Tiramisu cupcakes have been on my baking bucket list for a while. Nearly bite size delights topped with cream? What could be yummier?! Now, although it might sound like baking heresy to some people, I’m not really a cake or cupcake person. I mean, I like cake, but I don’t love it. If someone were to tell me that I could never eat cake again, I would be okay with that. But not eating these tiramisu cupcakes again…that would make me sad.
My roommates were big fans of these cupcakes. There were 21 cupcakes last night…there are only 11 this morning. (Okay, to be fair, I have five roommates. But still, that’s a lot of cupcake eating!) One of my roommates did make the comment that these were fantastic cupcakes, but just didn’t taste like tiramisu. My response to that was these are tiramisu cupcakes; ladyfingers definitely have a different texture than cake – they’re spongier But, come on, cake soaked in coffee, Kahlua, and topped with cream?? Delicious!
I adopted the cupcake recipe below from the blog Hummingbird on High. The recipe makes about 20 cupcakes.
Sidenote: When I make these again, I will probably try doubling the coffee-Kahlua liquor. I just love the kick it gives to the cupcakes! Also, next time I make these, I think I’ll pipe some of the mascarpone cream into the cupcake. My makeshift plastic bag piper failed, so in the end, I just frosted the tops.
- Preheat then oven to 375 F, and line the cupcake pans with colorful cupcake papers.
- Using a whisk (electric or your good old-fashioned hand!), beat the butter, sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder on low speed until the ingredients have blended together to resemble fine breadcrumbs.
- In a separate bowl, beat the two eggs. Pour in the milk and vanilla and whisk.
- Slowly pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture, mixing on low speed until the texture of the batter is smooth and even.
- Pour a little less than half of the batter into another bowl. Add the cocoa powder, coffee, and Kahlua (you may need to tweak the coffee and cocoa powder measurements, depending on the consistency of your batter).
- Fill the cupcake liners about halfway with the vanilla batter, and then top them off with about one-fourth of the chocolate batter. Using a knife or toothpick, make criss-cross patterns in each cupcake liner, so that the vanilla and chocolate batters are swirled.
- Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes, or until the tops bounce back when touched. Remove from oven and set on a wire rack to cool.
- Pour 1 cup of coffee and 6 tablespoons Kahlua into a saucepan. Whisk 3 tablespoons of sugar into into the mixture. Bring the coffee to a boil, and let it continue boiling until it the mixture has reduced by about half. Set aside and let it cool.
- Beat the mascarpone cheese with the Kahlua until smooth, and set it aside.
- With an electric mixer, whip the heavy whipping cream and powdered until the mixture forms soft peaks.
- Slowly incorporate the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture.
- Using the butt-end of a butter knife, make a small hole in each cupcake. Pour about 2 teaspoons of the coffee-syrup in the hole and over the cupcake. (I also ended up adding about 1 tsp more of Kahlua to each cupcake, just for good measure).
- With a pastry bag (or makeshift one!) pipe some of the mascarpone frosting into the hole. Decoratively cover the rest of the cupcake with frosting. (I didn’t have my pastry bag, and my makeshift ziploc pastry bag was not cooperating, so I sadly had to skip this step. But I highly recommend that you do fill the cupcakes with cream!)
- Lastly, lightly dust the top of the cupcakes with espresso or cocoa powder, or both.
Now, eat up!
These cupcakes literally blew my mind. And not just because there is a ton of Kahlua in them.
Where’s mine?!
I’ll make you a whole batch, just for you!
[…] by boushala.wordpress.com […]