Chef Chloe's Vegan Raspberry Tiramisu Cupcakes Or HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I have a vegan for a Father.  And a vegetarian for a Mother.  It being said Father's Birthday, I volunteered to make the dessert.  I had been wanting to test out Chef Chloe's Raspberry Tiramisu Cupcakes, which won an episode of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network, and this was my chance!

So Cute!

Cute Close-up!

First, you bake up the cupcakes and let them cool.  I did the baking the night before, and the decorating the day of the party.

I cut out the center of each cupcake to make room for the filling.  I tried using a knife, but these cupcakes were so sticky I ended up using a spoon.

I coated the center of each cupcake with the soaking liquid using a pastry brush.

I cooked up the sauce the night before, then let it cool in the fridge overnight.  The next day, I filled in the center of each cupcake.

Once again, I prepared the buttercream icing the previous night and left it in the fridge.  After filling the cupcakes and remixing the icing in my stand mixer, I piped the icing onto the cupcakes.

Vegan Raspberry Tiramisu Cupcake

I also made up a half batch up Vanilla Cupcakes using Magnolia's famous recipe (Non Vegan!) because I had some leftover Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting in the freezer, recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart.

All together now!

Overall, I was not a gigantic fan of the Tiramisu Cupcakes.  That could have been for many reasons: I felt like the alcohol was too noticeable; the frosting completely melted and turned into a mess at room temperature; and the cupcakes themselves had a "weird" taste to them.   I felt that the raspberry filling would have been a lot better without the cinnamon added.  I also doubled the frosting recipe, so I believe I made it far, far sweeter than it should have been.  I hate to blast something that is Vegan, because I want to like it, but I would not make this recipe again.  I really do not understand how it won Cupcake Wars. 

As for the Vanilla Cupcakes, this is an old standby recipe that never fails.  It is good with any combination of frostings, and I highly recommend it.  Even without icing it is still delicious!