Gluten-Free Irish Cream Tiramisu Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

I normally make my Tiramisu in an 8×8 pan, with coffee and Kahlua syrup, and more Kahlua in the mascarpone layer.  In a murder mystery book I was reading, they mentioned tiramisu cupcakes and I thought why not. Then I decided to make them with Irish Cream liqueur for St. Patrick’s, tinted green, but not containing mint or pistachio.  Why does everyone think green means mint or pistachio? Mine were green for an “everything green” party, and they were devoured.  People didn’t care they were gluten-free.

Watch me make this recipe Cook’s Corner on New Hampshire’s ABC WMUR.

A Note about Liquor in this Recipe

Note that if you Google “Is Bailey’s gluten-free, they tell you to ask your doctor.”  Carolan’s brand says they are gluten-free. Your decision.

Irish Cream is not very strong so it has only a mild, but delicious flavor.  The same quantity of Kahlua or Rum packs a punch.

If you use a different gluten-free flour blend, then you will need to weigh the flour, since cup measurements vary per gluten-free flour blend. King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour is strong, so would be less cup measure, and regular Pamela’s is a soft blend and might need more.

Ingredients:

• 1 x recipe for ladyfingers:
• 2 large eggs, separated
• ¼ cup, ¾ oz., 25 g powdered/icing/confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ cup, 2 oz., 60g, granulated (white) sugar (Use superfine if you have it, or grind granulated a bit finer in food processor.  The recipes will work with ordinary granulated sugar.)
• Scant ½ cup, 1 + ½ oz., 45 g, Oonagh’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend (below) or cornstarch (corn flour in the UK) (I use ½ cup less 1 Tbsp.) OR ¼ cup of King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour is 1 + ½ oz.
• ½ tsp. (3 ml) gluten-free vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• ½ tsp. (3 ml) gluten-free baking powder
• No xanthan gum needed

Syrup:

• ¾ cup (180 ml, 6 fl. oz.) very strong coffee or 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) instant coffee to ¾ cup hot water
• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) sugar or to taste
• ¼ cup (60 ml) Irish cream liqueur
• Mix together until sugar dissolves

Topping:

• ½ lb. (250) mascarpone cheese (Don’t substitute regular cream cheese, it just doesn’t taste the same)
• 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) Irish cream liqueur

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a totally grease-free bowl, whisk egg whites until they are stiff.  Add half of the granulated sugar and whisk until stiff again. Fold in remaining half of granulated sugar.
3. In separate bowl, whisk egg yolks, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt until thick and creamy and lighter colored, about 4 minutes. The color will not be the normal vibrant yellow to start due to browning color caused by vanilla extract.  If you have vanilla sugar, you could use that instead.
4. Gently fold egg yolk mix into egg white mix, taking care not to deflate.  Use a large stainless steel spoon and fold in figure eight motion. Do not over mix since you will be adding flour mix.
5. Mix together flour and baking powder and sift (preferably, but not always possible, with some gluten-free flour mixes) onto egg mix and gently fold in, scrape down sides gently with spatula and reach to bottom of bowl with spatula so everything is mixed in, but still keeping fluffiness. This is not a time to beat vigorously.
6. Line a 12 cup muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners. Evenly divide batter among paper cases, reaching about 2/3 full.
7. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes. They won’t rise a lot, don’t really dome and will be a light golden color. It doesn’t matter if you overcook them slightly since you will be pouring coffee syrup onto them.
8. Remove from oven. Pour about 1 + ½ tablespoons of Irish cream syrup onto each cupcake.  There is very little space between top of cupcake and edge of paper liner, so dribble syrup.
9. Once cupcakes are cold.  Whip cream, powdered sugar and Irish cream until nearly stiff. Then add Mascarpone cream and whip together until stiff enough to pipe. Pipe on top of cupcakes and dust with cocoa. Green food coloring optional.
10. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Oonagh’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend

• I use this for one cup of gluten-free mix.
• ½ cup potato starch (Squeaky like cornstarch, not potato flour which is basically dried potatoes ground to flour)
• ¼ cup tapioca starch
• 2 Tbsp. gluten-free millet flour: Bob’s Red Mill
• 2 Tbsp. gluten-free sorghum flour: Bob’s Red Mill.