tiramisiu cupcakes

i made tiramisiu cupcakes the other day! honestly, i really liked it even though the vanilla cupcakes were quite "normal" as wq said. i was quite skeptical about the recipe because of the high sugar/flour content and low butter content - but i think that was so it would absorb the liquid mixture well without becoming overly soggy. and i must say i really liked the result! its a bit of an effort because you need to cut out the hole, but its really worth it in my opinion! please try!

got the recipe from here:
http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/the-hummingbird-bakerys-tiramisu-cupcakes
(i double the recipe)

ingredients;
sponge:
170g butter, softened
510g sugar
480g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp baking powder
5 large eggs
480ml whole milk
3 tsp vanilla essence

soaking syrup:
500ml strong coffee
150ml baileys
90g caster sugar (Taste and adjust accordingly)

filling and frosting:
500 g mascarpone cheese
50m baileys
300ml double cream
40g icing sugar
cocoa powder

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 190deg celsius and line a muffin with muffin cases.
2. Using an electric mixer beat together butter, sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder on a low speed until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. (if you're using all the ingredients above, you might want to add half the sugar first, then half the flour and slowly incorporate the rest otherwise everything might fly out)
3. break the eggs into a jug, add the milk and vanilla essence and mix together by hand. slowly pour 3/4 of the wet ingrediences into the butter mixture. Mix together until incorporated and then add rest of the batter on medium speed until smooth and even.
4. divide the batter between the paper cases, filling them up to 3/4.  Place in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly and then remove from tin to cool completely while making the soaking syrup. (I made about 40 cupcakes but they didnt rise that much and were quite small - so probably 30-35 regular sized ones)

5. Pour the coffee and kahlua into a sauce pan and stir in the sugar, place the pan on a hob and bring to a boil, allowing the liquid to reduce by about half, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

6. Frosting: Beat mascarpone and kahlua until smooth, pour cream into separate bowl and add icing sugar - whip into soft peaks. Beat whip cream into mascarpone mixture until firm (i piped it which is why i beat it with an electric mixer, otherwise you can fold it and smear on the icing!)

Assembling:
7. When the cupcakes have cooled, use a knife to cut out a piece of sponge - like cutting out a window from the cupcake! and set aside. Pour about 1 tsp into the hollow and 1 tsp into the sponge. you can pour a bit more into the hollow and around the sides if you want more of it to be soaked into the cupcake.

this is how the cutout looks like! i spent half an hour trying to figure out how to cut my cupcake into half because i read the instructions wrongly ): it was actually much simpler!

8. Fill the hollow with a layer of mascarpone cheese, and then top up with the cut out piece of sponge. covering it with frosting ! Dust lightly with coca powder.

before frosting! 

There wasnt enough frosting to pipe them all so i smeared on some of it instead (less frosting needed).
perhapas i could try infusing more tiramisiu flavour into the cupcake although i think i was quite happy with how it turned out(: dont expect a full blown tiramisiu obviously!