Tiramisu Cupcakes

Inspired by...Italian birthdays

My friend Carla asked me to make Tiramisu inspired cupcakes for her birthday.  It was so fun to have new inspiration! 

​I started by looking through recipes for traditional tiramisu and then searched for cupcake recipes that were most similar to the authentic dessert.  Carla is authentically Italian after all!

I decided on using my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe (from Food Network Magazine from May 2015).  Then I followed Martha Stewart's recipes for Coffee-Marsala syrup and Mascarpone frosting (with some minor tweaks).  The cupcakes are soaked with the syrup and then topped with the creamy frosting.  They have a lot of the same qualities of tiramisu and were great in mini and regular cupcake form!

Recipe
Cupcake recipe from ​Food Network Magazine
Syrup, Frosting, and Assembly from Martha Stewart

Cupcakes
​​Makes 12 regular cupcakes or about 30 mini cupcakes
Ingredients

• ​1 stick softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk, room temperature

Directions

1. ​Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter until smooth.
3. Add sugar and beat for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  You may need to scrape the bottom of the bowl to  make sure that all the butter has mixed in.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate.
5. Beat in vanilla.
6. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with the milk.  Scrape the bowl occasionally to make sure that everything in mixed together evenly.
8. Scoop into cupcake pans.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes for regular cupcakes and 12-14 minutes for mini cupcakes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
10. Cool completely.

​
Espresso-Rum Syrup

• ​1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon strong espresso (or coffee)
• 1 ounce dark rum (or Marsala)
• 1/4 cup sugar

​Mix ingredients in a saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved.  Allow to cool.

Mascarpone Frosting

• ​1 cup heavy cream​
• 8 ounces mascarpone
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. ​Mix together mascarpone and powdered sugar until blended..
2. Whip heavy cream in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form.
3. Add a scoop of the whipped cream to the mascarpone and mix together to lighten the mixture.
4. Add the rest of the whipped cream to the mascarpone and fold together gently until incorporated.

I used this coffee flavored mascarpone that I found on special, but the original recipe calls for regular. I think both would be equally delicious!

Assembly​

• ​Using a fork, poke holes across the top of each cooled cupcake.
• Brush or slowly drizzle coffee syrup over the top of the cupcakes.  You won't end up using all of the syrup.  I think Martha's recipe is meant for 18 cupcakes.  The syrup will soak into the cupcakes and give the top of the cake a texture similar to real Tiramisu.
• Pipe or spread frosting on cupcakes.
• Sift unsweetened cocoa powder over the top of the cupcakes.​​​
• Chill in the refrigerator before serving and to store.