Tag Archives: brown sugar

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes {Boozy Baked Goods}

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{happy st. patty’s day!}

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!  Hoping this particular morning (er, afternoon by now) isn’t too painful after yesterday’s libations.  March 17th is the one day every year I’m allowed to fully indulge my Irish heritage name in my own food blogger way by merging the best of two wonderful worlds: classic Irish boozyness and the sweet indulgence of decadent cupcakes.

Last year’s round of Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes was missing whiskey (blasphemous!) but with my new cupcake corer in tow, I filled these dark, luscious baked goods with an even richer bittersweet chocolate whiskey ganache.

Do I have you drooling yet? (and not post-St. Patty’s day hangover drool?)

I used last year’s recipe and this chocolate ganache recipe.

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IRISH CAR BOMB CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS

{quintessential irish beverages}

{prep bowls + eggs}

 

For the cupcakes
 1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup Guinness stout
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

For the ganache filling
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp butter (at room temperature)
2 tsp Irish whiskey (or more…)

For the frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 pinch table salt
3 tablespoons irish cream (I used Bailey’s…and was a little more heavy handed with this than the recipe called for)
1 tablespoon milk (I ended up using about 1 teaspoon more to get a creamer consistency)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease 24-30 cupcake cups, or fill with paper liners.

In a saucepan, heat the butter, Guinness, cocoa and brown sugar, whisking often, until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

{guys, this batter tastes SO good. eff salmonella!}

Into the work bowl of a stand mixer (or into a large mixing bowl), sift together salt, flour, white sugar and baking soda. Add the cooled Guinness mixture and beat on medium for 1 minute. Add eggs and sour cream and beat on medium for 2 minutes or until smooth.

{pouring the batter}

Divide the batter evenly amongst the cupcake cups. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled.

{toothpick test}

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate ganache and frosting:

GANACHE: Heat heavy cream on low in a small saucepan.  Pour over chopped bittersweet chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted.  Add butter and whiskey.  Stir until combined.

FROSTING: In (cleaned) work bowl of stand mixer, cream butter until very light and fluffy. Add salt, and slowly add confectioners sugar. Do not run the mixer above low, or the sugar will spray all over your kitchen. Add a couple of spoonsful at a time until it has all been absorbed into the butter. Add Bailey’s and milk until spreadable consistency is achieved.

Once cupcakes have cooled, core your cupcakes (a cupcake corer is useful if you have one.  If not, find something in your kitchen with the diameter of about a nickel and press lightly into the tops of the cupcakes, creating an indentations about 1/4 inch off the bottom of the cupcake.

{guys, this batter tastes SO good. in yo face, salmonella!}

Using a pastry bag (or the cheaper version: a ziploc bag with the corner cut off), fill the cupcakes with the cooled chocolate ganache.

{feeling festive whilst piping whiskey ganache}

Frost cupcakes with Bailey’s frosting.

Pass these out at your local pub and toast to celebrating any tie to Irishness you may have (even if that means you adopt a terrible attempt at an Irish accent).

{mini cupcakes + mini liquor bottles}

 

{the beautiful, boozy insides of the cupcake}

24 Carrot Cake

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Ok.  It was more like 6 carrots total, but “6 carrot cake” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I made the trek back home for Easter weekend to fulfill my daughterly/sisterly duties to see my family.  And to see this face:

and use this phenomenal appliance:

Jealous doesn’t even begin to describe my affection towards my mom’s kitchen.  The counter space is at least 20 times more than mine (and that’s not a hyperbole.  I literally work with roughly 2 feet x 2 feet of counter space.)  And she has the one kitchen appliance I’ve been lusting after for years. It’s only obvious I had to make something and use this kitchen.  I had 2 factors in my decision: must use the Kitchenaid mixer, and (try) to make it Easter themed.  Bunnies eat carrots.  Frosting is ridiculously fun to make in a stand mixer.  Done and done.  Say hello to Alton Brown’s carrot cake recipe.

The ingredients lined up and ready for some mixing:

Another oh so neat appliance my mom has is this mighty little device called a SaladShooter.  I would have been shredding carrots by hand for hours if it wasn’t for this beauty.  I just chopped up the carrots and stuck them in the machine and literally within seconds, it shoots out perfectly shredded carrots:

Giving the batter a few final mixes:

Almost done:

While the cupcakes were baking away, I got to play with the mixer and make the frosting:

The walnut-free batch of cupcakes:

And the (better) batch with walnuts:

The dishful thinker’s tips:

  • The baking time is for a full cake.  Since I was making cupcakes, I attempted to adjust the cooking time accordingly, but unfortunately ended up with a little overbaked and slightly drier than I would have liked cupcakes.  I’m going to have to keep fudging with the time, but let’s just say if you make cupcakes out of this recipe, cook it for less than 35 minutes at 350°.
  • I’m not a fan of refrigerated cake or cupcakes, but you’ll want to put up with that if you want to avoid food poisoning.  Since the frosting is made with real cream cheese and there aren’t any preservatives in it, err on the side of food safety and keep ‘em cold.
  • Some people like walnuts and some people don’t.  Make it easy to distinguish which have nuts by topping them with a single piece of walnut.  Added bonus: it makes them look pretty:)
  • While I’m on the topic of walnuts…the recipe actually doesn’t include them.  But it’s really not that difficult to toss some in.  Add in whatever your heart desires.  Go “nuts”!
  • I really have no idea what I would do without the SaladShooter.  I wonder if they sell pre-shredded carrots.  They should, right?

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Ingredients

  • Unsalted butter, for the pan
  • 12 ounces, approximately 2 1/2 cups, all-purpose flour, plus extra for pan
  • 12 ounces grated carrots, medium grate, approximately 6 medium
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 10 ounces sugar, approximately 1 1/3 cups
  • 2 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup firmly packed
  • 3 large eggs
  • 6 ounces plain yogurt
  • 6 ounces vegetable oil
  • Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour a 9-inch round and 3-inch deep cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

Put the carrots into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process for 5 seconds. Add this mixture to the carrots and toss until they are well-coated with the flour.

In the bowl of the food processor combine the sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and yogurt.

With the processor still running drizzle in the vegetable oil. Pour this mixture into the carrot mixture and stir until just combined. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F and bake for another 20 minutes or until the cake reaches 205 to 210 degrees F in the center.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow cake to cool 15 minutes in the pan. After 15 minutes, turn the cake out onto a rack and allow cake to cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting after cake has cooled completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

9 ounces powdered sugar, sifted, approximately 2 cups

In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese and butter on medium just until blended. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. With the speed on low, add the powdered sugar in 4 batches and beat until smooth between each addition.

Place the frosting in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes before using.

Yield: approximately 2 cups