Iron Cupcake: Coffee (or Pero in my case)

I missed last month's Iron Cupcake deadline so I didn't get to post about my sparkling grape juice cupcakes, so this month I'm doing it early. February's Iron Cupcake ingredient was coffee which causes a few problems for me since I don't drink coffee for religious reasons and have a very limited knowledge of what flavors go well with it. Fortunately, Sandy in her awesomeness said it would be o.k. if I used a coffee substitute so I chose the one I grew up watching my dad drink, Pero. Using Pero instead of coffee, I created my entry this month, Tiramisu Cupcakes for the Non-Coffee Drinker:


Voting for this month's Iron Cupcake challenge will start no later than 8 p.m. on March 1st, so swing on by No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner around then to vote for your favorite three cupcakes. You can get there by clicking on this link or on my Iron Cupcake badge at the bottom of this page. Voting will go through March 6th at noon.
The prizes for winning are:
Something cool from DIANAEVANS
A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
A sweet art piece from CAKESPY
And as an added bonus for February, cupcake supplies complements of SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY
Last and certainly not least, corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com, TASTE OF HOME books http://www.tasteofhome.com , and a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com.
Learn more at the Iron Cupcake Cuphub: http://ironcupcake.blogspot.com

And now, the recipe:

Hot Milk Sponge Cake
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
2 T. butter

Directions:
Allow eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Line 12 muffin cups with foil* cupcake liners. Stir together flour and baking powder; set aside.
In a mixing bowl beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed about 4 minutes or until thick. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture; beat on low to medium speed just until combined.
In a small saucepan heat and stir milk and butter until butter melts; add to batter, beating until combined. Pour batter into muffin tin filling each cup 1/2 full. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. Remove from liners. Slice cupcakes into three horizontally so you will be able to layer the cake with the filling.
*Be sure to use foil liners. The cupcakes will stick too much to regular paper liners.

Tiramisu directions and assembly:
Ingredients:
6 large egg yolks
3/4 c. sugar
2/3 c. milk
1 lb mascarpone cheese or 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 c. whipping cream
1/2 t. vanilla
1 T. sugar
1/4 c. Pero (I made it double strength) or strong coffee/espresso, chilled
1/8 t. rum extract mixed with 2 T. water
1 1/2 t. baking cocoa

Directions:
In a 2-quart saucepan, beat egg yolks and sugar with wire whisk until well mixed. Beat in milk. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Pour into medium bowl; place plastic wrap directly onto surface of custard mixture. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until chilled.
Add cheese to custard mixture. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth; set aside.
In a chilled medium bowl, beat whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar with electric mixer on high speed until stiff; set aside. In small bowl, mix Pero and rum extract/water mixture.
Place bottom slices of cupcakes in new foil liners*. Brush with Pero mixture (do not soak). Spread cheese mixture over bottom cupcake slices; spread with whipped cream. Repeat layers with another slice of cupcake, cheese mixture, and whipped cream. Sprinkle with cocoa. Refrigerate at least 4 to 6 hours to develop flavors but no longer than 24 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.
*Since you only use two cupcake slices per finished cupcake, you can use the remaining slice as a layer in another cupcake, meaning this recipe which makes 12 original cupcakes will stretch to make 18 once you do the layering. I hope that makes sense.