Archive for the ‘Cupcakes’ Category

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

I love my friends’ birthdays. Something about the excuse to spoil the crap out of my friends in embarrassing public displays of affection fills me with a joy I can’t explain. Now, it doesn’t stop me from being outwardly loud and obnoxiously loving on a regular basis, which most of my friends avoid me during these times, but then there’s one who reciprocates my affection. Meet Jay.

Jay is one of my roommates and he is my lovely lady killer.  Yesterday, he turned 25, and I knew I wanted to make him something extra special.  Step in Car Bomb Cupcakes.  Now, I’ve never had an Irish car bomb, but they are traditionally a half a pint of Guinness, then a half an ounce of whiskey with half an ounce of Bailey’s, dropped in and then chugged.  I’m not sure why someone would want to drink this, but the flavors sounded like a delicious combination for a cupcake!

I used Double Chocolate Stout instead of Guinness.  The alcohol is burned off in one of the beginning steps of this, also, you can opt out of the whiskey in the middle and replace the Bailey’s with cream or half and half.  Also, instead of doubling the recipe, i just made two batches but only one and a half times the filling and frosting.

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes
from smitten kitchen.  (I’m not one to directly take from the site, but Deb puts the instructions in such a precise way I found it hard to reword, so not all the words are mine, but I followed them and all the pictures and fat calories from eating a dozen cupcakes ARE mine.)

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes (but I got 30!?)

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temp
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)
1/4 tsp of mint extract
1 tsp of the ganache

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan.

In a medium sauce pan, bring butter and stout to a simmer over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Set aside to cool.  Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until blended well.

Beat eggs and sour cream together in an electric mixer until lighter in color, add chocolate mix, and beat slowly until mixed.  Gently fold in dry ingredient mix until combined.  Fill cupcakes about 3/4 of the way.  Bake for about 17-18 minutes until tester comes out clean– rotate once.  Cool completely before removing the centers.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake only about 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.  Ice and decorate the cupcakes.

Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)

Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Vanilla Fig Tea Cupcakes with Root Frosting

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Dear World,

I am happy to announce that I have met my match.  My one and only.  My true loves of all.  I regret to inform everyone that there is a little less love for everyone else because any extra love is going directly to these.

I know what you’re thinking.  To you, they probably don’t look like much.  Well… there’s so much more.  See… in those are these:

Last year, I heard a lot of buzz about a new spirit on the market called Root.  The local shop, Art in the Age, wrote up a lovely page dedicated to this beverage here.  Basically, Root is the recipe, prior to the Prohibition, for root beer.  After my first taste, strong overtones of vanilla bean, subtle root beer flavor, I knew I would be a fun ingredient for baking.  Adding a light touch of alcohol is a great way to add depth and bring out certain flavors. Don’t go out and drink a whole bottle of this while eating cupcakes and write back, “Thanks for the alcohol poisoning.”  Moderation, people, moderation.

Now the second element to this recipe, is tea.  One of my bi-weekly errands is to local tea stores, I could wander over the lists of loose tea for hours and Philadelphia has some love for tea.  I say some, because, sadly, my favorite tea bar, Remedy, shut its doors less than a year ago though you can find a majority of their tea is online.

As I rummaged through the kitchen cabinets, searching for a chai that would go with these cupcakes, I discovered many things.  Strong green tea from the Asian Market (mine), detox tea (mine), female cleansing tea (which I actually think one of the boys purchased on accident), sinus draining tea (Elizabeth), regular black tea for hot toddys (Jay), but mostly the four of us have a serious tea addiction.  Seriously.

After moving onto the other cabinet shelf, I found the perfect match:

This Vanilla Fig Black Tea is available here.  So, my dear readers, I’m done with all of your other cupcakes.  Your fancy mcschmancy decorated ones with their fondant and their sparkles.  These cupcakes might not shoot rainbows from their nether regions, but taste wise– they are, as my friend described, “delightfully complex.”

Relationship wise, until marrying these cupcakes is legal, I’m single as ever.  Let’s fight for cupcake marriage.

Oh and additional bonus– these take one WHOLE stick of butter.  For frosting AND cake.

Vanilla Fig Tea Cupcakes with Root Frosting
(adapted from Joy the Baker | Joy puts this in very good words, so I didn’t change the words much!)

1 cup all-purpose flour
a scant 3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk (minus 2T)
8 oz of black tea (vanilla flavored is best for this recipe)
2-3 T of Root (optional)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, heat milk to almost boiling.  Steep tea according to instructions.  Set aside to cool.  Add Root.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and butter into the bowl and blend on slow speed with a mixer (or by hand.) until the mixture is a sandy consistency and everything is combined.  Gradually pour in half of the tea/milk/Root mix and beat until the liquid is just incorporated.

Whisk the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated.  Scrape  sides of the bowls well and mix until the batter is smooth for only a few minutes– do not overmix.

Line a muffin pan with twelve cups and fill all until a little less than 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden.  Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the pan, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
(frost 12 cupcakes, double for a 9 inch cake.)

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 T of milk
1/2 T of Root (adjust to taste)
a sprinkle of cinnamon

Beat powdered sugar and butter together until well mixed on medium low.  Once well mixed, turn the speed to low and add milk and Root steadily and slowly.  Once all incorporated, crank up the speed to high for about five minutes.  Beating the frosting longer will make it lighter and fluffier.

Frost cupcakes and sprinkle some cinnamon on top!

Tags: , , ,

Posted in Cupcakes, Recipes | No Comments »

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Saturday, February 27th, 2010


The city is tricky. Just when the snow seems to be calming down, it picks back up again and sneezes all over the place. It’s leaking into homes now. Not the actual snow, but with the flakes people carry in, their mood seems to dampen as well. Not only is it hard to out, it’s hard to be snowed in.

Yesterday, I woke up to sideways snow. I was not amused for a brief moment, when I felt a cat nestled up to me. She is warm and fuzzy and just the little happy push I needed. Then, I noticed the bright colors in my bedroom. The stray, bright yellow post it on my lampshade telling me if I have any errands to run. They all made me smile.


I’m one of those nerds who has to surround herself with bright colors. Otherwise, I get sucked into the droopy frowns too. In a couple weeks, the snow will melt and the sun will be so hot we’ll wish for cold weather back. Or at least, I will.

Since the weather has been taking its toll on my mood, I make an effort to remind myself of spring.

I buy new, open-toed shoes in a bright yellow.

I play with fresh herbs in my cooking.

I bought pretty new spring inspired cupcake cases for ridiculously bright cupcakes.

I used these key ingredients (plus buttermilk) to make a very specific, delicious cupcake.

Hm… that doesn’t look right.

Oh yeah!

Now, a short note regarding this Red Velvet cupcake.  First of all, usually I read a recipe, think about how I made it then write it up.  This time, because of all the ingredients and the preciseness of the original recipe, I barely tweaked it.  I had to put it out there.

Second.  I can’t say enough great things about how great these cupcakes are.  If you only have one baking recipe in your arsenal, this should be the one.  Two words: Worth. It.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
(via Paula Deen)

makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (I used a cup of whole milk with a T of fresh lemon juice to make buttermilk.)
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring (I use food coloring paste and only needed a couple squeezes to get the color I wanted.  Start with a little and add from there.)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder). In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Ingredient

1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Tags: , ,

Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Recipes | 2 Comments »

|