Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

 

There's something to be said about the delicious-ness of booze-cakes.  I think my love of incorporating alcohol into cooking stems from Jello Shots.  I hate Jello, and am not a big person for shots, but somehow the two combined work just fine for me.  Anyways, I figured that for St. Patrick's Day I should make something with Irish flavors AND booze, inspired from one bad-news beverage I can usually only stomach AFTER a heavy night of drinking....Irish Carbomb Cupcakes....

      I tried, and failed, with several different recipes from various websites.  Some turned out really dense, not-so-good cupcakes.  Others gave me really runny frosting, and one had REALLY alcoholic, lumpy frosting (I'm sure if I consumed that frosting I wouldn't care how lumpy or unappealing they were due to the sheer amount of Jameson :))  So, I wound up combining attributes from different cupcake recipes, then incorporating booze into my own buttercream recipe to make for one boozey cupcake.  yummm. 

For The Cupcakes

1 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened.

1 cup strong coffee

1 ½ cup Guinness Extra Stout

2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed

2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

       Combine coffee, Guiness, butter, and cocoa powder in a saucepan; heat over medium, whisking continually until butter is dissolved.  Transfer mixture to a large bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

       Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  Whisk together eggs and vanilla; add to chocolate mixture, whisking until combined well.  Add flour mixture slowly, whisk until just combined (batter will be thin and bubbly).  Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full.  Bake 25-30 minutes at 325.  Cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting

2 sticks of butter, softened and cubed

3 cups powdered sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 Tb Jamison Irish Whiskey

4 Tb Bailey’s Irish Cream

      In a medium bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy.  Slowly add powdered sugar and salt, mixing on low until combined.  Add Jamison’s and mix slightly, then 3-4 Tb of Baileys depending on consistency desired.  Frost and enjoy!