~ "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." ~ "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" ~ "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." ~ "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."~

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tiramisu Cupcakes...and Vanilla Cupcake Recipe




Tiramisu Cupcakes...When I first noticed the recipe for tiramisu cupcakes on Martha Stewart's website, I thought they sounded wonderful. It never crossed my mind to make tiramisu in cupcake form. Why, the idea was brilliant! So I bookmarked it...I even told others about the idea, but never made the cupcakes myself. That is.... until recently.
This is yet another one of those recipes that has been bookmarked for SUCH a long time.... probably well over a year:). I knew I wanted to try the cupcakes when I initially made the homemade mascarpone... but then I stumbled upon the homemade ladyfingers. And well, most of you know the rest of the story...I ended up making a tiramisu cake instead:).
But I never forgot the cupcakes... and recently decided to make them. I had some egg yolks that needed to be used up....and it's also probably one of the reasons why I ended up making the tiramisu cupcakes when I did. For me, it's always a struggle when it comes to using up leftover egg yolks. Very glad I could use them in this recipe.
The actual vanilla cupcake was nice and tender....a really good recipe for a basic vanilla cupcake. I ended up cutting the amount of sugar in mine and liked it just fine. But if you want, you can use the whole amount by checking out the original recipe. Also, I added a bit more coffee( mine wasn't so strong) to the syrup. I prefer to poke large holes in the cupcakes and then use a teaspoon to drizzle a bit of the syrup over the cupcakes. If you just brush the tops, the middle doesn't really get moistened while the top of the cupcake can get sort of soggy...especially if you heavily brush them or dip them in the syrup. On a few of the cupcakes, I ended up using a cupcake corer...felt it was probably the best way to get the cupcake moistened. It also allows you to get a bit of extra frosting in the middle...sort of as a surprise. As much as I don't care for frosting in general, I felt the frosting in this recipe was what made the cupcakes. In any case, these are just ideas to keep in mind. But regardless how you make them, the cupcakes are delicious....frosting and all:). It's a different sort of cupcake....an elegant sort of cupcake. A cupcake that's moist and tender...with just the right amount of sweetness. It's the the type of cupcake you want seconds of....but maybe that's not such a good thing:).
If you like tiramisu, you'll probably like these cupcakes. The cupcakes are quite the dessert to make for special occasions. This recipe is making its way to the top of my list for favorite cupcakes...right along with my coconut cupcakes:). Hope you enjoy...

Note: If you don't care for the coffee flavor, try making a fruit based "tiramisu".... berries are a wonderful choice. You can also add some pureed berries in the frosting....and use some chambord.

Tip: This would be a great recipe to make when you have some extra egg yolks that need to be used up. You can also freeze the cupcakes in advance...and frost them later. Dust with cocoa just before serving.

You will need: adapted from Martha Stewart
~Original makes 18 cupcakes( I got about 12 cupcakes since I filled them a bit higher than 3/4 full and used less sugar)

Vanilla Bean Cupcake
1 1/4 cups cake flour*, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
*As as substitute for cake flour, I used 1 cup +2 TBS all-purpose flour plus 2TBS cornstarch

Coffee-Marsala Syrup
1/3-1/2 cup very strong coffee/espresso, cold
2-4 TBS marsala (you could use kahlua), or to taste
2 TBS sugar
~Stir together coffee, marsala, and sugar until sugar is dissolved.

Mascarpone Frosting.~I made half of the recipe since I had to try one plain:)... and so I was left with 11 cupcakes. But if you are using a cupcake corer you might want to make the whole amount.

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
coffee to taste, optional*
2-3 TBS marsala(or kahlua), or to taste
* this is optional, but I like to add it for more flavor
~With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated.

Additional
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degs.
1. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk, the scraped vanilla seeds and the split vanilla-bean pod.
4. Heat just until bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat and whisk in butter until melted. Let it stand about 15 minutes....or until the mixture has cooled down.
5. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Discard vanilla-bean pod.
6. In a mixer bowl, whisk by hand the whole eggs, yolks, and sugar....for about a minute or so.
7. Set the mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm... recipe says about 6 minutes...I just whisked it until the whole mixture was warm. I didn't want to run the chance of cooking the eggs.
8. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk the mixture until it becomes fluffy, pale yellow, and thick. When the whisk is lifted, you should be able to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds.
9. You want to fold gently, but thoroughly fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Do this in 3 batches.
10. Remove 1/2 cup of the batter and fold in the strained milk mixture.... then fold this milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.
11.Fill each lined cup with batter...about three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through...or until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before removing the cupcakes.
12. Using a skewer, poke holes in tops of the cupcakes or use a cupcake corer. Using a spoon, drizzle some of the syrup on each of the cupcakes. Start off with a tiny bit of the syrup...do all of them and then go back and repeat until all syrup has been used. This way you don't run out of the syrup before you finish the cupcakes. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid before frosting.
13. Dollop or pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
14. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight in airtight containers.
15. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving.... you can also shave some chocolate if you like.

17 comments:

Speranta said...

Ellie,numai bunatati...
Toate retetele sunt delicioase...
Sa ai o zi buna.:)

Mihaela said...

Ellie, these cupcakes look amazing, I can't wait to try it! I also came across this recipe and I bookmarked it, but that was only a couple of weeks ago, and I don't think I'm going to wait too long, specially that I have a kind of "cupcake fever" :) Thanks for the tip for the cake flour, I never buy other than regular flour, and how my blog is very much visited from Romania, I try to give them options. I also came across this recipe and I was thinking that you're going to like it: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/poblano_skirt_steak_fajitas.html
I wanted to try it too, but I don't know when, for sure when it's going to be nice weather for grilling :) Have a nice day!

