Tiramisu Cupcakes

 

Happy 2013! We've been apart for a while, you and I, so I thought I'd make amends by introducing you to the tiramisu cupcake. Because what better way to celebrate the New Year than by tempting you to throw your diet (temporarily) out the window with the tiramisu cookie's cake-y cousin.

Let's talk this through, shall we? A delicate, spongy, egg-y cake slightly soaked with an espresso/Kahlua syrup, topped with a whipped mascarpone frosting and a dusting of cocoa powder. Worthy of a diet detour?

Uh, yeah.

But do me a favor and add just a little more of the whipped deliciousness to the top than I did.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Yield: About 28 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:

• 1 & 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp. cake flour, sifted
• 1¼ tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. coarse salt
• 6 tbsp. milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
• 5 large whole eggs plus 4 large egg yolks
• 1 & 1/2 cups sugar

For the soaking syrup:

• 1/2 cup freshly brewed very strong coffee (or espresso)
• 3 tbsp. Kahlua
• 6 tbsp. sugar

 For the frosting:

• 1 & 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 12 oz. mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
•  3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

To finish:

• Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  Combine the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Whisk to blend; set aside.  Add the milk to a small saucepan.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod into the pan, and add the scraped pod to the pan as well.  Heat over medium-high heat just until bubbles appear around the edge of the pan.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until melted.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Remove the vanilla bean pod and discard (or rinse and save for another use).

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar.  Whisk lightly to blend.  Set the bowl over an inch or two of simmering water and heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture is warm and the sugar is dissolved, about 6 minutes.  Return the bowl to the mixer base.  Whisk on high speed until the mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, and able to hold a ribbon when the whisk is lifted.

Gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in three additions.  Stir ¾ cup of the batter into the milk mixture to thicken, then fold the milk mixture into the batter just until evenly incorporated.  Divide the batter between the prepared liners, filling them about three-quarters full.  Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are set and light golden, about 20 minutes.  Transfer pans to wire racks to cool slightly before removing from the pans.

To make the soaking syrup, combine the hot coffee, Kahlua, and sugar, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Place the warm cupcakes on a wire rack and place a baking sheet underneath to catch dripping liquid.  Use a pastry brush to brush the soaking liquid onto the tops of the cupcakes, repeating until the syrup is used up.  (This took me about four or five cycles of brushing).  If necessary, poke each cupcake a few times with a wooden skewer to help the syrup soak in.  Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, add the heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.  Transfer to a separate bowl and return the mixer bowl to its base.  In the mixer bowl, combine the mascarpone and confectioners’ sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Fold about a third of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture with a spatula to lighten.  Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until evenly incorporated.

Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip.  Pipe a large dollop of frosting on top of each cupcake.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Just before serving, dust the cupcakes with unsweetened cocoa powder.

Source: slightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes via Annie's Eats

Red Velvet Cupcakes

As Easter approached, I remembered I had these beautiful cupcake wrappers my mom had purchased last year and knew I couldn't let this year pass without using them. But which cupcake to choose? A delicate vanilla bean? A strawberry cupcake with strawberry buttercream? A rich chocolate with ganache? There were too many choices, so I asked my girls what kind of cupcake they wanted for Easter.

Here's how the conversation went down:
Me: "So girls, what kind of cupcakes should we make for Easter?"
My Big Girl (without missing a beat): "Red Velvet!!"
Me, knowing she had never had a red velvet cupcake before wondered how on earth this could've possibly entered her subconscious: "Red velvet? Really?"
MBG: "Yes, that's what I want. It has to be red velvet. Easter is about Jesus and His death on the cross, so we need a red cupcake. You know, for his blood."
Me (also never having had a red velvet cupcake and worried about how much it would dye the cupcake papers): "Are you sure you don't want a nice vanilla with chocolate icing?"

I couldn't sway them. They were committed. It was Jesus cupcakes or bust.

I did a bit of homework before settling on Annie's red velvet cupcakes, and I really couldn't have been more pleased with the results. I'm no red velvet expert, but we all thought they tasted delicious. The icing was the perfect topper, too: creamy, just sweet enough, and piped beautifully onto the cupcake. And, as it turned out, they were a most delicious way to remember that Easter is more than eggs and bunnies, even if they are decorated beautifully with them. :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes 
(aka Jesus Cupcakes)

Yield: About 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cake:

• 2½ cups cake flour
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1½ cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp. (1 oz.) liquid red food coloring, or ½ tsp. red gel-paste food color
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

For the frosting:*

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract (use clear for a prettier colored icing)
• 2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar.  Beat on medium speed until well blended.  Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter will be runny.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.  Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.

Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired

*Per Annie: If you are big on frosting as I am, you may want to increase the quantities by 50%.  That is what I typically do for a batch of 24 cupcakes.  I usually end up with some left over, but I would rather have too much frosting than not enough!

Source: Annie's Eats, originally from Apple a Day adapted from Saveur, via The Way the Cookie Crumbles, frosting adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride