Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

My dream come true, Guinness, whiskey, and Bailey's all in one, Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!  Guinness chocolate cake, whiskey ganache, and Bailey's frosting.  Although not politically correct, that is the name of the cocktail these cupcakes are based on, so for reference purposes I am calling them Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.  My surname is Irish, I'm nearly half Irish, and I've been drunk in Dublin, so hopefully I can get away with it. If not, póg mo thóin. ;]

The only whiskey we had in the house was Jack Daniels, (surprising, I know) so that is what I used.  I also stuck with the Bailey's Buttercream recipe I have used in the past because it has worked well for me, but no changes were made otherwise.

I was conservative while coring the cupcakes, so I had a good amount of chocolate ganache left over.  Rather than wasting it, I decided to pipe a mini swirl of chocolate ganache over the filling before topping with the Bailey's frosting.  This gave my swirls a little extra volume.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Adapted from smittenkitchen.com

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/car-bomb-cupcakes/

Makes 20-24 cupcakes

• 1 cup Guinness (or any stout)
• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process if possible)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

~Preheat the oven to 350 °F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~Using a medium sauce pan, bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder, and whisk until it is completely dissolved and smooth. Cool slightly before proceeding.  

~In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sour cream.  Slowly add the cooled Guinness mixture, while whisking, and mix just until blended. (You want your Guinness mixture to be cooled so you do not curdle your eggs.)

~In another bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt to blend.

~Add the flour mixture gradually to the Guinness/egg mixture, mixing just until incorporated.  

~Fill cupcake liners three-fourths full and bake for 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. Whiskey ganache and Bailey's frosting recipes follow below!

Whiskey Ganache Filling

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter, room temp.
• 1 to 2 teaspoons whiskey, Irish if possible (optional, but not really...haha)

~Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl.

~Bring the cream to a simmer, stirring constantly.  Once simmering, carefully pour the cream over your chocolate.  Let sit for one minute, then stir until smooth. (Not melted? You can microwave the mixture in small, 5-10 second intervals.  As long as you avoid direct heat to the chocolate, you will be fine.) 

~Add the butter and whiskey to your chocolate mixture, and once again stir until smooth.

~Let ganache cool slightly.  You want it to thicken enough that you will be able to pipe it.  (Feel free to place ganache in the fridge to speed up the process, but be warned, it thickens up quickly!)

Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from Cupcake Rehab

http://cupcakerehab.com/2010/03/luck-o-the-irish-baileys-cupcakes/

(Double to be safe if you're piping the frosting!)

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons (maybe more) Bailey’s
• 1/8th teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

~Cream/whisk the butter on high speed for approximately 3 minutes. 

~Add the Bailey’s, and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the powdered sugar until well blended.

~If necessary, add more Bailey’s to thin or more sugar to thicken your frosting to your desired texture. (This is the point I tasted the frosting and decided to add a little salt and the vanilla extract, but feel free to omit!)

Cupcake Assembly

~Take your cooled Guinness cupcakes, and core/cut out a small bit of the center. (See below.  I used a small paring knife, cutting at an angle in a circle. Great time to taste test the cupcakes! ;])

~Pipe your Whiskey Ganache into your newly cored cupcakes.  Do as much or as little as you like. (This is the point where I piped small swirls of ganache up and over the holes in the cupcakes.)

~Pipe/frost your filled cupcakes with the Bailey's Buttercream Frosting, add your sprinkles/decorations of choice, and enjoy!

Guava Chiffon Cupcakes

My favorite cupcakes I have ever made!  So light and fluffy, and lots of guava flavor in the topping.

*Update: These turned out even better the second time. I used more food coloring to get a richer color, and wasn't guessing so much on the baking time.*

I had so much trouble finding a guava cupcake recipe that resembled the guava cakes I have had in the past, with the signature bright pink guava topping, that I took a couple of guava chiffon cake recipes and adapted them to suite my needs.

These were for Valentine's day, hence the heart theme, but it would be much easier to pipe the buttercream like a usual cupcake, and then drizzle the guava topping over it.  For the adventurous, I will describe how I got the heart shapes.

These may take a little work, but these were seriously my favorite cupcakes I have ever made!  Definitely best to eat the day of.  Kept fine in the fridge for several days, but upon getting to room temperature some of the guava filling managed to break through the dam of buttercream, resulting in some sticky fingers, haha!  I think drizzling the guava topping as I mentioned earlier would help to get rid of this problem. (This is what I did the second time around, hence the first picture!)

I couldn't find guava concentrate to save my life, so I used guava juice instead.  If you can find guava concentrate, go with that for even more guava flavor!

DO NOT simply spread frosting onto these cupcakes, as they are very delicate and crumbs come up easily.  Piping is very much the recommended frosting technique.

Guava Chiffon Cupcakes
Adapted from I'll Have What They're Having-Legendary Local Cuisine by Linda Stradley
Makes 26-28 cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup guava juice
• 5 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• red food coloring (optional)
• 8 egg whites, room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

~Preheat oven to 325 °F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~In an extra large bowl, sift together the cake flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add the vegetable oil, guava juice, egg yolks, and food coloring if desired. (Keep in mind you will be folding in egg whites, so make the color slightly darker than desired) Beat just until smooth.

~In a large bowl beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup of the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue beating until stiffer peaks form.

~Gently fold 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the prepared batter. (This helps to ensure that the rest of the egg white mixture won't deflate as much)  Once just incorporated, fold in the remaining egg white mixture until again just incorporated.

~Fill your prepared muffin liners nearly to the top, at least 4/5 full. (This batter does not raise very much while baking, so if you want that classic cupcake shape this is necessary) Bake for 13-15 minutes*, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

*Because I was guessing on the baking time, I raised the temperature to 335 °F after 10 minutes of baking to help set up the cupcakes a little more, as I was worried opening the oven too early to check would deflate the cupcakes.  Also, do not be afraid if your toothpick comes out wet after 13 minutes.  This batter sets up quickly, so just give it a few more minutes.  I had some done at 13, and others that needed the full 15.

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.  Guava buttercream frosting and guava topping recipe below!

Guava Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from a C&H Recipe

Frosts 10-12 cupcakes (double for this recipe)

• 1 lb. box powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup guava juice (guava concentrate, if you can find it, will give a less subtle guava flavor)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick), room temp.

~Mix together salt, guava juice, vanilla extract, and butter with a heavy spoon or mixer.  Add in powdered sugar in intervals.

~If frosting is too stiff, add more guava juice a few drops at a time.  If too soft, try refrigerating your frosting for half an hour.  If still too soft, add in more powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time.

Guava Topping

Adapted from Kuki's Kookbook

http://kukikookbook.blogspot.com/2010/04/guava-cake.html

Tops 26-28 cupcakes

• 2 cups guava juice
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar (normal sugar fine, but you may need more corn starch as a result)
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• red food coloring

~In a medium saucepan, bring the guava juice and sugar to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, and whisk in the cornstarch.  Add desired food coloring amount at this point.

~Stir over low heat until mixture thickens and will coat a spoon.  Add more sugar to taste if needed, but be careful tasting as it will be hot.  Remove from heat and let cool.  If too runny, return to heat and add more cornstarch or powdered sugar.  If too thick, return to heat and add more guava juice.  If the cornstarch is clumping on you, whisk the hell out of it and you should be fine!

~Keep in mind if drizzling the guava topping you will want it slightly more runny than if you are pooling it in the center.  

~Now for the fun part!  Pipe the prepared frosting onto each cupcake, finishing with a drizzle of the guava topping.  Details for the more intricate technique are below.  Either way you choose, make sure you take time to enjoy one of your amazing cupcakes!

Heart Cupcake Assembly

• Cooled Cupcakes
• Guava Buttercream
• Guava Topping
• 1-2 tablespoons guava juice

~Set aside about an eighth of your frosting, and use the rest for piping.  We will return to the other bit of frosting in a moment.

~To pipe the heart shapes that I did, start at the top center of the heart, and working around the cupcake in a heart shape, pipe a thick line of frosting. We are just doing the outline here!  If done correctly, you will meet back with where you started, at the lowest point of the top of the heart.  Keep in mind your line of frosting must be thick enough to dam in the guava topping.

~Once you return to the top center, rather than lifting up right away, pipe for a moment to ensure the ends meet, then continue piping in a line towards the top of the cupcake, pipe for another moment, then lift.  I found this gave the cleanest lines to the heart, as it covered up my starting point, and I liked the bow-like quality.  

~I recommend doing a deep set heart, as this will give you plenty of room to pipe your line of frosting at the end, and will make the heart shape more pronounced.  Make sure the frosting is touching the cupcake at all points, and that there are no gaps underneath the frosting.  This is important to make sure the fillings we add next does not spill out.

