IT’S ST PATRICKS DAY!!!!! (Almost)

And that means that it is (almost) MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Which also means that I need to find a holiday themed cupcake recipe! My original thoughts were centered around Mint Bailey’s and Chocolate, but… I just did a chocolate cupcake two weeks ago so I didn’t want to over do it with richness (the only complaint I received about the chocolate/peanut-butter cupcakes) too soon there after. So I set off to Googling! (I’m a pretty good Googler)

I ended up settling on a simple Bailey’s Irish Cream cupcake with no filling, with a Bailey’s Irish Butter Cream frosting. The recipe I liked was the one I found over at Cupcake Rehab which (though judging by the categories on their page it would probably hurt them to know) I ended up removing all the alcohol from.  When you work where I do for a living, in local government, around people with badges and tasers and guns and batons… bringing alcohol to work is not only bad for your employment status… but could be bad for your physical safety as well. 😉

Through the course of my googling I read somewhere that someone suggested using Bailey’s Irish Coffee Creamer instead of full Bailey’s Irish Cream for frosting to remove any raw alcohol from the recipe. So I thought, if you can do it for frosting, why not for the batter of the cake? After all, it’s cheaper and WAY easier to find at 0700 on a Wednesday morning which is when I start my weekly cup-caking. So off to the store I went (this is becoming a weekly tradition just as much as baking).

As per Cupcake Rehab’s page I acquired the following items:

2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temp.

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temp

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups Bailey’s Irish Coffee Creamer (I used the original flavor full fat kind)

2/3 cup water

2 tablespoons milk

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

I then followed (almost) all of their instructions:

After preheating the oven to 325 degrees I lined my cupcake pans with 24 liners (my biggest “Wednesday Cupcake” batch thus far) Then in my stand mixer I creamed together butter and sugar until fluffy. I added eggs and vanilla and beat them well. In a separate bowl, I whisked together the creamer, water and milk. In third bowl I also whisked to combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then I added the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the cream mixture. Beat it on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes. I then filled cupcake liners a bit more than 3/4 full and baked for almost 30 minutes and a toothpick came out clean.

I then used the same Butter Cream Frosting recipe that I used for the Chocolate Cupcakes a couple of weeks ago from Cake On The Brain

5 large egg whites

1 cup plus 2 T sugar

pinch of salt

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
3. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth.
4. Using Wilton’s gel food dye and a tooth pick I then added some green to the butter cream to tint it (something I’m usually against, but for the holiday I felt it necessary)

I then drizzled in Bailey’s Irish Creamer VERY slowly, I don’t know how much ended up going in, but I would guess it was the better part of 1/4 Cu. More-or-less, I drizzled and tasted and drizzled and tasted and drizzled and prayed the butter cream didn’t break.

Here are my suggestions:

I would bump the Irish Creamer up to 1 2/3 cup and bump the water down to 1/3 cup, or bump the Creamer up to 2 Cups and eliminate the water entirely.  This might make this already dense cupcake a little denser, but it would also enhance the Bailey’s flavor which, admittedly, baked out some.  I would also split the flour half and half for cake flour.  Finally I would increase the baking temp to 350 because I had some issues with the timing and the evenness of baking.  Disclaimer: I did NONE of the things I just suggested, they are just my thoughts.

This is what I came up with:

The top was a little crispy, the cake was a little more dense than I’m used to, the icing was AMAZINGLY light and delicious, and the decorations simple, but considering I made 24 and there were only 2 left…. I’m calling this one a WIN.

At the end of the day: I bake, People eat, Everyone’s happy!

~ by aqua0317 on 14 March, 2012.