Top O' the Cupcake To Ya

Ok so this is VERY late but oh well. 

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, my husband signed me up to make cupcakes for his work.  Just kidding.  However he did pick his day to bring treats based on the fact that he wanted to take the Guinness/Bailey's cupcakes.  They are Guinness Chocolate Cake, filled with Bailey's Ganache, topped with Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting.

Here they are...

I made a stop to the cake shop and bought new food coloring to make a nice mint and leaf green two-tone frosting.  To be honest it kind of reminds me of an avocado :)  Which are also delicious.

Here is the cupcake corer in action.  It's pretty awesome.  You screw the corer in place until the flower part touches the top of the cupcake. 

Then you remove the "core" and it stays in the corer until you put it back on.  Pretty awesome again.

Then you fill the cupcake with your favorite filling.  In this case it was Bailey's Chocolate Ganache deliciousness.

Then you put the lid back on.

Then you frost them with your favorite frosting.  For the day of the Irish the frosting of choice was Bailey's Buttercream dyed green.

Then you cut it open and see all the moist yuminess inside. 

Then you celebrate!

Here's the link for the cupcake recipe:

http://www.irishcentral.com/food-and-drink/Guinness-and-Baileys-Irish-cupcakes-65781932.html

Husband Rating

Cake:  6 (dry b/c I forgot to cover them overnight)

Filling:  7 (it needed more Bailey's)

Frosting:  9

Overall:  8 Shamrocks

-Kristi

Who Knew Butterscotch Was So Popular?

So I've never had Butterscotch before but I found this recipe for "Butterbeer Cupcakes" and decided to try it. 

You may recognize Butterbeer from the ever popular Harry Potter Series.  Personally I have never read the books but I have seen all of the movies so that's close enough right?



http://inform.com/culture-and-lifestyle/food-harry-potter-butterbeer-2309828p



Adapted from http://amybites.com/?p=623

Butterbeer CupcakesMakes 24 normal size and 6 minis
.For the cupcakes:
.
4 cups flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
6 large eggs
3 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon butter flavoring
1 cup buttermilk
1cup cream soda
.For the ganache:.
2 11-oz. package butterscotch chips
2 cup heavy cream
.For the buttercream frosting:.
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup butterscotch ganache
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons butter flavoring
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 16-oz. packages powdered sugar
Splash of milk or cream (as needed)  I needed a lot to thin it out
.
For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners. Combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream your butter until light and fluffy. Add your sugars and beat until well-combined. Beat in your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then beat in your vanilla and butter flavoring.
.
Alternate adding your buttermilk, cream soda, and dry ingredients in batches until all are well incorporated.

The batter all mixed together

 Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full, then bake for 15 to 17 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back to the touch. Cool completely on wire racks.
.
For butterscotch filling: In a double boiler (heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove), combine butterscotch chips and heavy cream and stir until completely combined and smooth. Cool to room temperature. Fill a squeeze bottle with ganache and insert into the center of each cupcake, squeezing until filling begins to overflow.
.
For buttercream frosting: Cream butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until reaching desired consistency. Add milk or cream by the Tablespoon as needed (I used quite a bit of cream to thin it down to the correct consistency). Frost cupcakes and top with a drizzle of butterscotch ganache.

The cake was nice and dense, not too sweet and I got to use my cupcake corer!  Awesome! 

When the cake was COMPLETELY cool, I cored out the center of the cupcakes and filled them with Butterscotch Ganache (basically butterscotch chips and heavy cream that is allowed to thicken).  Then I put the cores back on and made the frosting.  Once I frosted the cupcakes, I drizzled them with the left over ganache (there was a ton) and added sprinkles. 

I've decided sprinkles give cupcakes a much needed C-R-U-N-C-H!

So basically they were all gone in about 2.5 seconds on Monday when I took them to work.  I fully expected people to say "Oh I don't really like butterscotch."  However the typical reaction was "BUTTERSCOTCH?! I L-O-V-E Butterscotch!"  Weird.

Anyways they are all gone and so far they are several people's favorite.  Up next is either Tiramisu or Mint Chocolate....Still deciding. 

I am accumulating a nice collection of odd ingredients like "butter flavoring".  Not sure what other applications this little bottle will have.  It kinda smells like the fake butter you pump on your popcorn at the movie theater.

Oh I almost forgot...

Hubby Rating

1-10 (new as requested by Hubby)

Cake:  7

Frosting:  9

Filling:  8

Overall:  8.8

-Kristi