~Thin down the remaining portion of frosting with guava juice, just until runny enough to drizzle/spread with a spoon.  Using a small spoon, drizzle a small amount of this diluted frosting into the center of each heart you piped, spreading gently to ensure it meets up with the piped edge. Use as little frosting as possible, as you want just enough to coat the top of the cupcake so that the guava topping does not soak through.*

*If you're wondering why not simply spread the frosting over the cupcake and then do the piping, it is because I found this cupcake far too delicate to spread frosting onto without getting crumbs lifted up and mixed in.  Spreading the frosting first also resulted in frosting protruding past the piped heart edge.  Diluting and drizzling the frosting fixed both of these issues for me.

~Take your cooled guava topping, and using a similar technique to the one just used, take a small spoon and gently drizzle the topping into the center of the hearts.  You can spread gently, but spread too much and the guava topping will begin to mix with the frosting below.

~Pat yourself on the back at this point, because you're finally done!!  Here's a closeup of a cupcake if you had any questions on the steps just described. 

Cupcakes & Cocktails Party

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Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes (a.k.a. Old Gregg Cupcakes)

If you are a fan of Irish Cream Liqueur, or know someone who is, try these cupcakes! I may be biased because of my love for Bailey's, but I truly enjoyed this recipe.  If you have access to Coole Swan unlike most of us Americans, I can only imagine that making the recipe even better.

If you don't know the Old Gregg Bailey's connection, I highly recommend going to youtube for a moment and searching for him.  It's a particular episode from the "Mighty Boosh" TV series.

Anywho, it was my friend Crystal's birthday and she was going to be visiting from out of town.  As an avid fan of Old Gregg,  I knew I needed to make her Bailey's cupcakes.  I was able to find a recipe online that had the best reviews I could find, and gave it a shot myself.

Next time I will brush the tops of the naked/baked cupcakes with some Bailey's, but as alcohol doesn't last long in my household, I had just enough for the recipe and frosting.

I tweaked the frosting recipe a tad, and what I changed will be in parenthesis.

Bailey's Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcake Rehab
http://cupcakerehab.com/2010/03/luck-o-the-irish-baileys-cupcakes/
Makes 26-28 cupcakes

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temp.
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups Bailey’s (or any other Irish Cream Liqueur)
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt

~Preheat the oven to 325 °F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

~In a separate bowl, combine the liqueur, water, milk and mix together. (I did this in a measuring cup to save on dishes)

~In another bowl, thoroughly combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

~Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the liqueur mixture. Beat on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes. (You should start and end with the flour mixture)

~Fill cupcake liners three-fourths full and bake for 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  (These don't rise too much, so feel free to be a little heavy handed. I've been using an automatic ice-cream scooper and it's made my life easier.)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. I recommend topping these with the frosting mentioned below!

Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.
• 3 cups powdered sugar (I added a little more because I went heavy on the Bailey's, and because of the addition of vanilla extract that I did)
• 2 tablespoons (maybe more) Bailey’s
• (1/4th teaspoon vanilla extract)
• (Pinch of salt)

~Cream the butter on high speed for approximately 3 minutes.

~Add the Bailey’s and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the powdered sugar until well blended.

~If necessary, add more Bailey’s to thin or more sugar to thicken it to desired texture. (This is the point I tasted the frosting and decided to add a little salt and the vanilla extract.)

~Feel free to brush Bailey's on top of your cupcakes before frosting. Enjoy your soft and creamy beige cupcakes!

(I loved these liners my mom found! Merry Christmas lovelies!)

Devil's Food Baby Shower Cupcakes (It's a boy!)

These are how the cupcakes for my brother's baby shower turned out! The only differences from the test run that I did are I used foil liners, and I topped the cupcakes with white sugar pearls.  That and the quantity of course, since this time I septupled the original recipe which only yielded 12 cupcakes.  I did three batches doubled, and then one the original size.  I got to sample a cupcake from each batch, since 80 cupcakes had been requested, poor me. ;]

I've noticed paper liners pretty much get dominated by any dark batter, so I love foil liners for this purpose.  They also add some elegance since they keep a clean, crisp appearance even after baking.

I go easy on the sugar pearls because I don't want to take away from the frosting at all, but they make a beautiful accent!  That and not everyone wants a slight crunch to their cupcakes, haha, if you've never used them before I suggest tasting one so you know their consistency.  5-8 was a perfect amount for me.  I was told later people at the party were actually asking if they were edible, which I had to smile at, since I've never seen a beaded cupcake, haha, these are the ones I used:

I stuck with the blue food color and violet icing dye to get a baby blue color.  Being a person on the verge of OCD, this means I made a giant batch of frosting to ensure that all of the cupcakes matched in color.  Remember, less is more!  Go easy on the violet.  If you're not familiar with icing dyes, here is an example of what to look for:

I used large foil pans to store these, which were perfect.  They were sturdy and deep enough to keep the cupcakes safe for their car trip.  I kept them in the fridge over night, and arrived a little early at the baby shower so they had plenty of time to get back to room temperature.

