What's Baking: Tiramisu-Inspired Cupcakes

After making a delish (if I do say so myself) tiramisu a couple weeks ago, I have since become obsessed with tiramisu-inspired desserts. In preparation of attempting a tiramisu cake for D's birthday next week, I thought I'd start small with cupcakes. We will call this cupcake attempt #1. Though not bad per se, the cupcake turned out a bit denser than I would have liked. The frosting, however, is TO DIE FOR. And I think it'd be even better with a little brandy, which I left out since I brought these along last night to a Boy Scout shindig. Of course, I may have forgotten that there would be LDS troops in attendance as well, so let's just ignore the coffee-soaking part, shall we?

For my cupcakes, I melded together a few different recipes. And, for full disclosure, these cupcakes should actually technically be called attempt #2, given that attempt #1 was a bit of a runny mess. I have to say that making baked goods is definitely a bit of a challenge at 7200'. The first recipe I followed was for flatlanders, and my attempt at making it suitable for my elevation by reducing the baking powder did not help one iota. So, for my second attempt, I followed a recipe for brown-sugar vanilla cupcakes, found at Cheeky Kitchen. Note that the recipe is intended for those living at high elevations (the writer lives in Colorado Springs). After the cupcakes came out of the oven, I used this recipe to make an espresso syrup (omitting the liquor). When the cupcakes had cooled sufficiently, I used a turkey baster with a flavor injector to inject about a tablespoon or so of the syrup into the center of each cupcake. Feeling that might be inadequate, I also used a pastry brush to sweep the top of each cupcake a couple of times with the syrup as well. I returned to the Smitten Kitchen tiramisu cake recipe for the frosting (again, sigh, omitting the liquor). I used a pastry bag with an icing tip to swirl on the frosting, and then finished each cupcake with a dusting of cocoa powder and a Ghiradelli chocolate chip garnish.

Since I have a bit of frosting left over, I think I am going to give these cupcakes another whirl this weekend and see if I can figure out a lighter cupcake recipe to try. I think it might also be a great idea to squirt a bunch of the icing into the center of the cupcake as well. Let the experiments begin!