Talenti - Tiramisu

Talenti - Tiramisu - Tiramisu gelato with a dulce de leche ribbon

Today we return to Talenti to their Tiramisu gelato.  Tiramisu is one of my all-time favorite desserts.  When I go to the Cheesecake Factory, I don't get cheesecake, I get tiramisu.  One of my staple Ben & Jerry's flavors before I got adventurous and decided I needed to try them all was a Target-exclusive flavor called Volun-Tiramisu.  I was very disappointed when that flavor was discontinued right before starting these reviews last year.  So, when I saw Talenti had their own version of this dessert, I scooped up a pint.

Unscrewing the lid reveals a beige color for the tiramisu base with a hint of one of the dulce de leche ribbons.  Digging into the pint, there is a strong coffee flavor to the base.  The Talenti website mentions that the Tiramisu base contains "hints of coffee, Marsala wine, Amaretto, mascarpone cheese" but coffee is the dominant flavor here.  I did note some mascarpone in the mix but I did not notice the wine or amaretto.  Perhaps my taste buds are not attuned to those flavors.  The dulce de leche ribbon was an interesting substitute for the usual soaked ladyfinger cookies.  Dulce de leche is confection made by heating up sweetened milk until it caramelizes.  It tasted a lot like caramel itself, or perhaps a thick caramel pudding.  As a mix-in, I enjoyed it.

Overall, I was a little bit disappointed by this pint.  Although, tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts, and I try to get it whenever it is available in Italian restaurants, I have noted that it is a dessert which has perhaps the greatest variety in implementation.  No two establishment will make tiramisu the same way and often you'll encounter some unique concoctions.  My beef here is that it was a bit too coffee-centric.  Personally, I prefer more mascarpone with coffee used more as an accent.  That was how the old Volun-Tiramisu flavor was implemented.  But, if you're more of a coffee lover than me, and you are OK with the dulce de leche for ladyfinger swap, then you could give this a try.