Tiramisu Cupcakes - coffee cakes for people who don't like coffee

These cupcakes taste just like the real thing - like you are eating tiramisu!

I made them for a family party with my in-laws; my mother-in-law and husband both love coffee cake but I really don't like it. I wondered if there was a way I could incorporate coffee into a cake so it would still be enjoyed by someone who doesn't like coffee; I've got a great recipe for chocolate cake that uses coffee as one of the ingredients to give depth of flavour but it doesn't actually taste of coffee at all. Then I remembered a dessert that I love, that uses coffee - tiramisu!

The Marks & Spencer recipe book 'Easy Cupcakes' has some really imaginative recipes - it's a very good little book that I've had for about five years but only used a handful of times. It has a recipe for tiramisu cupcakes - in true Caroline style, I didn't read the ingredients list properly and was half way through before I remembered I didn't have any masala or sweet sherry, but I did have crème de cacao and this worked perfectly. Here's what you need to do: the recipe says this makes 12 but I only got 8 (large) cupcakes out of it.

You need:
115g unsalted butter or baking spread like Stork
115g light brown sugar
2 eggs
115g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp coffee granules
25g icing sugar
4 tbsp. water
for the frosting:
225g mascarpone cheese
85g caster sugar
2 tbsp. marsala or sweet sherry, or in my case crème de cacao
cocoa for dusting

Preheat oven to 180C. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, flour and baking powder in a bowl until smooth and creamy and spoon into paper cup cases in a muffin tin.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.

Place the coffee granules, icing sugar and water in a pan and heat gently until the coffee and icing sugar have dissolved. Boil for one minute then allow to cool.

Brush the coffee syrup over the top of each cupcake while the cupcakes are still warm. Then leave the cakes to cool.

For the frosting, beat the mascarpone, icing sugar and masala in a bowl and spread on top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle with a pinch of cocoa powder.

These cupcakes tasted gorgeous - just like eating tiramisu!

I'm sharing these with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at the Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi.

 

Charlotte at Charlotte's Lively Kitchen runs a blog challenge called the Food Calendar and there are several things happening this month that these cupcakes would be great for, including National Cupcake Week from Sept 12-18, International Coffee Day and the Macmillan Coffee Morning.

Vegan Tiramisu

Tiramisu's main ingredient is mascarpone cheese, so I wouldn't have thought you could make a vegan version - but apparently you can! I wanted a vegan dessert for when I had friends over before Christmas; I made an eggnog cheesecake as well but also needed something suitable for vegans. I recently bought a recipe book called Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist, which I've been using quite a lot lately, and was intrigued by the recipe for tiramisu. Instead of sponge fingers you bake a dairy-free cake and instead of mascarpone cheese you use tofu!

I did adapt the recipe slightly; as with other ones I've made from this book it suggests using evaporated cane juice but I used caster sugar instead. I used white wine vinegar instead of cider vinegar as that was all I had, and I left out the marsala - I know it's a traditional part of tiramisu but I thought this dessert might be eaten by a child (but I also made some Frozen cupcakes and in the end she had those instead!). I also used self-raising flour rather than plain flour and baking powder as it was one less thing to do! Finally I found that the quantity of coffee given was far too much - perhaps I didn't soak my sponge as much as I should have, but I only used about a third of the coffee I made up, so I have adjusted the quantity in this recipe below accordingly.

You need:
For the cake:
225g vegan margarine e.g. Pure
225g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla flavouring
390g self-raising flour
6 tsp egg replacer, whisked with 8 tbsp. warm water
240ml soya milk
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
for the coffee filling:
200ml strong coffee
for the 'cream cheese' filling:
85g vegan margarine e.g Pure
225g soft tofu at room temperature
600g icing sugar
30g plain chocolate, grated (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a loaf tin.

Beat the vegan margarine for the cake with the sugar and vanilla extract. Mix the egg replacer with the warm water and combine this in a jug with the soya milk and vinegar.

Alternate adding the wet ingredients and the flour to the cake mixture. Make sure everything is well combined then scrape into the loaf tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool then turn out onto a wire rack and leave until fully cooled.

Make up the coffee and leave to cool.

To make the filling, beat the vegan margarine, tofu and vanilla extract until smooth. Slowly mix in the icing sugar and mix until well combined.

