Experiments in the land of mini cupcakes into torts

Mini Chocolate Tiramisu Cakes




Cakes
1 small pkg (9 oz) devil's food cake mix or 1 2/3 cups from the 18.25 oz pkg
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
1/3 cup coffee liqueur or
combine 1/4 cup water, 1/4 sugar, 1 tbsp instant coffee granules and 1 tsp rum extract. Microwave, uncovered on high 1-2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved; cool

Filling & Topping
1 1/2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping
8 oz mascarpone or cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray cups of mini0muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. For cakes, combine cake mix, sour cream, egg, coffee granules and water in bowl and mix. Divide batter evenly among cups of pan. Bake 8-10 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean.

Meanwhile, place whipped topping into large resealable plastic bag; secure and set aside. For filling, combine cheese, sugar, and vanilla in bowl; mix until smooth. Place filling into additional resealable plastic bag; secure and set aside.

Remove pan from oven. Press tops of cakes with lightly floured mini-tart shaper to make slight indentations; cool 2 minutes. Remove cakes from pan. Brush tops with coffee liqueur. Cool completely.

Trim corners of both bags. Pipe filling over cakes. Pipe whipped topping over filling. Sprinkle with cocoa powder, if desired.

I really wanted to make a tort with my new tort pans, so instead of putting into a mini-cupcake pan, I put into a tort pan. This batter is kinda thick, so I had to spread it around in the pan. I baked the tort the night before. I left out the coffee liqueur altogether. I was meeting some ladies the next morning. This way the tort would be cool enough and I wouldn't have to worry about it cooling. I got up the next morning made the filling. I added a tsp of coffee granules to the filling to give it some more flavor. I spread that in the well of the tort, spread the whipped topping on top. I didn't use cocoa powder on to. I grated a some dark chocolate and covered the top with that. Then I took my cinnamon and cover it with that too. It was really good too.

This came from The Pampered Chef Fall/Winter 2010 Season's Best Recipe Collection. When you use a pampered chef cookbook it tells you what pampered Chef item to use. I left that part out.