Tiramisu Cupcakes

Tiramisu cupcakes, because they are served cold, are a refreshing way to beat the end of summer heat.  Making tiramisu cupcakes is not an original idea; many cupcake bloggers have made cupcake versions of tiramisu.  The common way of making tiramisu cupcakes is to start with a basic yellow or white cupcake recipe, flavor it with some rum and coffee, and top it with mascarpone, whipped cream, and cocoa powder.  While I would never turn down tiramisu cupcakes made that way, they miss out on what is to me the key feature of tiramisu - the topping to cake ratio.

Tiramisu has very little cake (ladyfingers) and LOTS of mascarpone and whipped cream topping.  Tiramisu's ladyfingers are like circus ringmasters: they keep everything together, but no one goes home talking about them.  The rum, coffee, mascarpone, whipped cream, and chocolate are the clowns, elephants, contortionists, unicycle rider, and man flying out of a cannon.  You simply won't forget them.  Because my tiramisu cupcakes start with just a small amount of "cupcake" (ladyfingers baked into cupcake wrappers), there is a TON of room for the "big top".

Witness:

Ready to make tiramisu cupcakes?