Slice the cake into three layers and place one layer in the bottom of the loaf tin. Pour over 1/3 of the coffee and when it has soaked in, spoon 1/3 of the tofu mixture on top.

Repeat with the next layer of cake until you have used all the cake, coffee and tofu mixture. Finish the top layer with tofu and sprinkle with a little grated plain vegan chocolate if desired.

Chill in the fridge until firm. Cut into slices to serve.

I really wasn't sure what this was going to taste like given I'd replaced mascarpone cheese with tofu but it was really good - very sweet from all the icing sugar, but actually a lovely creamy dessert that vegans and non-vegans alike enjoyed.

Mango and Passionfruit Tiramisu

Tuscany Now, an Italian villa rental specialist, invited me to take part in a cookery competition to create an Italian-inspired dish, the #TuscanyNowCookOff. I immediately thought of tiramisu but wanted to put my own twist on it, so came up with this mango and passionfruit tiramisu, which was absolutely delicious. It's also really easy and would be the perfect dessert to make while staying in a Tuscany villa... well, I can dream!


To serve 6-8 (depending on portion size) you need:

200g pack sponge fingers
100ml orange juice
80ml passion fruit syrup (I used Funkin Syrup, which I bought online)
250g mascarpone cheese
125ml fat-free plain yogurt
1 egg
50g caster sugar
1 mango, thinly sliced (or use tinned sliced mango)
2 passionfruit

Combine the orange juice and 50ml of the passion fruit syrup in a shallow bowl and dip the sponge fingers one at a time in the liquid, turning to cover both sides.

Layer half the sponge fingers in the bottom of a large serving dish.

In another bowl beat the mascarpone, yogurt, and 30ml of the passionfruit syrup. Then beat in the caster sugar and egg until well combined.

Spoon half the mixture over the sponge fingers.

Lay the mango slices on top to form the next layer.

Scoop out the middle of the two passionfruit and combine with the rest of the mascarpone mixture.

Place another layer of sponge fingers in the bowl then top it off with the mascarpone and passionfruit mixture.

Place in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight. Return to room temperature before serving.

 You can serve it straight from the dish...

... or use a pastry cutter to cut out a circle of the tiramisu as I did here. You can see all the different layers inside!

 I also drizzled a little passion fruit syrup around the tiramisu and served two more slices of mango on the side.

This dessert is absolutely delicious; rich and creamy but the fresh fruit flavours are perfect for summer. The passion fruit seeds give a satisfying crunch on top. Using the fat-free plain yogurt instead of the more traditional double cream makes the dessert a little lighter in calories and would suit glamourous Italians who like to look after their figure! I think this is as good as any traditional tiramisu I've had in a restaurant, but I've never come across one this flavour before.

Slimming World Tiramisu

To many people, January is a time of diets and trying to lose weight, but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy nice food. This recipe is from Slimming World's Love Desserts book and is low fat; each serving has 3 syns on all Slimming World plans.

To serve two, you need:

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp sweetener

a few drops of vanilla essence

200g quark

6 sponge fingers

1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp water

2 tbsp brandy or other spirit - I used cointreau

50g fat free natural fromage frais

1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Whisk the egg yolk with 1 tbsp sweetener then beat in the vanilla essence and 2 tbsp quark.

Gradually whisk in the remaining quark until you have a smooth cream

 Make up the coffee in the hot water and mix with the alcohol in a wide shallow bowl. Soak the sponge fingers for a minute or two until softened.

Spoon half the quark mixture into serving glasses, add the sponge fingers (broken into pieces), then another layer of quark and another layer of sponge fingers.

Top with the fromage frais and sprinkle over the cocoa powder. Chill until read to eat.

I am sending this to Four Seasons Food, the blog challenge hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux. Their theme this month is 'virtuous'; some people may insist that no desserts are really that virtuous but this is a great low fat version of a usually very calorific dessert.

I used Cointreau in this recipe as I already had an open bottle in the cupboard, rather than buying brandy as the recipe called for, and it tasted really nice - I think this qualifies me for the "frugal" theme for Baking with Spirit! Though this dessert isn't actually baked so I will have to see what  Janine at Cake of the Week says!

Update: I'm sending this to Chris at Cooking Around the World as the month the challenge has reached Italy.

