There’s a World Cup for Tiramisu, and the Competition Is Fierce

In its birthplace of Treviso, Italy, tiramisu is a competitive sport.

Credit: Photo by Gail Abercrombie

In Treviso, tiramisu can be a dessert, a family inheritance, or even a competitive sport.

The small city in northeastern Italy has a connection to tiramisu that can be traced back to the 1970s. Many credit Le Beccherie, a restaurant in central Treviso, for inventing the dessert, a layered combination of mascarpone cream, coffee-soaked ladyfingers, and cocoa. Since then, tiramisu has traveled far beyond the Veneto region, becoming a fixture on menus around the world.

Francesco Redi, a Treviso native and tiramisu enthusiast, noticed how many people claimed to serve the best and most authentic version in the world. He asked himself, why not put them to the test? In 2017, Redi founded the Tiramisù World Cup, a competition for amateur cooks that has grown from a local event into an annual international gathering.

Related: Japan Wins a Major Honor at the 2025 World Championship of Tiramisu

The 10th annual Tiramisù World Cup, which took place October 9 to 11, 2026, in Treviso’s city center, brought 320 competitors representing 33 countries. The event’s main stage was Piazza Borsa, where contestants prepared their desserts as spectators gathered to watch under a big tent. For three days, the city’s streets and squares became a showcase for a dessert that is both deeply Italian and decidedly global.

What does it take to win the Tiramisù World Cup?

The competition has two categories: Original Recipe and Creative Recipe. The Original Recipe contestants must stick to a classic formula of six ingredients: mascarpone, eggs, sugar, coffee, ladyfingers (known as savoiardi in Italy), and cocoa. The Creative Recipe category gives cooks more freedom to play with ingredients and flavors. (More on that later.) All of the tiramisus are scored for technical execution, appearance, taste intensity, balance of ingredients, and overall flavor.

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The contest unfolds in rounds. During the qualifying rounds, contestants compete in small groups, with the winner of each group advancing. The semifinalists face another round of judging, and the best performers move on to the finals, where the two world champions are crowned. Judges, meanwhile, must pass a 15-question online test on the ins and outs of tiramisu in order to prove their expertise. 

This year’s competition began with a scene worthy of a school science fair, if held in a swank Italian boarding school. Contestants had 40 minutes to assemble their creations. Judges leaned in over plates; some seemed in a festive mood, while others scrutinized each ingredient with the focus of international nuclear inspectors. Around them were aprons, sequins, inventive garnishes, and tiramisus in every geometry, from neat squares to shapes that suggested the recipe had taken an unfortunate detour.

Meet this year’s contestants for the Tiramisù World Cup

Credit: Photo by Gail Abercrombie

No two cakes looked alike. In the Original Recipe category,  one contestant went for a Union Jack motif. Another accessorized her plate with a sheer green scarf. The creative category offered even more room to roam.

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Claudia Perdicchia, an artist from Matera, Italy, swapped the usual savoiardi biscuits for a southern Italian sourdough, then added mascarpone cream infused with peperone crusco, a crisp dried pepper from her region, Basilicata. Brazilian competitor Juliana Nardelli incorporated extra layers of salted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin preserves, a seasonal ingredient that reminded her of her childhood. 

To cap off the first night, a young contestant’s boyfriend proposed to her onstage. She said yes. The crowd erupted.

Two world champions, one very serious dessert competition

Ciro Tomassini’s winning beehive-shaped tiramisu
Credit: Photo by Gail Abercrombie

By Sunday’s semifinals, the vibe sharpened. The competitors were narrowed down to a final six, and that afternoon, they were brought to the ceremony by car, arriving to the sort of fanfare usually reserved for movie stars. Treviso’s mayor and local dignitaries joined the proceedings. When the winners were announced, Queen’s “We Are the Champions” blared over the square, accompanied by blasts from confetti cannons.

Marcos Muzzi, a beekeeper from São Paulo, took the Original Recipe title, and Ciro Tomassini, a hospital technician from Vicenza, Italy, won the Creative Recipe category for his beehive-shaped tiramisu with raspberry compote, white chocolate, and lemon honey. Muzzi told me afterward that he plans to open a tiramisu restaurant in São Paulo next year, serving both his traditional recipe and versions adapted to Brazilian tastes.

How a winning tiramisu can launch a new career

The possibility of a new career is part of the competition’s appeal. Redi likes to joke that the true prize is “fame forever.” The contest has propelled people from all manner of day jobs into tiramisu celebrity. 2018 Tiramisù World Cup winner Diletta Scandiuzzi, for instance, started a Vicenza-based business built around tiramisu and mascarpone creams in a variety of flavors. 

But for Redi, the event is about more than finding a champion. It’s also a way to celebrate Treviso’s culinary heritage and reconnect the dessert with the place that helped make it famous. “Tiramisu is a global language,” he says.

Related: 7 Rich, Creamy Tiramisu Recipes

Tiramisu may have become an international favorite, but its appeal still rests on something personal: the recipe handed down through generations, the version perfected over years of practice, and the tweaks in ingredients that make a familiar dessert feel entirely distinctive.

That may be why the Tiramisù World Cup works. Everyone arrives with a version of tiramisu and leaves with another story to tell — and, from what more than a few competitors told me afterward, fresh ideas for how to win next year.

* This article was originally published here