Tiramisu.... Cupcake. Enough Said.

I am not sure about any of you out there, but it has been a rough few weeks lately with all this rain. Gloom & doom is a good way to describe my mood lately, and the only thing that can lift my spirits sometimes is dessert. I mean, who WOULDN'T be cheered up with a mouthful of the sugary goodness that is Tiramisu? Mascarpone, coffee, sugar, butter.... need I say more?

Time to eat your feelings with this cupcake. Don't worry, I made sure to remove all of the calories before serving. Mix up a batch, and you will soon be forgetting all your weekly worries! Buon Appetito!

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 stick of butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

For filling:
8 oz marscarpone cheese, room temp
1 1/4cup confectioner's sugar
3 tsp instant coffee

For buttercream topping:
1 stick butter, room temp
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tsp milk
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Garnish: 1 bar of bittersweet chocolate, shaved/grated

First thing's first--- make the cake! Preheat oven to 350 and fill up your cupcake tin with liners. In a medium bowl, add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and mix well & set aside. In a seperate bowl with your mixer, add softened butter & sugar & cream together until light and fluffy. Then add eggs one at a time, incorporate well into the mixture. Then add the vanilla extract. Next, add your dry ingredients in batches, incorporating slowly, alternating with the milk as needed to thin it out. Once all is combined, fill up your cupcake liners 3/4 of the way, and bake 20-25 minutes or until it passes the "toothpick" test! Set aside and cool thoroughly before adding the filling & frosting (or else it will melt, and that just won't do).

To make the filling:
In a bowl, mix together the marscarpone cheese with instant coffee and confectioner's sugar.

Buttercream frosting:
OK, last one. Cream together butter, confectioner's sugar, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, and thin it out with milk as needed. If you like thinner frosting, add more milk.

Assembly:
Once the cupcakes have cooled, take a sharp pairing knife or small knife you have, and hollow up each with a hole in the middle. You like more filling? Make the hole bigger! Fill the holes using a piping bag or tiny spoon. Then top with the buttercream. For added texture and sugary goodness, shave a bar of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate on top for the finishing touch. This cupcake will lift your spirits in no time!!