is tiramisu a thing?

The Guardian invited us to comment on the tiramisu trend. The Italian dessert is certainly having a moment, with Marrone tiramisu-only café in Soho selling out within two and a half hours of opening in August. It’s also hitting the high street with mainstream coffee chains featuring tiramisu coffees, Häagen-Dazs and Carte D'Or selling tiramisu ice-cream, and Buns from Home touting a tiramisu bun. Social media is fuelling the trend with creators shoving tiramisu into drawers, cool boxes, under the bed and even under the bonnet of a car. AI certainly has a role to play, as lots of tiramisu-crazy content is hard to believe.

Marrone isn't the first tiramisu specialist, as Paradiso opened in Sheffield in 2023 and Secret Layers opened in Paddington last year. Retail stats back up the trend as M&S reports that tiramisu sales are up 27% year-on-year, with Tesco's own-brand range up 5% and sales of its Finest version up nearly 10%.

Tiramisu has now become a shorthand for anything creamy with coffee. The flavour profile is versatile and works across ice cream, cookies, cakes, coffee and other drinks as well as in the desert itself. It hints at nostalgia and decadence, whilst also catering to that "little treat" culture in a squeezed economy.

Read the Guardian feature here.

Marrone tiramisu. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian