Tiramisu Cupcakes with Marsala Syrup and Mascarpone Frosting

Tiramisu Cupcakes with Marsala Syrup and Mascarpone Frosting

adapted from Martha Stewart's cupcake book

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, cut up and opened
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, chopped into wee pieces
3 eggs + 3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 325. Whisk together flour and baking powder (I always sift these ingredients together and I think it makes a big difference; the flour is less likely to form little clumps and the bp gets integrated evenly).

Take the milk and vanilla bean and put them together in a little saucepan; scrape out the vanilla beans so the seeds are mixed into the milk. Cook it on about a 5 (medium) until little bubbles form around the edge. Take it off the heat, whisk in the butter pieces until it's all melted together, then let it sit for a while.

Mix together the eggs and sugar thoroughly, then put your mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk it by hand until the sugar is dissolved. This doesn't take nearly as long as you'd think. It will look basically like it did before. Whip it with an electric mixer until it gets super thick and fluffy. A ribbon of batter will stay on the surface for a couple of seconds.

Fold in the flour slowly. Strain the milk mixture to get out the vanilla pods (if you don't cut them too small, you can really do this by hand just by picking the pieces out), whisk a little batter into the milk, then add the milk mixture back into the batter and whisk it gently until it's folded together.

Put it in your lined cupcake pan. The recipe says it will make about 18; I got 23. Fill the cups about 3/4 of the way. The batter at this point is super fluffy and a little spongy on the bottom.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate pans, bake another 10 minutes (using this method of turning the cupcakes halfway through has been insanely good for me in terms of getting stuff cooked evenly all the way through). Take them out, let them cool a bit. Now it is time to add the syrup!

Syrup:

1/3 + 1 tbsp very strong coffee or espresso
1 oz. (2 tbsp) marsala or other sweet dessert wine
1/4 cup sugar
Stir them together while the coffee is hot so that the sugar dissolves.

Brush the syrup onto the cooled cupcakes. I poked a few holes in the tops because I thought the syrup would soak in better, but I think that was actually unnecessary.

Frosting:

1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. mascarpone
1/2 cup sifted xxx sugar

Whip the cream until it's stiff peaks. Fold together the cheese and sugar in another bowl. Fold into the whip cream. Use right away -- it plops right down in lumps. I spiked it a little with my fingers, but you can probably smooth it pretty well with a spatula or knife.

Dust with cocoa powder.

If you're like me and you hate creamy cheeses in your desserts, regular whip cream also works just great; sweeten it with a spoonful or two of regular sugar.