Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 4: Irish Cream

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 4: Irish Cream 


Inspiration picture via Pinterest  via Redheadrecipes.com  Recipe Adapted from http://redheadrecipes.com/

These cupcakes include a chocolate Guinness cupcake, with a irish whiskey chocolate ganache filling topped with a swirl of Bailey's Irish Cream Butter Cream. -- How can you go wrong?! 


Irish Cream Cupcakes 
(Makes about 12 cupcakes) 


Cupcake: 

• 1/2 cup regular Guinness
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 1 cup all purpose flour 
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 whole large egg
• 1/3 cup Fat Free Chobani or other Greek Yogurt

Chocolate Whiskey Ganache Filling 

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips 
• 1/3 cup light cream 
• 1 TB unsalted butter, softened 
• 2 tsp Irish Whiskey (If you do not have this around feel free to skip it- but it does make a lovely addition!) 

Bailey's Buttercream Frosting 

• about 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened 
• 4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream 

Start the cupcakes: 

1. Preheat oven to 350* F 
2. Prepare your muffin pan and cupcake liners (about 12) 
3. in a small to medium sauce pan heat the guinness and butter over medium heat, until butter is melted, stirring occasionally. Add in unsweetened cocoa and stir. Remove from heat and set aside. 
4. In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
5. In a medium bowl combine eggs and greek yogurt. 
6. Mix Chocolate and Guinness mixture into your egg and greek yogurt mixture. 
7. Next mix your Guinness/ Egg/ Yogurt mixture into your flour mixture until combined. 
8. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely. 
9. Once cupcakes are cooled completely, remove the centers using a cupcake corer/ apple corer or a knife. (I took the easy route and used a cupcake corer). ** Some people recommend freezing your cored cupcake before filling it. I am always to impatient, so I have yet to try this. 

In the mean while the cupcakes are baking you can work on the ganache. 

1. In a sauce pan, simmer the light cream over medium- low heat. 
2. Stir in the chocolate chips until smooth. 
3. Add butter and whiskey and mix. 
4. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 
5. Once complete cool, fill the holes you made in the cupcakes with the ganache. 

Finally make your Bailey's Frosting (You may be able to do this while your cupcakes and ganache are cooling) 

1. In a large bowl whip softened butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add in Bailey's and continue whipping until well combined. 
2. Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled, and filled cupcakes. 
3. Top with some cocoa powder if desired. 

Voila! 

Conclusion: 

• I made these guys at the same time as I made the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes - so most people just kept saying they liked the Reese's cupcakes more.  I personally liked these ones better.  
• The cake crumb was a little drier than the Reese's (But I guess my homemade cake can't compare to Duncan Hynes extra Moist!) 
• The frosting was a little on the sweet side-- I personally like frosting really sweet, but maybe a bit more butter/ less sugar could have decreased the sweetness and improved the piping ability. 

Photography by Jordan Garry unless otherwise states. 

Tis the Season to be Gourdy :)

Last FridayLast Friday I went to a splendid gourd and wine dinner at the Aspesi Abode.

Our Dinner was complete with a spaghetti squash, acorn squash and green beans.

Spaghetti squash is pretty amazing. It was simply baked in the oven for maybe an hour, and then topped with tomato sauce and cheese. The squash just peels out in strands like spaghetti! It just kept coming out, like an endless spaghetti maker.


The acorn squash was our "dessert" gourd prepared with butter and brown sugar.



There was also "Wine and Beer!" (just like rent.)

We tried the Harpoon Ginger Wheat Beer... It was VERY gingery, a little too gingery for my liking, but decent.


Throughout the dinner we also got to enjoy the lovely gingerbread house that L. had made.


It was a very enjoyable and seasonal meal :)

Girls Night

A couple of weeks ago, on one of the first unpleasant snowfalls, the girls and I had a nice little girls night in. Jessica, Erika, and I met at Megan's house where she cooked us a lovely dinner of homemade pizza.

She makes delicious pizza dough, I've had a pizza by her where she mixed some rosemary and Italian spices into the dough. It was devine.

This pizza was made with white dough (she attempted whole wheat but the flour was bad), it was topped with tomatoes and some greenery (not gonna lie... it was a couple weeks ago I may not remember it.)

Since Megan informed me that she was making Pizza I realized it was the perfect time to try out the Pizza Wine J. got me!

"An Affair between wine and pizza!" (sold in Boston only at Tropical Foods!)

I actually really enjoyed the pizza wine. It was not what I had expected, it had a slight carbonation to it, it was almost in between wine and a wine spritzer. Nice and light and fruity! Great for a girls night.

Erika, Megan's friend from home, also brought some Berkshire Beer

It is a very flavorful beer-- I honestly do not know enough about beer to describe it as hoppy or wheatie whatever but I like it.

They also make one of my favorite beers: Berkshire's Coffeehouse Porter. Described by Berkshire as "this dark ale combines the taste of real organic coffee with out popular Drayman's Porter." Apparently they have also created a coffee flavored beer on tap, but I have not tried that yet that I know of.

The evening was pretty spectacular. It was very good to catch up with the girlies, and enjoy good food and drinks. Jessica also took the liberty to snap a couple of photos such as of Meg and me,


ain't we lookers?

Girls Night again soon, ok??