Beer and Cupcakes?

One of my closest friends had a birthday recently. Being the beer lover that she is, I thought it was only appropriate to bake her some cupcakes with her favorite beverage. BEER! So, off to the liquor store I went to get my beer. My plan was to make some cupcakes with Guinness Stout and then whip up a frosting with Bailey's Irish Creme in it. So when I got to the checkout counter with my liter bottle of Guinness and asked for a Bailey's nip, the guy looked at me with a pitiful face. "Having an Irish night in, tonight," he asked, showing off his multiple Irish-themed tattoos at the same time. I wanted to make it very clear that I wasn't going to be drinking by myself at home, so I told him I was making cupcakes for a friend. Not sure if he believed me.... haha! Anyway, here's my recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Frosting. 

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 ½ cups of Guinness Stout

½ cup of Unsalted Butter (4 oz. or 1 stick)
¾ cup of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 cups of All Purpose Flour
2 cups of Granulated Sugar1½ teaspoons of Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt

2 Large Eggs
⅔ cup of Sour Cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.

2. Put the butter and beer in a pot and bring to a simmer. 

3. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth and let it cool slightly.

4. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. 

5. In a mixer bowl, beat the eggs and the sour cream together. Then, add the beer/butter/cocoa mixture and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. You don't want to over mix. 

6. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way and bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely to room temperature.

Bailey's Irish Creme Frosting

2 cups of Confectioner's Sugar

1 cup of Unsalted Butter (8 oz. or 2 sticks)
3 tablespoons of Bailey's

Preparing the frosting: In a large bowl, beat the butter for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar until incorporated. Slowly drizzle in the Irish Cream and beat until combined. 

sorry the pictures are so yellow..... darn artificial lighting!

Sprinkles NYC*

YES, it's true! Sprinkles, the first cupcakery ever, has arrived in NYC. OK, so it's been a couple of months since they opened, but I finally got around to it a couple of weeks ago. As expected, the place was busy busy. My Californian friends have been telling me, "you have to try Sprinkles" and "Sprinkles is the best" for years now, so I was extremely excited to see what the big deal was about these specific cupcakes. With over 20 different cupcake flavors, it was really hard for me to choose just a couple to sample. Believe me, if I could, I would have bought all of them right then and there, but these babies are expensive! At $3.50 a pop, it was quite a purchase just getting 4 of them.

- my first Sprinkles experience -

Yes... I got 4. 4!!! All for myself... The first one I decided to dive into was the red velvet. o...m...g... The cake was so moist and the frosting was so cream cheesy. The cake was also such a beautiful deep red color. The next one I tried was the carrot. There were strips of carrot all throughout the cake and it was topped with cream cheese frosting with vanilla bean in it. I also tried the cherry. The cake part was white, which confused me a little. So I thought all the cherry flavor would be in the frosting alone, but I was so wrong. That was totally a cherry cake topped with perfectly pink frosting. At this point, I was waaaay too sugar high to try another, so I passed on the black and white. All of the cakes were incredibly moist and the frosting was deliciously sweet (although borderline too sweet). These cupcakes are totally not for those who want to watch their weight. You could taste the yummy buttery-ness in the cakes. One would have been more than enough, but as you can see I had at least 2.5. My calorie counter was not pleased with me that day, with each cupcake weighing in at over 400 calories. Were they worth the 1,000 calories and $14? Thumbs UP! Will I be visiting here often? Not every day...  :)

from top left, clockwise: cherry, black and white, carrot, red velvet

Baking Catch-Up!

I know, I know, I suck.... It's been way too long, and I'm sorry! I have a couple of things I want to update. The pictures are a little bit blurry, so I apologize.

Per request, I baked red velvet cupcakes for my dear friend, Haej's, birthday. Since the cupcake wrapper was so pretty and bright red in itself, I decided to keep the frosting and decorations simple.

- red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting -

I also had tons and tons of oats and raisins around the house, ergo, I made a huge batch of raisin pecan oatmeal cookies. This is Ina Garten's recipe for her favorite oatmeal raisin cookies. Anyone want some? 'cause I have a ton....

                    

    

- raisin pecan oatmeal cookies -

This is what I've been up the past couple of weeks. More to come on my adventure to a special bakery in NYC.

coming soon*

alrighty, friends...

I haven't forgotten my resolution!!! I've been baking at least once a week! I blame it on my lack of a good camera to take the pictures of my edible creations! Once I get the pictures uploaded, I promise I will have a new entry up!