My apartment’s makeover is reaching the six months mark now, if we consider that I closed the deals by the end of april, before travelling to Poland. The reason is that some manufacturers only start working on their stuff after something else has been finished. Like the cabinets will only start being produced after the silestone has been delivered. And so on.
With the delays, I should only move in to the apartment by the middle or the end of November. I’m anxious.
Meanwhile, I’ll tell you about the dinner table saga. For those who enjoy cooking, and specially patisserie, countertop is essential. Just imagine making fondant on a small countertop. Or even work a bread dough. But I wanted a tower with my microwave and oven, and I also needed a big sink. So the solution was having a big dinner table which could be my working place.
The idea is to have a firm enough table to work bread doughs or even fondant and sugarpaste. I went out with Mr. Boyfriend to research some options, because I’m only convinced after I’ve been to the store and tried each table by my own. In our search, I found out that tables with four feet are excellent, but it would be awful in the apartment because it’s a small place. Those with a central base need to have a metallic structure underneath.
But what about the hot syrups of sugar used to make poured fondant? Well, on top of the table, we’ll have a tempered glass of at least 8 mm. Then I’ll see how that reacts and if I don’t feel confident enough, I’ll think about buying a sheet of marble specifically for that, as my chocolatier teacher told me.
I ended up with a table called Alcachofra, which is portuguese for artichoke. She’s like this and it wasn’t cheap. But just as the silestone, I believe in a good once in a lifetime investment that will last a lot. I’ll compensate sleeping in an old mattress for a couple of years. I don’t mind.
As I have previously announced on the blog, I’ve made these cupcakes for my birthday with Mr. Boyfriend. He’s quite addicted to tiramisu and it’s been a while since I’ve wanted to make these. But all the other ideas on the internet were something like a vanilla cupcake with mascarpone filling and some other topping. I wanted the real tiramisu.
Since this cupcake needs to stay in the fridge, the cake part is made out of oil so it won’t harden much when cooled.
Tiramisù cupcakes
Yields: 14 cupcakes
Base
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
little tiny bit of salt
1 egg
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 – Turn your ove non to 350°C. In a bowl, beat the egg for about 30 seconds. Then add the sugar and beat again for more 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and oil and beat again until incorporated.
2 – Sift flour, baking poder, baking soda and salt on top of the liquids, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix slowly with a spatula.
3 – Place two tablespoons of batter on each paper cup, at most. Bake for 8 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place the cupcake pan on a cooling rack, with the cupcakes still inside.
Syrup
50ml very strong and cold coffee
25ml Marsala wine
1 – Mix everything together to combine. Then pick the cupcakes with a toothpick or fork and pour two to three teaspoons of the syrup on top, until it absolves the liquid. See how on the picture below. Then keep it in the fridge while you make the cream.
Cream
50g egg yolks (about two and a half)
25g refined sugar
200g mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 – In a bowl, beat the egg yolks for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat again until it gets pale and doubles in size.
2 – Add the vanilla and mascarpone and mix everything together with a spatula, incorporating slowly.
3 – When the base is cold, put the cream in a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the tip cut open, and fill the paper cups until you get to the top, or just go over it and be happy!
4 – Cool the cupcakes in the pan for at least 3 hours or best overnight.
Remove from the fridge, sift some cocoa powder on top and serve immediately. This is how we found them to be perfect, cold and moist, but you can wait a couple of minutes before enjoying this cupcake, because the cream will hold its shape.
Tips:
– If you can’t find Marsala wine, use any good sweet wine. I didn’t find it myself so I used another one.
– The cream will probably last a bit, so make traditional tiramisù with the syrup and some cookies.
Where is your working station at your kitchen?