Saturday, September 5, 2009

Tiramisu Cupcakes


Tiramisu is an amazing dessert that combines layers of contrasting - but all extremely delicious - tastes and textures into each indulgent bite. The espresso (and alcohol)-kissed sponge biscuits meld perfectly in your mouth with the egg-rich mascarpone cream, all tied together by a hint of cocoa. Remember that eye-rolling I wrote about earlier? Well, a good tiramisu will set me off every.single.time. And I'm not the only one enamored with it. There's an entire website dedicated to tiramisu, and you can read about one woman's research into its origins here.

As much as I (clearly) love the original, I was recently in need of a version more suitable for work. That is, something less messy to serve and without raw egg yolks. And since I was throwing tradition to the wind, I swapped out mascarpone for cream cheese to save myself an extra trip to the store. To avoid offending any tiramisu snobs out there (myself included haha), I call these cupcakes "tiramisu-inspired." This was also my first time trying the famous Amy Sedaris vanilla cupcakes, and everything turned out great! The recipe I came up with, drawing inspiration from a bunch of blogs and cookbooks, can be found after the jump.

A peek inside...

Tiramisu-Inspired Cupcakes [Printable Recipe]
Makes 10 to 12 cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes (Recipe below)
Coffee Soaking Syrup (Recipe below)
Cream Cheese Filling/Frosting (Recipe below)
Cocoa powder OR semi-sweet chocolate shavings, for garnish
Chocolate-covered coffee beans OR chocolate chips, for garnish

Cut a cone out of the top of each cupcake and set it to the side. Using a spoon or pastry brush, coat the sides and bottom of the opening with coffee syrup. (You don't want the cake to be soggy, but you can be fairly generous here - up to 2 tablespoons)

Fill the opening with the cream cheese mixture, brush the bottom of the cone with a little coffee syrup, then place it back onto each cupcake. (There should be enough filling that some of it oozes up and attractively frames the cone) Top each cupcake with another small dollop of frosting. Garnish the tops with cocoa powder or chocolate shavings. Crown every cupcake with a chocolate coffee bean or chip and you're all set!

It's best to let these hang out for at least an hour so that all the caffeinated goodness of the syrup can soak in.


Vanilla Cupcakes

Adapted from Amy Sedaris

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper liners. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a different larger bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until combined into the batter. Then add the vanilla and mix again. Finally alternately beat in dry ingredients and milk. Fill cupcake liners until they are about 2/3 full (I like to use my large cookie scoop for this). Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely.

Coffee Soaking Syrup
1 tablespoon instant coffee or espresso powder
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum, amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy

Stir the coffee powder, water, and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir in your alcohol of choice; set aside.

Cream Cheese Filling/Frosting
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons heavy cream, cold
1 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese until smooth with a mixer on low. Add in the heavy cream and continue beating until incorporated. Sift the powdered sugar then add it slowly, starting with the lowest amount and adding more as required to reach your desired sweetness and consistency. Add vanilla and increase mixer to medium. Beat 1-2 minutes. Set aside (in the fridge if you'd like the frosting to be firmer).

21 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

Sook Kim said...

OMG XIAOLU!!!!! I met with amanda for coffee yesterday and she told me about your Tiramisu cupcakes but man-- i never thought they would look THIS good!!!!

I'm working on Monday! You?? That's probably a stupid question-- you're working everyday this weekend, huh??

Wandering Coyote said...

These look TO DIE FOR! I have bookmarked this page!

Linda said...

Oh. My. Gosh.
Love everything about this idea!

oneordinaryday said...

Oh my gosh, these look amazing. I love tiramisu and I'm heading over to the website you shared right now. Thanks for sharing this great recipe too.

Jennifer said...

These are amazing!!!! I love tiramisu!

Lauren said...

Outrageous! These look amazing. I love the idea of garnishing with chocolate covered coffee beans. Thanks for sharing :)

isa said...

Awesome! Thes are absolutely beautiful!

Katie said...

HOLY MOLY! These look incredible!

Xiaolu said...

Thanks everyone for your kind comments! I'll definitely be sharing other interesting cupcakes in the future =).

Sharona May said...

What a great dessert. I love it. We just made a interesting version of tiramisu last week. It was blueberry, lime tiramisu.

Sharona May

Xiaolu said...

That sounds like a great variation, Sharona! I bet the colors looked fantastic too. My next experiment was to make a match (green tea) version!

Beth said...

Those look fabulous! These remind me of a tiramisu layer cake that I made for my Classical Pastry final (white sponge cake, macerated with Marsala, layered with coffee buttercream, frosted with mascarpone frosting... or something like that, it was a while back!). I bet they tasted as good as they look!

Alicia said...

I tried this recipe this week and the results were amazing!...and not nearly as complicated as one might expect a tiramisu cupcake recipe to be. I'll definitely make this again, especially if I want to impress company.

Xiaolu said...

Beth - Wow the cake you made sounds fancy and amazing. I hope to make a more traditional tiramisu someday soon.

Alicia - I'm so glad it turned out well! That's what I love about cupcakes - they are easy to dress up or down =D.

letsgetstupid said...

OMG! these look Ah-mazing!!! I want one!!!

once in a blue moon... said...

oh this is pure genius, and your pics are so gorgeous they are edible!

Xiaolu said...

Thanks to you both! These are really too yummy to be so simple =).

戴佩妮Penny said...

I love it! Very creative!That's actually really cool.
謝謝你的文章分享,請你有空到我

參觀,Thanks

Rachel said...

Hello hello!

I just wanted to say thank you for posting this GREAT recipe!

I tried it out for myself and modified it just a little bit by filling these with a dark chocolate ganache creme and piped the cream cheese frosting on top and topped with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

ABSOLUTELY DIVINE! :)

looking forward to coming back for more recipes!
keep up the great work

Rachel

Xiaolu said...

Thanks for your feedback, Rachel! It's always great to hear when someone likes a recipe. Your variation sounds delicious, and you're welcome here anytime :).

chadizze said...

OMG! These look FANTASTIC! I love Tiramisu. I will so be having to try this recipe! Thanks for posting this!

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I love hearing from you all! Please leave me a message if you have questions, advice, or just to let me know you stopped by. Your feedback is always very much appreciated. Thanks! <3 Xiaolu

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