TIRAMISU CUPCAKES

I've always enjoyed baking. Always. As a kid, I would rather bake my own cookies than have store bought. My dad also went on business trip a lot while I was growing up and I would always have something baked for him for his arrival back at home. Since he had many sweet teeth, I felt it was like a duty to show my gratitude for passing that trait down to me by baking him these welcome home treats. While I was in high school, I wanted to try my hand at baking tiramisu. None of us has every tried it and by reading the recipes online, I thought it sounded ah-may-zing. I got my mother to buy Kahlua for me to try and bake it, but because I couldn't find any mascarpone, I never made it. Mascarpone is freakin' hard to find!

Fast-forward many years later: my dad has a taste of tiramisu for the first time at Olive Garden and falls in love. He then becomes a self-proclaimed tiramisu expert. He finds that you can buy frozen tiramisu at CostCo that tastes exactly like Olive Garden's, which is exactly how he likes it. My sister-in-law makes her tiramisu for him to try, which he didn't like. And being a natural-born Bostonian, he was quite blunt in giving her his critique (which was "too strong on the Kahlua"). She actually took small offense to it, but she got over it and says she'll never make him her tiramisu ever again. Whoops. 

Since I too, am a tiramisu lover, I was cah-razy excited to find a cupcake recipe that sounded perfect. I couldn't wait to try it. Finding mascarpone was still the most difficult part of this recipe. I looked in several different grocery stores with no luck. I figured PUBLIX would definately have it, but to be honest - I had no idea where to look, really. I figured by the cream cheese, but I looked everywhere beyond that. I looked in dairy. I looked in milk. I looked in cheese. I looked in butter. I looked everywhere. I don't know how I came across the damn deli cheese and saw mascarpone sitting there. I imagine the cupcake gods were smiling down on me when I happened through there because I never would have imagined mascarpone next to feta or gouda.

EVERYBODY LOVED THESE! And who wouldn't?! Tiramisu really is the shit. Really. 

A woman from Ry's work, who is a huge fan of my cupcakes, actually ordered two dozen from me to be ready two days after she tasted one. She had a party to go to and wanted to bring some for the party. She said they were a huge hit at the party. One man from my work wanted me to make him one dozen ready three days after he tried one. People I work with were eating them like chips. 

But the real test, is my dad. Even though, I wasn't worried because after I tried one - I knew he'd love them. He had me make one dozen extra for him to take to his work. 

So I made 5 dozen of these tiramisu cupcakes in 3 days. If that doesn't tell you how awesome these were, I don't know what the fuck to tell you. 

We went to CostCo a few days afterwards and I turned my nose up at the coveted frozen stuff. Since I now know how to make my own.. I don't need to buy anymore. Whoop!