I have the recipes in my last post, but here they are again just in case!

Devil's Food Cupcakes 
Adapted from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski
Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 large egg, room temp.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup buttermilk

~Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  I don't normally sift, but cocoa powder always clumps up for me.

~In a large bowl beat together the sugar, brown sugar, and butter until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.  

~At this point add about 1/3 of your flour mixture, alternating with the water and buttermilk.  You should start and end this process with the flour mixture.  Beat just until combined.  Spoon your batter into your prepared muffin tins, no less than two-thirds full.

~Pop these in the oven and bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  (Mine needed the full 18 minutes this time around, but I did still check after 16.)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

~Once cooled, top with frosting and decorations of your choice.  Enjoy and indulge in these chocolate goodies!

Basic Buttercream Frosting

C&H Recipe

Frosts 10-12 cupcakes

• 1 lb. box powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick), room temp.

~Combine all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  I'd recommend an electric mixer to start on this one, scraping the bowl often.  If it seems too stiff to spread or pipe easily, beat in milk a few drops at a time.

~To get the color of mine it took roughly 3-6 drops of blue food coloring, and a small dab of violet icing dye.  Less is more with this, you can always add more later!

Devil's Food Cupcakes (Baby Shower Test Run)

Can you tell I got a new 1M tip? haha, I had fun piping these!  The more classic swirls, where you start piping on the outside and move in, are in the back.  The rose like swirls are in the front.  First time doing these and I'm really pleased with how they looked.  It's pretty much the reverse, you pipe in the middle for a moment, and then start swirling out.  When you get towards the end release pressure but continue moving the piping bag around.  This prevents you from getting a hard ending point.

Because these are going to be for a baby shower, I went with a buttercream I could tint as opposed to the chocolate glaze that came with the original recipe.  I'll post the buttercream recipe at the end.  I liked this one a lot better than the one I made previously.  Still rich, but not sickeningly so.  Also easier to make in my opinion.

I got the blue color from blue food coloring with a dab of violet icing dye.  The blue food color always seems to have a slight teal tint to it, and the violet cancels this out nicely.  I got this tip from a blue velvet cupcake recipe I will hopefully be baking/posting soon.  Any specialty cooking store, such as Sur La Table, should have a nice selection of icing dyes.

My brother and his girlfriend had asked me to do their baby shower cupcakes, and of course a flavor I had never done was chosen, haha, so I felt required to do a test run to prevent a disaster filled evening the day of.  That and the cupcakes were chosen based on a picture I found, not an actual recipe, so I needed to make sure I could replicate that look as well.  The dark cake I assumed to be Devil's Food Cake, with a light blue buttercream frosting for a nice contrast.

I actually baked two types of Devil's Food Cake Recipes.  I do this whenever I don't have a favorite recipe to fall back on.  However there was a clear winner, so that is the recipe I will be posting.

These turned out very tasty.  Moist and chocolaty like a Devil's Food Cake should be, without being too messy.  I'm hoping they go over well at the baby shower!  I'll be making around 80, so wish me luck.  In the meantime my mom's work will be reaping the benefit of my test run.

Here's to not needing my own baby shower cupcakes for a looooong time. ;]



Devil's Food Cupcakes 
Adapted from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski
Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 large egg, room temp.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup buttermilk

~Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  I don't normally sift, but cocoa powder always clumps up for me.

~In a large bowl beat together the sugar, brown sugar, and butter until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.  

~At this point add about 1/3 of your flour mixture, alternating with the water and buttermilk.  You should start and end this process with the flour mixture.  Beat just until combined.  Spoon your batter into your prepared muffin tins, no less than two-thirds full.

~Pop these in the oven and bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  (Mine needed the full 18 minutes this time around, but I did still check after 16.)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

~Once cooled, top with frosting of your choice.  Enjoy and indulge in these chocolate goodies!

Basic Buttercream Frosting

C&H Recipe

Frosts 10-12 cupcakes

• 1 lb. box powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick), room temp.

~Combine all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  I'd recommend an electric mixer to start on this one, scraping the bowl often.  If it seems too stiff to spread or pipe easily, beat in milk a few drops at a time.

~To get the color of mine it took roughly 3-6 drops of blue food coloring, and a small dab of violet icing dye.  Less is more with this, you can always add more later!