Alcoholic Cupcakes

Admit it, as soon as you read the title, you were intrigued.

Don't call the AA, people - I haven't gone over to the dark side or anything. David and I were having some people over to the house for some snacks and drinks, and I thought, 'why not cocktail cupcakes!?' because this is me we're talking about here, and I'll fit sugar in anywhere I can.

In truth, this was one rushed whack job. I was going at full speed, and finished, covered in icing, literally 2 minutes before everyone was supposed to start arriving. I picked up all the dirty dishes and piping bags and threw them in the spare bedroom, cuz that's how I roll.

I made one batch of plain butter cake (box mix! gasp!) cupcakes for the sake of time, and just adjusted the frosting. I went with Margarita Cupcakes, Bailey's Mint, and plain vanilla in case those were gross.

Just a moment about box mixes. For some reason, they have a bad rap. I freaking love box mixes. If you do them right, they are awesome. Whenever people compliment me when I've used one, and I get all awkward, wondering if I should correct them. If in a rush, I usually just spruce up a box mix with 1/3 cup of melted chocolate. Or, to go super-easy, you could use candy melts as well. Tastes almost just as good, and they're already tempered. The only thing that you lose out on box mixes is the texture. You can never get that super-fine, tender crumb you can with do-it-yourself cake flour, and at the very worst you can end up with cornbread-looking crumb, which is terrible. Really, it's all about the bake time. Use the printed times as a VERY loose guide. And don't open the oven until you have to. I kind of hit the door, which causes the batter to jiggle a bit if it's not finished baking. This way, I don't cause a drastic drop in temp checking on it. You should pull your baked goods out of the oven before the edges start to pull away from the pan.

So here are the final thoughts:

Margarita Cupcakes: Fun and actually decent tasting, your guests will enjoy the novelty. I was concerned, bc tequila is used in the frosting, and tequila is nasty tasting. Here it is well tempered with some fresh lime. When making the frosting, I ignored the directions, and just added the tequila and lime a little at a time until I thought it tasted right. To each their own.

Bailey's: So I basically saw the recipe, thought it was a good idea, and ignored all directions, making my own, faster (and nastier) recipe. Party fail. The original recipe is probably good. No time! So, not measuring anything, I just mixed random stuff together. Mix some cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, milk and some Baileys together to knock your socks off. It's great on strawberries. I then squeezed this filling into the cupcake via cool pastry tips I have. Nnuyh nnyuh.
The idea of this cupcake was a mint Baileys mix, with the Baileys filling and minty frosting. However, it was a complete failure, because for the life of me I could not get the frosting to taste like anything other than really sweet toothpaste. Which is gross. I was going to drizzle chocolate across the top to bring it all together, but ran out of time. The might have helped, but I dunno. Maybe next time it'll be regular frosting drizzled with melted Andes mints. That might be good. The recipe below might be good too - just lay off the peppermint extract in the frosting. Let me know.

Vanilla: Who doesn't love a good vanilla cupcake? Classic.

Bailey’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour



• 1/2 tsp baking powder



• 1/4 tsp baking soda



• 1/4 tsp salt



• 1/3 cup butter, softened



• 1 cup sugar



• 2 large eggs



• 1 tsp vanilla extract



• 1/2 cup Chocolate Mint Bailey’s Irish Cream(or regular Bailey’s + 1/2 tsp peppermint extract)



• 1/4 cup milk



• 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking tin of your choice - mini muffin pan or regular cupcake pan - with paper liners.In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Mix in half of the flour mixture, followed by the irish cream and milk, then mix in the remaining flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups (each will be roughly 2/3 or 3/4 full).Bake regular-sized cupcakes for 18-21 minutes.Bake mini cupcakes for 10-12 minutes.A tester inserted into the center will come out clean when the cupcakes are done. Tops should be domed and very lightly browned.Cool on a wire rack before frosting.

Mint Icing

• 4 tbsp butter, softened



• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar



• 2 tbsp milk or cream



• 1 tsp peppermint extract

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Spread a medium thin layer on top of each cooled cupcake.

Makes 48 mini cupcakes or 16 regular cupcakes.

Margarita Cupcakes

• 1/4 cup lime juice



• 1 1/2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)



• 1 cup milk (plain or vanilla)



• 1/4 cup vegetable oil



• 2 tsp tequila



• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract



• 1 cup sugar



• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour



• 1/4 tsp baking soda



• 1/2 tsp baking powder



• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with liners.In a large bowl, mix together lime juice, lime zest, soy milk, oil , tequila, vanilla and sugar.In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to lime mixture and stir until just combined. Divide evenly into muffin tins.Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Tequila and Lime Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter or nonhydrogenated shortening, softened



• 1 tbsp milk



• 3 tbsp lime juice



• 1 tbsp tequila



• 2+ cups confectioners’ sugar



• coarse sugar for “rims”

Cream together butter/shortening), milk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar. Add in more sugar as needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable.Spread on cupcakes and roll the edges in a small amount of coarse, colored sugar (poured into a small bowl, so it’s easy to direct it.