¾-cup serving glasses (height: 3¼ inches/8cm, width: 3½ inches/9cm) that comfortably fit three layers of mascarpone cream and two layers of ladyfinger biscuits, with 3-4 biscuits per each layer.

When you’re dipping your ladyfinger biscuits in coffee:

Make sure that your coffee is cooled *completely* to room temperature – hot or warm coffee will get absorbed too quickly and it will make your biscuits too soggy.
Dip them for no longer than 1-2 seconds. This is especially important for homemade ladyfinger biscuits, as they tend to absorb coffee a bit quicker. A quick dip of 1-2 seconds should be enough for them to be fully soaked though with coffee without becoming too soggy.

Then, chill the assembled tiramisu cups in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving them. Just before serving, dust them with some cocoa powder – and that’s it!

You can prepare these tiramisu cups a day or two in advance, which is a great idea if you have a party or another special occasion, and you want to avoid the stress of having to prepare a dessert on the day.