Luck of the Irish

Kiss Me I'm Irish Cakes

I've often wondered what life was like for my Great-Great-Grandfather Porter in Ireland before immigrating to the United States.  Recent marketing ploys have me wanting to find out more and search Ancestry.com but what I'd really like to do is walk the countryside and see the very sites where my family once lived, farmed, and gathered with friends.  Knowing some of what I do about my heritage, I'm not exactly sure that my GG Grandfather would have kicked back at the local pub after a hard day in the field and shared a pint with the likes of Darby O'Gill and Sean Garrigan.  But...maybe a bit of me likes to imagine that he would...after all, that's what this week is about, right?  Celebrating Irish heritage, the legend of St. Patrick who brought Christianity to the Emerald Isle, and dreaming catching little men in the hopes of getting wishes granted.

In honor of my own Irish heritage, I decided to combine my new found love of baking with a touch of the homeland.  The result...something I'm calling Kiss Me I'm Irish Cakes (but feel free to call them anything you want)!  There are many variations of this recipe online.  I took bits and pieces of a few and fit them to meet my needs (and what I had readily available).  Warning:  Due to the fact that this is related to an Irish heritage...yes, liquor is involved!  Straight up Irish whiskey and stout in these cupcakes if you please!  

KISS ME I'M IRISH CAKES

(Adapted from several recipes)

Cupcakes

1 cup Guinness
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 tea. salt in large bowl to blend.
4. In another bowl, beat eggs and sour cream together with an electric mixer.
5. Add the stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine.
6. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using a rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.
7. Fill the lined cupcake pans 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake 17 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack.


Frosting
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Bailey’s

1. Cream the butter with an electric mixer.
2. Gradually add the powdered sugar
3. Add the desired amount of Bailey’s (or milk, if you don’t like Baileys) to the frosting to make it a little creamier.
4. Ice the cupcakes and decorate.

Starbucks Via Infused Minis

Starbucks Via Infused Cupcakes

Ever have one of those days when the only remedy is the drive thru at Starbucks?  Or maybe the venti latte (double shot) and some dark chocolate?  Yes, my coworkers and I have those days often.  In fact, we love our coffee so much, we decided to be part time baristas last Halloween!  (We were pretty cute I'll admit.)

What could be more natural than combining both of these life changing antidotes into a cupcake?  To celebrate the birthday of one of my coworkers, I decided to liven up a normal chocolate cupcake by adding a pack (or three) of Starbucks Via.   The cake itself was the old standby Duncan Hines Devil's Food (already had in the pantry).  Literally, the only change was adding the Via to the batter while mixing.

To top it off, some homemade dark chocolate buttercream.  I used the time tested Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting....the same recipe my mom has used for years.  Yes, it's the one on the Hershey's Cocoa box!  Careful with this frosting, though...it's persnickety!  I add the vanilla last and keep the milk handy as it will have almost a cement consistency rather than a nice, fluffy frosting.  I add more milk by the teaspoon until it looks nice and spreadable.  Most important - always use real butter!  Margarine's fine for toast, but it has to be real butter for frosting!  (Yes, I've learned the hard way!)

I found baking these in mini form was most effective as there was a lot of punch...rich, dark caffeinated chocolatey goodness!

From the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box:
"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 3 cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Bonjour, Petit Gateaux!

This is a bit of a back posting, but perhaps worth sharing....especially since I wasn't blogging in December!


My daughter's 9th birthday had a French twist!  After falling in love with the book Tales of Desperaux, she'd decided long before December that she wanted a French theme for her party.  Ok....how to do that?  We combined the ideas of the season, her favorite sport (ice skating) and this location to come up with "Winter in Paris".  Decorations - easy...winter stuff!  Thanks to my crafty niece, Daphne, for whipping up some cute Parisian touches.  (Check out her Etsy shop!)

Every kid's party seems to require an activity, craft, or some crazy arcade venture.  Our activity?  The kids became painters in their own French gallery.  A make-it, take-it project!   Viola...instant party favors - a finished painted 8 x 10 canvas!  Actually, supplies for this activity were cheaper than stuff I might have bought for a favor bag!  Thanks to a handy Granny, each young painter also received a pretty nifty beret!

Bon appetit!

But wait...there's more.  As part of the make-it, eat-it activity (after all...it is France), we opted for a create-your-own crepe bar!  The kids were able to make their own choices as to crepe toppings or fillings - fruit, chocolate chips, Nutella (of course), whipped cream.

For snacks, semi-traditional birthday fare.  The French twist here was adding labels with the French translation for the snack.  After all, wouldn't you rather have a petit gateaux than a cupcake?  Speaking of sweets, the cupcakes were lemon with buttercream frosting.  Also, I had made some pretty yummy strawberry cookies with cream cheese frosting...these were super easy and made from a cake mix!

All in all, a fun afternoon trip to the City of Lights.  A super fun way to celebrate a birthday and adding a little cultural flair at the same time!

Easy Strawberry Snowball Cookies

Strawberry Snowball Cookies
(adapted from an Allrecipes.com post)

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 package strawberry cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions
1. Mix together cake batter ingredients in large bowl or KitchenAid
2. Roll into 1" balls and set on ungreased or parchment covered cookie sheet
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-10 (Watch carefully during this stage.  I always wait for a crinkly-looking crust to appear.)
4.  Frost with homemade or store bought cream cheese icing.  Decorate as desired.

