Alternative To Savoiardi Biscuits

Our answer

Nigella's Irish Cream Tiramisu (from NIGELLA EXPRESS) is a tiramisu dessert that is flavoured with Irish cream liqueur. Savoiardi biscuits are dipped in a coffee and liqueur mixture and layered with the mascarpone cream. Savoiardi are light, dry sponge biscuits and if you live in the UK or the US then you can use sponge fingers or ladyfinger cookies as an alternative.

If neither of these alternatives are available then you could use a plain vanilla loaf cake as an alternative. We would suggest using a denser madeira cake or pound cake or quatre-quarts cake. Cut 400g (14 ounces) of the cake into approximately 1cm (1/2 inch) thick slices and let the slices dry out overnight on a wire rack, then cut into fingers or sticks. They will not be as dry as the savoiardi biscuits so you may find it easier to brush the coffee liqueur mixture over the cake fingers rather than dipping them into the liquid, then drizzle a little extra coffee over each layer of cake once it is in the dish. If you are also unable to buy madeira cake then you could try making one using Nigella's recipe for My Mother-In-Law's Madeira Cake.