LoveCupcakes said...

Another delicious cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart. Thanks for sharing this lovely sweet with us.

megi said...

Ellie, the tiramisu cupcakes look amazing, I love individual desserts and would love to make these for our next get together with friends. The cupcake part looks so tender. Thank you Ellie for another great recipe.

Ellie said...

Speranta, Multumesc mult...apreciez mult ca ma vizitezi si ca iti place retetele:).

Mihaela, Oh, I think you will really enjoy these cupcakes. Hope you can give them a try and not wait as long as I did:).
Thank you SO much for the link...the recipe sounds amazing!.... I love all the flavors. I think I will try it sooner than later! Really appreciate you passing on the recipe. Have a great day!

LoveCupcakes, Thanks for stopping by...so glad you like the idea. I think it is a keeper of a recipe!

Megi, Yes, the cupcakes were quite tender...I think all the egg yolks did it:). But they didn't feel heavy at all. I think you will like them...feel free to turn the cuppakes into something even better:).

Mihaela said...

Elie, ma intreb cu cine mananci atatea bunatati pe care le faci..?:)

Alina---Explora Cuisine said...

Arata foarte fain cupcakes-urile acestea, cine s-ar fi gandit la Tiramisu cupcakes? :) imi place metoda de insiropare, tot secretul la Tiramisu e cat de "moist" e piscotul, zic eu :) Te pup si iti doresc o seara cat mai placuta!

Mihaela said...

Hi Ellie, I made this cupcakes today and they turned out so good. The only thing: yours are round and bumped, mine were rather flat. I think I cooked it enough, with the toothpick test, maybe I didn't whip the eggs enough, they made a ribbon, but not very thick. Flat or not, they were very good, I'll post them this week :) Thank you for the recipe!

Ellie said...

Mihaela, I am so glad you tried them. I have heard that cupcakes should have a flat top rather than a rounded top...maybe you have them just right:).
But, I do know the eggs need to be at room temp or slightly warmer...this helps it gain more volume when you beat the eggs. Also, if it is over-folded...the batter may lose some of the volume. This cupcake batter is sort of like when making a sponge cake...But I am happy that you still liked them:)!
Thanks for stopping by and letting me know that you tried it...I am looking forward to seeing your version:) I am sure you did a fantastic job.

Anonymous said...

did you use ultra pasteurised heavy whipping cream?? please reply. thank you!

Ellie said...

Anon, You know, I can't remember what kind of heavy cream I used... but I am sure it was probably an ultra pasteurized heavy cream, as that is the only one I can find around here. Hope this helps....

Anonymous said...

very helful indeed!!! thanks Ellie=)...same touble with cream!!! we seldom find pasteurised heavy cream! did you use uht cream for tiramisu as well?? by the way your cupcakes look gorgeous!!

Ellie said...

Anon, Yes, sometimes we have to use what we have available to us:). I'm not much of a cake/cupcake decorator, so am glad you liked the way these came out:)
I'm sure I used the same kind of heavy cream for the tiramisu cake as well...the ultra pastuerized kind. Thanks for stopping by... I'm glad I could be of help.

Anonymous said...

I made these cupcakes and did exactly what the recipe said ( at least i think i did). They looked nice while in the oven,once i got them out they collapsed! I was left with half a cupcake because they shrunk so much. What did i do wrong???

Ellie said...

Anon, I'm sure you may have followed the recipe, but since this recipe involves a sponge-like batter(genoise), there could be many factors that could have gone wrong.

There are several different reasons why a cake may fall.... might include any of the reasons below:

Too much leavening
Too much sugar
Too much fat
Too slow an oven
Insufficient baking...

Having listed these reasons, I'm guessing the main reason for your collapsed cupcakes might have been in taking out the cupcakes too soon from the oven and the cupcakes weren't cooked long enough.... my guess, as I wouldn't know exactly what went wrong, but since you said the cupcakes looked good while baking and that you measured right., I can only assume it was the baking time.

Because it is a sponge-like batter, you end up beating eggs until fluffy and incorporating lots of air bubbles ... and as you fold the eggs with the flour, it "lightens" the batter. So as the cake bakes, the air bubbles need to expand in the hot oven. But in order for the air bubbles to give structure to the cake, you will need to cook it long enough so that the walls of the air bubbles dry up and support the cake without relying on the air inside them.

I hope this helps a bit... sponge cakes, genoise, souffles aren't exactly the easiest to work with.... but with practice you can get it right. Even experienced bakers make mistakes:).

Anonymous said...

Hi Ellie!

Would you mind telling me the weight of the 1 1/4 cups of flour (cake o substitution) in oz./gr.? I just want to make this cupcakes and I want them to be really perfect.

Thanks for sharing. Sarah.

Ellie said...

Hi Sarah, You know I made these cupcakes using cup measurements... and I always use a " fluff the flour, scoop and level method" when I measure. I really wouldn't know the exact grams or oz. and so wouldn't want to give you something that may not be accurate. Though I am sure you can use any online measurement conversion calculator... But I think a normal cup of ap flour is about 110 grams-125 grams. The cake flour is a bit less 95 grams- 110. here's a quick:

link.http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/tools.measures/Measures.cfm

Sorry I couldn't be of too much help, but hope the recipe comes out for you:). And thanks for stopping by!