Mini Tiramisu cupcakes

These cakes come from Lorraine Pascal’s book and TV series – Baking Made Easy - and they must be
if I can make them!!!

Ingredients
165 g (5 ½ oz) soft butter
100 g (3 ½ oz) light brown sugar
100g (3 ½ oz) caster sugar
4 medium eggs
260 g (9 oz) self raising flour
80g (3 oz) ricotta cheese
3 tbsp coffee essence or 2tbsp coffee granules dissolved in 4 tbsp water
12 amaretti biscuits roughly crumbled
Icing sugar and cocoa powder for dusting

Filling
500 g (1lb 2oz) marscapone cheese
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod or 2 drops vanilla essence
4 tbsp icing sugar
4 tbsp Marsala wine
8 amaretti biscuits, roughly crumbled

I halved these amounts for the filling and still had loads to fill 12 cakes

Sugar syrup
165 g (5 ½ oz) granulated sugar
165 ml (5 ½ fluid oz) water
2 tbsp coffee essence or 2 tbsp coffee granules

Equipment 12 hole muffin tin

Preheat the oven to 180c (350 f) Gas mark 4, line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases
Put the butter and sugars in a large bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Add half the eggs
and tip in half the flour and stir well. Repeat with the rest of the egg then sift in the remaining flour

Using an ice-cream scoop or 2 dessertspoons divide the mixture among the muffin cases. Spread
the mixture flat with the back of a spoon. Bake in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until a skewer
inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

The filling and syrup can be made while the cakes are baking. Mix together all the filling ingredients
and set aside in the fridge.

Put all the syrup ingredients in a pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat
to boil for a couple of minutes or until thick, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Once the cakes are cooked remove them from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Once you can
handle them remove each cake from its case and slice in half horizontally. Put the halves cut-side up
onto a plate. Brush them eweach liberally with the sugar syrup. Go mad here! The cakes should be
really really moist. Keep the rest of the syrup to pour over the cakes at the table – these could be
served as dessert!

Sandwich the halves back together with a generous dollop of the marscapone cream, dust the tops
with icing sugar and cocoa powder and serve straightway.