Hello! I am Becky from Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves. I am so excited to be a Guest Blogger for Betsy while she is on maternity leave. I want to thank Betsy for the the opportunity to be a guest Blogger on Java Cupcake. I met Betsy, when I joined #Love bloghop, a fun group. Betsy has amazing cupcake creations, as well as many other baked goods, and she was still baking at 9 mos. pregnant.

When I found out that I would be a guest blogger, I started to think of all the recipes, that I could make for St. Pat’s Day, that were baked goods. Now, there are lots of recipes that have mint flavoring or green food coloring, but immediately my mind went to something with Bailey’s Irish Cream, which isn’t green, but it’s sure Irish. With a last name of Higgins, the recipe couldn’t be anything less. Bailey’s Irish Cream is my favorite liqueur, especially with coffee. We even named our dog, Bailey, because she is the color of Irish cream, true story.

This recipe has a rich, fudgy brownie topped with a layer of Irish Cream Butter Cream and topped with a Chocolate Irish Cream Ganache. These brownies taste heavenly! You are going to think that you have a pot’ gold and will have the “Luck of the Irish, when you take your first bite. My husband doesn’t even know that I made these babies, or he would want to eat them all. I hid them in the freezer, Sshh, Dont’ tell him.

I used my go to brownie recipe baked in an 8×8 pan. Then I made Vanilla Butter Cream, substituting Bailey’s Irish Cream for the milk in the Butter Cream for the Irish Cream Layer. Finally, the ganache recipe used the heated Bailey’s to melt the chocolate, and then was carefully spread over the Irish cream layer. Pure delight! Chocolate and Irish Cream in three layers.

This was not a not a sponsored post and the opinions expressed here are mine.

Usually when I bookmark a recipe, it stays there for a few days until I muster up the energy to make them.  But… not these brownies.  Two bowls, no mixer and only 18 minutes in the oven.  Seriously, it only took 45 minutes before I was putting one in my mouth.

The original recipe called for mini M&M’s on top… but I didn’t have any.  So I used rainbow sprinkle jimmies.  I also tweaked the ganache recipe a bit too.

So uhm yeah… make these.

I can’t resist.  I bought 10 boxes.  Yes.  You read that correctly.  10 boxes.

2 to eat (with in the first 24  hours).

8 to bake with.

Yeah… you read that correctly.  8 boxes to bake with.

Last year I made Samoa Cupcakes and Tagalong Brownies.  This year… I started with Thin Mint Cupcakes.  These cupcakes are a super decadent chocolate cake filled with a whipped chocolate ganache topped with a mint buttercream.  Serious amounts of NOM NOM NOM.

PS…. This is my new favorite chocolate cake recipe.  I know it’s got beer in it… but I’m totally using it for every chocolate cake I make from now on!!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 bottle of Guinness Stout Beer
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Line cupcake pans with liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter on medium-high heat.  Add the vanilla beer, whisk together and heat until it just begins to simmer.  Whisk in the cocoa powder and espresso powder and heat until it just begins to bubble up.  DO NOT BOIL.  Remove from heat and whisk until smooth.   Cool slightly.
4. In the meantime, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sour cream.  Slowly pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture. NOTE:  DO THIS SLOW! You don’t want to cook the eggs, so start pouring a very small amount of the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture… DO NOT DUMP IT IN ALL AT ONCE.
5. In three parts, add the flour mixture to the chocolate/egg mixture.  Whisk until smooth.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, making sure everything is incorporated.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.
7. Bake 18-20 minutes, rotating pan after 12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan for 3-4 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

4 oz dark chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium glass bowl.
2. In a small sauce pan, heat the heavy cream and corn syrup just until it bubbles.
3. Pour heavy cream over chocolate and stir until smooth.  If the chocolate doesn’t melt all the way, place the bowl over a double boiler and continue to stir until smooth.
4. Mix in the butter and extract.
5. Allow ganache to cool to room temperature.
6. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the cooled ganache until fluffy.  Don’t over mix or it will get grainy.

Vanilla Bean Peppermint Buttercream

12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
4 tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 cup Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cream
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
pinch of salt
Wilton Green Food Gel

1.  Cream together the butter and cream cheese.
2. Add half the powdered sugar and mix on high until incorporated and smooth.
3. Beat in half the vanilla bean cream until smooth.  Scrape the sides of the bowl, making sure all the sugar is combined.
4. Add the remaining sugar and the peppermint extract.
5. Mix in the food gel until it’s the color you desire.
6. Add remaining vanilla bean cream until you get the consistency you want.  Mix on high 3-4 minutes until smooth and fluffy.

