Pumpkin Tiramisu Recipe

Whip and chill your heavy cream at least an hour before starting this recipe. Keep it in the fridge!

Using a 9 inch pan ( or a glass trifle dish), layer the ladyfingers over the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle either the orange juice or rum over the lady fingers.

Mix the mascarpone cheese with pumpkin, spices, powdered sugar and vanilla until blended well.

Fold in ONLY 1 1/2 cups of the whipped cream gently.

Layer this over the lady fingers.

Using the remaining whipped cream, layer that over the pumpkin/cream layer.

Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. (I always add a pinch of orange zest for color and flavor.)

Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

If you're making this in a trifle bowl, you can make more layers but make sure that your lady fingers have been sprinkled with either the orange juice or the rum. I usually double the recipe and prepare it in a 13x9 inch glass dish.

*Do not use canned Pumpkin Pie Mix!

** Lady Fingers! Sometimes these cookies are hard to find in a super market. If you ask a Manager about them, usually they know where they are stocked in the store. If you have an Italian market, you'll find them there and they have the firmer lady fingers which are perfect for tiramisu recipes.

If you can't find any ladyfingers anywhere, just buy a frozen or fresh pound cake. Slice it into 1/2 in. slices and then cut 3 or4 finger-length pieces out of each slice. You can bake these cake "fingers" in the oven at 325 degrees until lightly toasted and then cool them. Or you can use the fresh or frozen cake immediately after slicing. You can even do this with your basic white or yellow cake mix after it has baked and cooled. Vanilla wafers can also be used as they are in most of the Ice Box cake recipes. So if you can't find any lady fingers, don't worry. Use your imagination and come up with a good substitution and your recipe will be great because of the rest of the wonderful ingredients!