Conversation Heart Cupcakes

This was my first time out of the gate trying one of the creations from What's New, Cupcake by Tack & Richardson. Remember how that book psyched me out? Anyhow, I went for it. Thankfully, I found some great tips by researching a few (very few) blurbs from others who'd tried this particular creation. My result? Not quite ready for Cupcake Wars, but quite a hit with the elementary crowd!

Sweet Talk Cupcakes
Inspired by What's New, Cupcake
18 vanilla cupcakes baked in white liners (I used different colors)
3 frozen pound cakes (10.75 oz), thawed (fyi....try to use a coupon!)
3 cans vanilla frosting (store bought is best for this!)
Red, pink, purple, green, yellow food coloring (I used gel coloring...a little goes a long way!)
3" heart shaped cookie cutter
Freezer weight Ziploc bag, quart size (for piping later)

1. Cut the pound cakes in half horizontally and lay the halves flat. Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out 3 hearts from each half.

2. Spread the top of the cupcakes with some vanilla frosting. Place a pound cake heart on top of each cupcake, pressing down to secure. Place the cupcakes in the freezer for 15 minutes or until slightly frozen.

3. Tint 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting red with food coloring. Spoon the red frosting into a ziploc bag or piping bag. Divide the remaining frosting among five small microwaveable bowls. Tint each bowl a different pastel color of pink, green, yellow, orange, and purple. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

4. Working with one color of frosting at a time, microwave the frosting, stopping to stir frequently, until it has the texture of lightly whipped cream (about 20 seconds for my microwave). Remove 1 cupcake at a time from the freezer. Holding the cupcake by its paper bottom, dip it into the frosting just to cover the pound cake heart. Allow the excess frosting to drip off back into the bowl. Turn right side up and let stand. Repeat with each color and the remaining cupcakes. If the frosting becomes too thick, reheat for several seconds, stirring well.

5. Snip a very small (1/16-inch) corner from the bag with the red frosting. Pipe sayings on the top of the hearts.

Alyssa's Notes:
- Some folks had warned that the hearts would fall off following ONLY the above method, so I used a generous amount of frosting to anchor the heart onto the cupcake (I mean generous). Make the dipping frosting as thin as possible in the microwave (I found 18 seconds a good length, but it will depend on your microwave).

- I also didn't try to coat the entire heart with frosting. It's about the overall effect. It's ok if it drips a bit down the side....adds to that homemade, yummy effect I think instead of the factory conformity. But maybe that's just me. :)

Petit Four Cupcakes

Using the my favorite new technique of "dipping cupcakes", I quickly made up something I'm now calling Petit Four Cupcakes for my daughter's class. (Since I had higher ambitions for my own class, I tried to employ the KISS method and satisfy my motherly duties as well.)

The result was pretty cute....bite size and not too overwhelming with all the other sugar on the treat table at the party!

Creating these little bad boys was insanely simple. Make cupcakes as usual. I used my mini muffin (Pampered Chef). When they're cool, follow the dipping technique described here. Remember, it's ok if they drip a little on the sides. I kind of like it. Adds to the whole homemade chic of it all!

Cool Trick - Dipped Cupcakes

One of the coolest tricks I've learned (both by reading & by doing) is soooo easy!  Yes, infomercial easy!  I found that many of the cupcakes that Tack & Richardson create require a dipping technique.  Ok, that was (admit-tingly) one of the many daunting things that caused me to look at the pretty pictures, then set the books back on my shelf. But, once I really stumbled upon the previously mentioned blog (With Sprinkles on Top) and found a couple of YouTube videos, I realized it really was crazy easy.

Here's the technique - seriously, it's easy.  Take store-bought icing.  That's right.  Get it on sale.  Use double coupons.  If you need color, divide it out into some microwave safe bowls.  I use gel coloring - it's more concentrated and has great consistency.  A little goes a long way!  For the cupcakes in this picture, I evenly divided one container into 2 Corning Ware bowls (cereal size - microwave safe).   Put one bowl in the microwave (make sure you've mixed the colors well). I microwaved for 12 seconds.  Tack & Richardson suggest 8, but I think that's too short.  Stir well, then immediately dip a cupcake.  Let it drip dry (sort of) and set it back on the tray, wax paper or wherever.   Repeat. Then, do the same with the next bowl of color!

Ta-da!  Cool trick....plus, looks like fondant!  Who knew?
I see lots of uses for this nifty trick.  Apparently it's how petit fours are made, so I tried it with mini cupcakes and they were really cute!

So, how many people have a copy of What's New, Cupcake? by Tack & Richardson? Ok, so how many of you have had a copy for months and months and have been afraid to try the concoctions inside? Ok, hands down.

Well, I have both books (and, yes, there's now a super-colossal book that combines the best of both books but I'm not buying that one just yet). I hadn't made one single cupcake....until now.

I was intimidated - let me tell ya! But, thanks to some careful techie snooping and two new favorite blogs, With Sprinkles on Top and Bakerella, I decided to overcome my fear and jump head first.

While working on this project (yes, I call it a project - no, really), I decided....hmmm.....you know, there might other folks who are addicted to Food Network, TLC and pretty cupcake books, too, but just look at their mixers and sigh, but deep down want to have some baking misadventures, too.

Hence....my blog. Game on.