This Guava Tres Leches Tiramisu puts a Cuban twist on a classic Italian dessert. It fuses familiar Latin American flavors with the fluffiness of tiramisu.
A little ice cream shop on Calle Ocho in Miami’s Little Havana serves the Abuela Maria, an ice-cream with chunks of guava paste and Maria cookies. Every bite is a taste of nostalgia for a Cuban kid growing up in Miami. The Abuela Maria inspired this Guava Tres Leches Tiramisu, but this recipe even goes a step further by adding tres leches into the mix.
What is tres leches?
“Tres leches” directly translates to “three milks,” but it’s also the name of a quintessential dessert across Latin America. Tres leches is a sponge cake drenched in three milks to create an airy consistency. In this recipe, you’ll dunk your lady fingers in condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk (the holy trinity of tres leches).
Cooking with guava paste
The products linked here and in this post are affiliate links. That Planner Friend may receive a commission if you purchase products through the links, at no additional cost to you.
Guava paste is used to give this dessert its strong and sweet guava flavor. Paselitos de guayaba, a classic Cuban guava pastry, features guava paste between layers of flaky puff pastry. In this tiramisu, guava is layered between lady fingers and mascarpone, giving it a pop of color.
You can find guava paste in the Latino or international section of your grocery store. If you can’t find it in your area, get it on Amazon here.
Latin brands like Goya, Conchita, Iberia, and La Fe all sell guava paste in a 14 oz brick. You’ll need to soften the guava paste of the stove with water to get it to a spreadable consistency.
What are Maria cookies?
The Guava Tres Leches Tiramisu is topped with crushed Maria cookies or galletas de Maria. Maria cookies are a semi-sweet biscuit from England that are wildly popular in Latin America. Like a graham cracker, they’re a great base ingredient in desserts.
They’re a nostalgic treat that my grandma always used to give me. I actually didn’t discover that Maria cookies weren’t from Latin America until writing this blog post. You can also find the Maria cookies near the guava paste in the international or Latino section of your grocery store. Sometimes, I’ve found them in the cookie section.
The best way to crush the Maria cookies is in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin.
Layers of ladyfingers
Speaking of cookies, you’ll still need lady fingers, which is what makes a tiramisu, a tiramisu. The amount of ladyfingers you need will depend on the size of the dish you’re making tiramisu in. You’ll need at least 24 ladyfingers to make this recipe, but for good measure buy two packs.
(For a dish as large as the one featured here, you’ll need 42 ladyfingers.)
My top tiramisu tips
- Give your tiramisu at least 12 hours to set in the fridge
- Make your tiramisu in a glass container with a top, like a Pyrex
- Reserve most of your cream mixture for the top to give it more height
Looking for another Latin-inspired tiramisu? Check out this Coquito Tiramisu recipe.
Guava Tres Leches Tiramisu
Ingredients
- 14 oz guava paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 5 eggs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 8 oz mascarpone
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 12 oz can of evaporated milk
- 1 cup whole milk
- 24 ladyfingers two packs to be safe
- 6-12 Maria cookies one pack
Instructions
- Cut 14 oz guava paste into small cubes (You can skip this step but it will make softening the paste on the stove easier.)
- Add the cubed guava paste to a small saucepan with 1/2 cup water over medium-low heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir the guava occasionally, breaking up bits until you have a jam-like consistency. Allow the guava to cool completely.
- Separate 5 egg yolks and put them in a large bowl. Save the egg whites for later. We won’t be needing them in this recipe.
- Whisk together 5 egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in the large bowl with a hand mixer until it’s a pale yellow color.
- Add 8 oz mascarpone to the egg and sugar mixture and mix.
- Add half of the softened guava paste (make sure it's cooled) to the mascarpone, egg, and sugar base. Mix it together. It should have a muted pale pink color. Make sure to save the other half of the guava; we’ll be using it later.
- Transfer the guava mascarpone mixture to the fridge while you make the whipped cream.
- In a separate large bowl, whip 2 cups heavy cream with a hand mixer until it becomes a whipped cream.
- Fold the whipped cream into the guava mascarpone mixture.
- Put the cream mixture bowl back in the fridge while you prepare the ladyfingers.
- In another bowl, whisk together 1/2 a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 a 12 oz can of evaporated milk, and 1 cup whole milk. Whisk until the condensed milk is fully incorporated into the other milk. This is your tres leches mixture.
- Dip ladyfingers in your tres leches mixture for a second or two — don’t oversoak them. Line the bottom of the pan with the dipped lady fingers until completely covered. Only dip as many ladyfingers as you need to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Spread half of the reserved softened guava paste onto the ladyfingers in an even layer with a spatula, making sure there’s guava in every bite.
- Take your reserved cream mixture from the fridge and pour half of it on top of your ladyfingers with guava. Smooth it out with a spatula. (If you want a taller tiramisu, pour less than half of the mixture so the majority of the cream sits on top).
- Soak the remainder of the ladyfingers and build your second layer the same way you built your first.
- Spread the rest of the guava paste on top of the ladyfingers.
- Add the remaining amount of cream on top of the second layer of lady fingers. Smooth it out.
- Transfer your tiramisu to the fridge to set for at least 12 hours.
- Before you take the tiramisu out of the fridge, crush 6-12 Maria cookies in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin into a fine dust.
- After 12 hours, take the tiramisu out of the fridge and dust the crushed Maria cookies on top.
- Once the Maria cookie dust covers the tiramisu, it’s ready to serve and enjoy.
Every year my friends and I host a tiramisu bake-off where everyone brings a tiramisu with a twist. Read this blog post to learn how to host your own.
Reply