To Assemble Cupcakes:

Thin Mint Cookies
Peppermint Buttercream
Chocolate Shavings
Piping bag & large round tip
Apple corer

1. Core each cupcake using the apple corer.
2. Fill each cupcake with whipped ganache.  (I filled a disposable piping bag, cut off the top and filled each one with that.)
3. Using a large round tip and a piping  bag, pipe a round swirl of buttercream on to each cupcake.
4. Top with a Thin Mint cookie and chocolate shavings.
5. EAT! ENJOY!

And this is what you do when you have left over peppermint buttercream.  NOM NOM NOM

Since these are mini’s I won’t be drenching them in the Amaretto like I did the regular size cupcakes, but you definitely should poke some holes in your cupcakes and drench them with more of this delicious liquor if you decide to make regular size cupcakes with this recipe. I’m pretty sure that’d be just a little too much Amaretto for such a small cupcake, since there is Amaretto in the cake, ganache and the buttercream!

I’m bringing these to an FRG meeting tomorrow. (For those of you who don’t know… FRG = Family Readiness Group in the Army. I’m the FRG Leader of my husband’s company in the Army and it’s my first meeting after taking the job. I want to make a good impression!) I’m pretty sure these will be a hit with not only the other FRG Leaders but the soldiers who will be there!

Chocolate Amaretto Cupcakes
Makes 24 mini cupcakes and about 6 regular size cupcakes

1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup amaretto liqueur
1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees and line your cupcake pan with mini nut cups or mini cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, oil, sugar egg, and amaretto.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. In two parts, gently whisk the flour into the wet mixture.  Mix until all the clumps are out.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
5. For minis: Scoop batter into liners about 1/2-2/3 full.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. For regular size: Scoop batter into liners about 2/3 full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes until removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Amaretto Ganache
This made enough to dip all the cupcakes with 1/2 left over

4 oz semi-sweet bakers chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup whipping cream (I actually ran out of whipping cream, so I used 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup coconut milk)
3 tbsp Amaretto liquor, separated
1 tbsp butter

1.  Chop the chocolate and place it in a glass bowl.
2. In a double boiler, bring the cream and 2 tbsp Amaretto to a boil.
3. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds.
4. Stir until smooth.
5. Add the butter and 1 tbsp Amaretto and stir until incorporated.
6. Dip the tops of cooled cupcakes in the ganache.  Set aside before to firm up frosting.

Chocolate Amaretto Buttercream
Makes enough to frost all the cupcakes in the above recipe

1/2 cup (1 stick)unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp amaretto liqueur
2-3 tbsp whipping cream

Amaretti biscuit cookies

1. Sift together the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder.
2. Cream the butter until smooth.
3. 1 cup at a time, add the sugar/cocoa.   Mix until smooth.
4. Add the amaretto and mix until incorporated.
5. Add the whipping cream until you get the consistency and texture you desire.
6. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 30 seconds on high.
7. Pipe a dollop of buttercream onto each cupcake.  Top with an Amaretti biscuit cookie.

I used Sutton Gourmet Paper liners in black and white and used a light pink cream and white pearls, and red, pink, white nonparrells.  If you haven’t tried Sutton Gourmet Paper liners for your chocolate cupcakes yet, you MUST!  They hold their color, shape, texture with a dark cake unlike any grocery store liner ever will!!  Don’t these look amazing?

The cupcakes are a chocolate cake, filled with cream topped with a dark chocolate ganache.  I used a slightly different cake recipe than before, but both are great recipes.

After the Love cupcakes were ready for the order, I wanted to mix things up a bit and decorate the rest a little different for Emily’s class.  So, I printed some toppers, cut them and pasted onto sticks and made some buttercream (a new recipe – I’ll post it at the bottom of this post!).

I love the idea of black and white with red/pink and I really love how these turned out!  They’ve got a shiney layer of ganache topped with buttercream.  Oh YUM!

Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
2 lbs sifted (1 bag) powered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Scant 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
dash of salt

1. Cream together butter and shortening.
2. A cup or so at a time, mix in the sifted sugar.  Scrape down the sides after each addition.  After the first addition, add the vanilla.  Add the cream after each next addition.  IMPORTANT:  You may not need all the cream, so add it SLOWLY.
3. Add the salt then beat on high for 3-4 minutes.

JavaCupcake’s Super Moist Chocolate Cake
½ cup canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla

1 cup heavy cream

1  ¾ cup all purpose flour
¾ cup Hershey’s Dark Chocolate cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

1cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease and flour 2 8-in round cake pans.
2. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, mix oil and sugars.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each.  Beat on high for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
5. In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together.
6. Sift them again.  Make sure all the flour and cocoa are thoroughly combined and all clumps are gone and the mixture is very fine.
7. With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in three parts, adding half the milk between each addition.  Make sure to begin and end with the flour and to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Do not overmix.  Tip:  After flour has been mostly incorporated with the mixer, use a large spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl & mix.  You don’t want to work the flour too much, so hand mixing will help with that.
8. Add the boiling water and mix until just blended.  DO NOT BE ALARMED, mixture will be thin.
9. Pour half of each mixture into the each pan.
10. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes.  After 25 mins, reduce head to 325 degrees F, rotate pans 180 degrees and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.  Cake will be done when a toothpic comes out clean from the center of the cake.
11. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

JavaCupcake’s Peanut Butter Frosting
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3/4 – 1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (miniatures)

1. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the  butter and peanut butter.
2. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
3. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar.  Between each addition, add the whipping cream.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and make sure to thoroughly mix after each addition.
4. Add the salt and mix until incorporated.
5. Add any additional milk, if necessary, to thin the frosting.
6. Mix on high for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
2 3.5oz bars of dark chocolate (60% cacao)
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Make the ganache only when you’re ready to pour it over the cake.
2. In a medium bowl, break up the chocolate into small chunks.
3. In a small sauce pan, heat the cream until it just starts to boil.
4. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl.
5. Mix the chocolate and cream together with a spatula until all the chocolate has melted.  Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all chocolate pieces melt into the ganache.

To Assemble the Cake:

1. Place one cake, round side down (flat bottom up) on a cake plate.  Frost the top (flat side) with about 1/4-1/2 inch of frosting.
2. Unwrap 8-10 Reece’s peanut butter cups and chop into small chunks.  Spread the chunks over the layer of frosting and press them down into the frosting.
3. Put the second cake, flat side down (round side up) on top of the frosting.  Now’s a good time to trim any extra cake off the sides if it’s a little uneven.
4. Crumb coat* the sides and top of the cake with the frosting and then put it in the freezer to set for at least 10-15 minutes.
5. After the crumb coat has set, use the remaining frosting to add a 1/2 inch layer on all sides and top of the cake.
6. Put it back in the freezer for 10 minutes to set.
7. Make the ganache while it’s in the freezer.
8. Take the cake out of the freezer,  pour the ganache on the top of the cake, in the center.
9. Immediately top cake with chopped Reese’s.
10. Let ganache firm before serving.

*Crumb coating is a very thin layer of icing that will “glue” any crumbs down. Adding this layer, then letting it harden in the freezer, will allow you to put on a thicker layer of frosting over it without any crumbs.

I used my Moist Chocolate cupcake recipe for the base… mmm it’s soooo good.

The creme filling was so smooth and yummmmmy!

Here’s a finished dozen, ready for delivery!

Click on recipe to enlarge and save to your computer!

]]> http://javacupcake.com/2010/02/love-cupcakes/feed/ 8 http://javacupcake.com/2010/01/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes-revisited/ http://javacupcake.com/2010/01/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes-revisited/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:54:14 +0000 JavaCupcake http://javacupcake.com/?p=649 I had an order for my Irish Car Bomb cupcakes so I decided to try something new with them. As you might remember, in my original recipe, I filled the cupcakes with the ganache, leaving the top open to expose the ganache.   This time I dipped the top of the cupcake in the ganache, creating a shiney, chocolatey cap for the cupcake.   I chose a higher quality chocolate for the ganache using a 70% cocoa Lindt chocolate.  Also modified was the buttercream recipe, adding more sugar & Bailey’s.  I like how these turned out & think they are a much better quality cupcake.

Click on the image below with the recipe to view and enlarge! Enjoy