The real story of the tiramisu

Do you know which is the most famous cake in the world?

Tiramisu! “Lift me up” is the translation, but we are sure everybody knows the Italian original name  (“Tiramisù” with the accent on the last letter, in the correct Italian way).

We are sure that many of you, dear readers, have given the correct answers.

Ok, let’s go with another question: which is the hometown of Tiramisu?

Tic toc, tic toc, tic toc, .. the time is running out and we cannot hear so much answer….

The answer is: Treviso is the home town of Tiramisu, the most famous cake in the world.

And so, where is Treviso? Tic toc, tic toc, tic toc … again… few answers….

Treviso is a nice and lovely city just half an hour from the incredible city of Venice, the one and only romantic city on the water.

But, do you know the story of Tiramisu and its original recipe?

There’s a lot of legends about the original recipe, and as usual in Italy, many of them seems to be in conflict, but in a moment we are going to explain everything.

We started to hear about a Tiramisu for the first time in the world in Treviso, at the end of 1800, as the name of the most popular cake used in the red district. Yes, you understood! After the couple has joined together, they need (men specially, at that time) something good for a fast recovery.

This first Tiramisu was prepared with eggs, sugar, “savoiardi” (ladyfingers cookies), mascarpone cheese, coffee and cocoa powder.  An easy and quick preparation, for a very rich and powerful preparation, which seems to give emphasis to this story.

The second time first recipe talking about a cake called Tiramisu is dated back more or less a century ago, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, the region next to Veneto (where Venice and Treviso are), close to the border with Austria and Slovenia.

That time, the Friuli versione of the cake was offered to the King, but, even if the name was sounding similar to “Tiramisu”, the ingredients were totally different: chocolate mousse, sponge cake dunked with Marsala liquor, zabaglione and whipped cream.

So, nothing to do with the Treviso ingredients.

So, the story continues…

Due to the embarrassing origin of Tiramisu, the recipe got lost, or better, the recipe remained just a family affair, a cake which was prepared in the secretes of the private houses by grannies. 

Lucky us, a brilliant chef called Roberto Linguanotto, – once again in Treviso at around 1970 at “Le Beccherie” restaurant – this chef decided to bring the Tiramisu back to life and from that moment its popularity grew and grew all over the world.

Now-a-days everybody knows this cake, everybody prepares it with original ingredients, everybody tries to prepare his own variation, but everybody says that Tiramisu is the best cake in the world, and even Sacher Torte (Sacher cake) from Austria is just the second most famous cake in the world.

Thus that you know basically everything about this cake, you only miss to visit Treviso (if you cannot come here now, there’s a lot of virtual tour with our company…. have a look on the previous article about virtual trips!!) and for the complete starter pack, you need to buy a wonderful Tiramisu magnet, Treviso Magnet and the first Tiramisu Loqi bag.