Tuesday, 18 January 2011
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Irish Cake Bombs
Title sound familiar? You know, sort of like Irish Car Bombs, but in cake form.I baked these for a good friend's 21st birthday because I figured what better way to celebrate a boozy birthday than with boozy cupcakes? It might sound like a lot of work, but after you read the recipe below, you'll realize it's really not that bad! Plus, in the end, it's worth the effort.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup stout beer
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
For the filling:
- 3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
- 6 tsp Irish whiskey
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, or to taste
- 6 tbsp Irish cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your cupcake pan(s).
2. Bring the beer and butter to a simmer and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.4. Beat eggs and sour cream together until evenly combined.
5. Gradually add the cocoa mixture to the eggs, constantly mixing so that you don't scramble the eggs.
Watch out for splashing!
6. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.
Reminder: Make sure to scrape your mixing bowl and paddle between each addition, especially the bottom where ingredients can settle!7. Fill cupcake cups (I filled them about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up) and bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate halfway through to ensure even baking. Allow to cool completely before filling or frosting.
8. Over a double boiler (or a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water) melt the chocolate chips, heavy cream and corn starch together. Once the mixture is smooth, remove from heat and stir in the whiskey until combined evenly. Set aside to cool so that the mixture can thicken before filling the cupcakes. Stir every few minutes.
9. Whip the shortening and butter together until light and fluffy. Then, gradually add sugar (vary to taste). Add the Irish cream, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. If you're not frosting the same day, cover and refrigerate.
10. After your cupcakes have cooled, use a tsp or melon baller to dig out a hole (I dug down to about 2/3 of the way down). Fill the cupcake up with the ganache filling. You can pipe it in (if you don't have a piping bag, you can use a plastic sandwich bag with a corner cut off) or just spoon the filling in.
11. Frost the cupcakes with either a spatula, a piping bag or a sandwich bag.12. Consume and enjoy!
Tip: These cupcakes can be made a couple days ahead as long as they're thoroughly wrapped or covered and refrigerated, even after they've been filled. I would recommend holding off on the frosting until the day you serve them though. Also, if you're serving your cupcakes more than 3 to 4 hours after frosting them, you might want to put them in the refrigerator until about an hour before you serve (there is a bit of a dairy in the frosting after all.) Better to be safe than sorry with food poisoning later.
What is your favorite cupcake? Have you tried a boozy cupcake?
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About the Author
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- From: wlcom2crazywrld@xanga
- About Me: I make baked goods, not baked bads. You can find me and my recipes here (@ireallylikefood), blogspot, and Facebook (just search for The Babysitter Bakes)!
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Comments (26)
I'd love to try this recipe, without the alcohol though! They look scrumptious!
Never had a boozy cupcake, but this recipe makes me sure to try one! What if you were to substitute other liquors and make other variations on boozy cupcakes? A chocolate-chambord one also sounds delicious.
@syedanoor@xanga - So a chocolate cupcake?
@TheExperimentalChef - Well, this isn't *just* chocolate cupcake with alcohol in it, is it?
If one takes out the whiskey, the beer and instead put in non-alcoholic irish cream, it would still be basically the same thing, without it being a plain chocolate cupcake . =)
@syedanoor@xanga - That sounds delicious! You should try and let us know how it goes :)
It's pretty ironic that I just became friends with ilovefood, haha: ) but hey-there's a first for everything. These look delicious btw maybe just without the alcohol, and I bet I'll find some great recipes on here to make for family and friends: )
Oh. My. Lord. WANT. (And I'm not even a big sweets person, but a stout-infused cupcake with WHISKEY-infused ganache just put me over the edge. And gave me the basis for my brainchild of a future wedding cake!!)
@syedanoor@xanga - Have you ever had stout or whiskey? They are just very complex beverages, and I can't think of a way to replicate the flavors without the actual products. Now, if you don't like the flavors in stout or whiskey, that would be fine. However, keep in mind the alcohol in the cupcake batter would bake off, and the small amount that is in the ganache and the frosting wouldn't do anything to a person in terms of intoxication. I'm just having a really difficult time thinking of any way to replicate those flavors if you're going to take out the stout & the whiskey.
@Emily - MM! I'm working on more recipes for boozy baked goods but I'll definitely have to give that a try too!
@ZepBlueEyedGirl@xanga - I haven't tried either whiskey or beer. I know, I know...but I generally don't use alcoholic ingredients, either (despite the burn-off factor). =)
@syedanoor@xanga - Hhmmm . . . well, I suppose this presents an excellent business opportunity - how to make "alcoholic" tasting flavorings/extracts without actually incorporating any alcohol at all into the recipe. :)
@ZepBlueEyedGirl@xanga - LOL!
Go for it! Let me know what you come up with, and I may be your first customer! ;)
interesting idea. i wish i could try these
I have yet to try a boozy cupcake, but with this recipe, I can not wait to try them! So glad you posted. When the snow clears up where I live... I am headed to the market to get the supplies! :) and also with just the Irish cream like @syedanoor@xanga has mentioned! Mmmm!
I just found my next cooking adventure!!
I don't like Irish car bombs, but I guess if it's cake it's ok!
These look sooooo delicious!
NOM! This is definitely a recipe I have to try out :)
those look so good, and those must be the best recipe-process photos i've ever seen on ireallylikefood. i personally don't consume alcohol, because i don't like the idea of being intoxicated & i strongly dislike the smells of the alcoholic drinks i've been around- but i love rum cake, would i like this? i don't think i'd ever make it for myself though, i'm so inexperienced with baking that i couldn't trust the bake-off factor to work for me (paranoid, i know).
but really the reason i commented was to say that those are such pretty photos XD i've tried to take pictures during baking/cooking but i never had the lighting required to make them look that nice :]
@syedanoor@xanga - the suggestion of non-alcoholic cream is much appreciated! not even just for this, i have a friend who bakes cupcakes all the time and her pictures of her irish cream frosting ones always look sooo good T__T;
@ZepBlueEyedGirl@xanga - that would make you so rich, you have no idea XD hahaha.
omg, these look amazing!!!
These look delicious! But they seem like a lot of work.
@syedanoor@xanga - yeah try it and let me know too!
Oh, wow...these look fantastic! And not too hard at all. I will definitely try this recipe.
@omigosh_music_is_my_life@xanga - First, thank you so much for your compliments on my pictures. Lately, I've been thinking about becoming a food stylist/photographer so your words really mean a lot to me.
Secondly, even if you're an inexperienced baker, most of the alcohol (if not all) in the cake and ganache will cook off. The oven and the heat from the melted chocolate does all the work, and afterwards, you're left with just the flavors themselves so you won't taste the alcohol and you definitely won't smell it. And although there's no cooking involved with the frosting, you don't taste any of the alcohol in the cream, just the flavoring of the cream itself. But, of course, if you still choose to not use traditional Irish cream, but you still want that flavor, you can make your own non-alcoholic Irish cream by combining:
-1/2 cup heavy cream-14 oz sweetened condensed milk-1/2 tbsp chocolate syrup-1/2 tsp instant coffee-1/4 tsp vanilla extract-1/8 tsp almond extract
Obviously, this will give you much more cream than you really need for the cupcakes, but you'll have leftovers to flavor other things with :)
@mybesttheory@xanga - It's really not that bad! You don't even have to do everything on the same day. When I made these for a party, I baked the cupcakes and filled them on Friday and frosted them a couple hours beforehand.
hii~~ :) I want to try this out as well :)
hmmm shout beer ?? it is like Guinness ?@AHS2JK@xanga - Yes, like Guinness :)