A romantic new year's eve dinner for two

My boyfriend and I decided to stay in on new year's eve and I wanted to cook us a romantic dinner. The menu I chose was: herbed bacon and egg souffle; steak in a stilton sauce with boulangere potato stack; tiramisu. I thought I'd combine all the recipes into one blog post: enjoy!

Herbed cheese and bacon souffles

This recipe is adapted from the Slimming World recipe book Extra Easy Entertaining

Serves 2

You need:
Fry Light spray oil or similar
two rashers lean bacon, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
pinch of chilli flakes
2 eggs, separated
chopped fresh parsley
dried dill
40g grated parmesan
pinch of mustard powder
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180C or 160 C fan. Place a roasting pan one third full of hot water in the oven.

Fry the bacon and spring onion and add a pinch of dried chilli flakes.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the bacon and spring onion mixture and the herbs, along with three quarters of the parmesan. Add the mustard powder and season.

Fold the mixture into the egg whites, using a metal spoon.

Spray the insides of two ramekin dishes with oil and spoon the mixture into the ramekins. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

Bake for around 20 minutes until risen. These can be made the day before and heated up on the day.

We had these as a starter on new year's eve; I think they would work really well for breakfast or brunch as well.

I am sending these to Herbs on Saturday, hosted by Bangers and Mash and started by Karen of Lavender and Lovage.

I am also sending this to Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes for her Classic French cooking challenge, as the recipe she has chosen this month is the souffle.

Steak in Stilton Sauce

This was our main course on new year's eve. I didn't follow a recipe, and just fried some rump steak; helpfully, when I went to buy some that day they were reduced from £4 each to £1.79 in Tesco. I added some double cream to the meat juices in the pan (also in the reduced price section - I love going shopping after Christmas!) and then added some Stilton - left over from Christmas. The stilton melted and made a lovely creamy sauce.

As this meal used reduced-price steak and cream, and leftover cheese, I am sending it to Frugal Food Fridays, hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

Boulangere potato stacks

We had this as a side dish to accompany the steak (I also cooked some broccoli); I took the recipe from my new book Slimming World Extra Easy Entertaining. It was absolutely delicious and I will definitely make this again!

Serves 2
You need:
500g potatoes
1 litre vegetable stock
Fry Light or similar spray oil
tbsp chopped fresh parsley
4 tbsp Quark
2 garlic cloves, crushed or half a tablespoon garlic puree
salt and pepper
25g reduced fat grated cheddar

Peel the potatoes and slice with a mandolin or the wide edge on a grater

Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan, add the potatoes and bring back to the boil

Drain the potatoes and reserve the stock. Put the potatoes into a bowl.

Mix in the quark, herbs and garlic with 6 tbsp of the reserved stock and season. Toss gently with the potatoes.

Spray a muffin tin with oil and press spoonfulls of the potato mixture down into each muffin cup.

Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top- I used more than the recipe suggested but my boyfriend definitely wasn't complaining! Bake for 25-30 mins. I didn't take a picture of these on the plate but if you remove them carefully you have neat little stacks of potato slices. And they taste fantastic!

Tiramisu

I got Nigella's new book Nigellissima for Christmas and adapted this recipe from the book as our new year's eve dessert.

Serves 2
You need:
50ml coffee (eg made up from instant)
1 tbsp coffee or chocolate liqueur
2 sponge fingers
1 egg white
200g mascarpone cheese
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp marsala
1 tsp cocoa powder

Make up the coffee, add the liqueur - I used a chocolate liqueur I bought in Italy last year -  and leave to cool.

Break each sponge finger into four pieces and place in a martini glass.

Pour the coffee mixture over the sponge fingers.

Beat the egg white with an electric whisk. In a separate bowl, beat the mascarpone and honey, then add the marsala if using and beat again.

Fold in the egg whites then spoon into the martini glasses.

Sprinkle with cocoa powder or grated chocolate

And serve!

I am sending this to the blog challenge Forever Nigella, hosted this month by Recipe Junkie. Forever Nigella is organised by Sarah at Maison Cupcake. The theme in January is "food to cherish your loved ones", and what better way to spoil my boyfriend than to make him this lovely dessert for our romantic dinner together? (Incidentally, we followed our romantic dinner by spending a romantic evening... playing Xbox. It was actually a lot of fun!)