Tiramisu Cupcakes

2014 is here, so let the baking commence!
For the first recipe of the year, I present these deliciously adorable tiramisu cupcakes! The idea came from my sister, who somehow loves cupcakes more than I do. For her last day in the Bay Area, we baked these tasty little treats together.

In Italian, tirumisu means "pick me up" and contains ladyfingers soaked in coffee and liquor, layered with mascarpone cheese cream and cocoa. To translate that into a cupcake, the cake portion was made to be ladyfinger-esque and the frosting served as the mascarpone cream. To get the signature coffee flavor, the tops of the cupcakes were soaked in a coffee/spiced rum mixture before adding the frosting. Cocoa powdered was dusted on top to finish it off!

All in all, these cupcakes were quite easy to make - the eggs required some whipping to get the batter nice and fluffy, but that was no issue with the stand mixer. The frosting also is easy to make and pipes onto the cakes beautifully

The coffee/rum mixture does soak through the cupcake pretty thoroughly though, so these cupcakes turned out a little soggier than expected. I've put the leftovers in the fridge in hopes of keeping them together before I give them to people tomorrow. I'm thinking that if I make these in the future, they will be a "bake and eat straight away" sort of deal.

With this recipe, I also ended up with leftover egg whites (since the recipe requires mostly the egg yolks for the batter). To not let them go to waste, I found a sweet and quick meringue cookie recipe that I will talk about in a subsequent post (trying to keep recipes in separate posts to make them easier to index). Be sure to check that out as well!

Tiramisu Cupcakes - makes 2 dozen
(Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)

Cupcake:

• 1 1/4 cup cake flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup white sugar

Coffee Flavoring:

• 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp of strong coffee
• 2 tbsp of spiced rum
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Mascarpone Cream:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• Cocoa powder (for dusting)

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. 
3. Heat almond milk and vanilla extract together over medium heat. Remove from heat and add butter. Whisk until melted and combined. 
4. Mix eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together in a stand mixer on medium speed until just combined. Put bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and mix by hand mixer until sugar is dissolved. Place back into stand mixer and mix on high speed until batter is fluffy and has started forming ribbons on the surface. 
5. Fold dry mixture into batter, followed by the milk mixture, mixing until just combined. 
6. Line muffin tins with liners and fill each with 3 tbsp of batter (about 3/4 full). Bake for 20 minutes until edges are golden brown. 
7. Mix coffee, rum, and sugar together. Poke the tops of the cupcake with a fork to make holes and then brush with the coffee syrup until all of it has been used. 
8. Whisk heavy cream with a stand mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Separately, mix the mascarpone and powdered sugar until combined. Fold in whipped cream and mix until smooth. 
9. Spread frosting onto cupcakes and dust cocoa powder on top right before serving. 
10. If not eating right away, store in airtight containers and refrigerate. Cupcakes will keep one day.