These cupcakes were fantastic! They truly tasted like the famous Italian dessert traditionally made with lady fingers.

The recipe was unlike anything else in the book. Honestly I have been holding off on making this recipe because of the ingredients alone.

Vanilla beans are hard to find and usually pretty pricey. Luckily during my trip last week, my sister took me to a Spice House where they sold bulk quantities of anything you could think of. They had Madagascar Vanilla Beans, and vanilla bean paste which can be substituted as vanilla beans.

You will also need freshly brewed espresso, marscapone cheese and Marsala. After searching the grocery store, I decided to try Trader Joe's. Well sure enough, everything I needed was there, and on my way home I stopped by Coffee Bean to buy two shots of freshly brewed espresso. Time to make the cupcakes!

The Cupcake:

Since the batter was made with 3 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks, I held off on the pre-tasting, so I wasn't quite sure how the cupcakes would turn out. After 20 minutes of baking at 325*F they came out absolutely amazing.

It was the perfect texture for a cupcake; light yet moist, sweet and flavorful. The espresso and marsala mixture soaks through the top of the cupcake and into the middle creating an even more moist and flavorful pocket of tiramisu goodness.

The Frosting:

I was a little hesitant about the marscapone cheese, but apparently it is a standard ingredient in tiramisu. Well, the frosting came out amazing too! It was light and fluffy and sweet but definitely not too sweet like cream cheese frosting.

I dolloped on the frosting and dusted each cupcake with unsweetened cocoa powder. As a personal touch, I bought a dark chocolate truffle bar while I was at Trader Joe's and graded curls onto the tops of each cupcake.

Overall Review:

All of the flavors combined were amazing, and again, tasted exactly like the tiramisu you order at a fancy Italian restaurant, but these cupcakes were probably even better.

The only setbacks with these cupcakes were #1 the complicated ingredient list and #2 sticky, messy, ooey gooey and did I mention sticky! Yet, they were worth the trouble, I can tell you that.

Tiramisu Cupcakes Recipe

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Book

Makes 18

1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
1 cup sugar
Coffee-Marsala Syrup
Mascarpone Frosting
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Heat milk and vanilla-bean pod and seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter until melted, and let stand 15 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, and discard vanilla-bean pod.

2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together whole eggs, yolks, and sugar. Set mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds when whisk is lifted.

3. Gently but thoroughly fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches; stir 1/2 cup batter into the strained milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

5. To finish, brush tops of cupcakes evenly with coffee-marsala syrup; repeat until all syrup has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid 30 minutes. Dollop frosting onto cupcakes; refrigerate up to overnight in airtight containers. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.

Marsala Syrup

Makes enough for 18 cupcakes

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly brewed very strong coffee (or espresso)
1 ounce marsala
1/4 cup sugar

1. Stir together coffee, marsala, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Let cool.

Mascarpone Frosting

Makes about 2 cups

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Tiramisu Cupcakes Recipe

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