This past weekend I hosted a “Girl’s Night Out” at my house for a group of my friends, which was awesome because not only did I get to spend some time with some of my girlfriends, it also gave me an excuse to bake!  I’ve been eager to share several of the recipes I made for the party, but I have to start with my newest cupcake creation, the Tiramisu Cupcake.  I’ve been researching different ways to make this cupcake for a while now and I was really torn between two different methods, which only means that now that I’ve tried this one, I have to try the next one soon to compare.

I was really nervous about overpowering the cake with the espresso flavor so held back a little – next time I won’t, because if there’s one thing that could make this little masterpiece even better, it would be the infusion of more coffee flavor.  Oh well, live and learn!

This is a simple white cake, filled with an espresso-marscapone mousse.  It’s topped with an espresso & coffee liqueur glaze, marscapone frosting and garnished with an espresso-soaked ladyfinger and cinnamon.  It’s so, so yummy.  Next time I’ll ramp up the coffee flavor in the filling and be more liberal with the syrup, and then I think we’re talking perfection.

I hope you enjoy this one!  I loved the way they came out, they’re so cute!  Divertitevi!

Cake:
8 tablespoons (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
9 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 cups sugar

Filling:
1 cup frosting
1/8 cup coffee syrup
Confectioners/Powdered Sugar (as needed for thickening)

Use 1 cup of the frosting you just made, and combine with 1/8 cup of coffee syrup.  Using a hand mixer, whip until light and fluffy.  If the consistency is too runny, add confectioners sugar a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.  (It should be close to a pudding consistency.)  Refrigerate for 30 minutes before filling cupcakes.

Garnish:
1/2 package store-bought ladyfingers, using 1/2 ladyfinger for each cupcake
Cinnamon

To assemble:
Fill prepared cupcake with a heaping teaspoon of filling.  Replace the cone, and brush the top of the cupcake with a generous amount of coffee syrup.  Frost with marscapone frosting and dip the end of a ladyfinger into the coffee syrup.  Push the ladyfinger into the frosting, and dust the entire thing with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Store in the refrigerator until 2 hours prior to serving.  Enjoy!
Yields 24-36 cupcakes.