Fact: every dessert is better in cupcake form.
Heck, lets just broaden that statement to say that anything is better in cupcake form.
Including tiramisu.
This past Friday was my roommate Lindsay’s birthday.
Since we haven’t been living together for very long, and because we are both lovers of good dessert, I wanted to make her something special for her birthday. She requested either ice cream cake or tiramisu. I settled on the latter, having already conquered the frozen fates when I made my homemade ice cream cake back in February.
Obviously I couldn’t just make any old tiramisu. Silly you for thinking so.
Martha Stewart’s website has a bounty of creative cupcake ideas, albeit ones that are fairly complicated (to the point that the recipes come accompanied by a tutorial video – yikes!). It was here that I discovered the recipe for these.
I have never used so many kitchen do-dads to make one batch of cupcakes. I was boiling, brewing, sifting, melting and brushing… It all worked out though. What can I say? #justcallmemartha
Having just moved into a new house with many left behind/forgotten baking utensils, I had to get creative with my methods. For example, I used a cheese grater from IKEA as a sieve and a salad-bowl-in-a-pot as a double boiler. I try to be resourceful, I really do.
The outcome of much kitchen labour was a batch of 15 pretty awesome cupcakes. The cake was spongey and light (although a tad burnt on the bottom, woops). The chocolate-marsala sauce that was brushed over the top tasted delicious (although, as Matt pointed out, it tasted a little like some sort of sushi sauce, but he is just crazy). Finally, the pièce de résistance was the mascarpone cheese icing that was so light but so rich.
ONE more thing: I splurged and bought vanilla beans for these cupcakes! A real life vanilla bean (actually, two). It cost me an arm and a leg (AKA $7), but it was totally worth it.
PS (I lied with the one more thing): can you tell that I’ve been making a conscious effort to create the “setting” for my food photos? I’ve noticed that most food blogs feature a bunch of random background items (emphasized by their sweet cameras and actual ability to achieve some sort of bokeh), so I thought I’d try doing the same thing. These shots featured Lindsay’s container of cocoa and a silk scarf I bought at a garage sale.
Hilary Makes 