So, Tiramisu Cake. Really, I could take or leave Tiramisu for the most part. I think by now most people know that Tiramisu means “pick me up” in Italian because it is often eaten in Italy as an afternoon snack that provides a nice jolt of caffeine from the espresso drenched ladyfingers. If you didn’t know that, well, now you do.
I almost skipped this one, but at the last minute on Sunday night, I decided to go for it in the form of Tiramisu Cupcakes. My plan was to fill the cupcakes with the marscapone cream, reminiscent of the berry surprise cake we made for this a few months ago.
I made the cupcakes Sunday night. They were really easy and quick to make. These cupcakes are ridiculously good on their own and is basically just a yellow cake batter. I was actually impressed with this batter. I just thought it had a great consistency and it baked up really nicely. It seems like it would be a great base for any kind of cake or cupcake you would want to make and I will be using this batter again for sure.
I wanted to make oversized cupcakes so I basically filled the cupcake molds to the top. I was actually worried that they were going to start overflowing in the oven, but they ended up holding their own.
After I carefully extruded them from the cupcake pan, I turned each one upside down and used a biscuit cutter to cut the edges so that each one was perfectly round and so they were all the same size. This worked out really well. Sometimes I like to give myself a pat on the back for being so smart.
On Monday night I made the accompanying syrups, extract and cream, which were all simple. Believe it or not, despite the countless episodes of various Giada De Laurentiis shows I have watched, this was my first time using “marscaponay” cheese. I was surprised at how thick it was, you could build a house with that stuff. Okay, maybe just a gingerbread house, but a house nonetheless. (In case you are interested, I really liked the plain marscapone. It is like a milder ricotta cheese, which I eat regularly right out of the container. This is not the last time I will be using it).
You can find the recipe for the full cake, syrup, frosting and filling here.
Here is how I assembled the cupcakes:
Gingerly cut the tops off each cupcake and place top side down on a baking sheet.
Using a small spoon, dig a small hole in the bottom of each cupcake. Be sure that you don’t cut completely through the bottom, obviously. (FYI – I am anal, so I did keep track to make sure that each top was returned to its original bottom).
Soak both the cupcake tops and bottoms with the espresso syrup. I used a pastry brush to apply the syrup. (I ended up using only about half of the syrup because I was worried about the cake becoming too moist and falling apart.
Carefully fill each bottom with a layer of marscapone cream, make sure the cream covers the whole surface of the cupcake so that the top has something to adhere to when you place it back on.
Put the tops back onto each cupcake, soaked side down.
Frost the tops of the cupcakes with the remaining espresso marscapone frosting.
(I had more process photos, but someone refused to upload them for me).
Clearly I wasn’t necessarily going for the easy way out here by making cupcakes. I just did not feel like making a huge layer cake since I am fresh off a three layer cake that I made last weekend for husbands birthday (post to come).
I haven’t tried one of these yet. Though I did taste the individual components while I was making them and everything was delicious. I skipped out on the chopped chocolate, I just didn’t feel like it was necessary. I have saved one for dessert for us to share tonight. The rest of the cupcakes are off to work with hubby. So we’ll see what everyone, including me, thinks of them later on. I suspect that they will be well received.
I was fully planning to lie and say that those are chocolate covered espresso beans, but the Safeway by my office is not fancy enough to carry them. So those, my friends, are dark chocolate raisinets. The important thing is that it looks like espresso beans and that is what I wanted them to be, so let’s just go with that. (I did take them off after I took the picture. They were not for consumption…with these cupcakes).