Every St. Patrick's Day, I bake simple cupcakes, usually from a mix, but I make up for it by garnishing the beeswax out of them. This year, I wanted to surprise my family with Baileys Irish Cream cupcakes.
I began looking for recipes, but I felt overwhelmed by the complex steps--well, they were complex for me, a tired slob. My husband, the country doctor, suggested that I look to Dr. Frankenstein for inspiration. With a little luck, couldn't I cobble together a simple, painless recipe?
First, I cleaned my kitchen counters. I always do this because icing baffles me, and I don't want to be distracted. I rolled up my sleeves and began to experiment.
My husband (and Dr. Frankenstein) nodded approvingly when I added Baileys mint-flavored Irish Cream to a box of dark chocolate cake mix. I also threw in white chocolate chips.
So far, so good.
As always, my troubles began when I made the icing. The first batch was runny (but good--my husband abandoned his low-carb diet and licked the bowl), because I foolishly added too much Baileys. The second batch had the right consistency, but when I tried to fit the icing into the itty Super Dooper Icing Kit for Dummies, I hit the wall.
So did the icing.
Great globs of creamy icing flew across my counters and migrated to my hair.
Even though I was a sticky mess, I remembered to add Wilton sprinkles
Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes
1 box Duncan Hinz dark chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups water
white chocolate chips (if desired)
1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream added to cake mix
4 T Baileys Irish Cream added to icing
Confectioners' sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
Wilton sprinkles
emerald sanding sugar
. . .
Preheat the oven. Place paper liners in 2 cupcake pans. Mix the cake according to directions, adding 1/4 cup Irish cream (be sure to decrease the total amount of water used--if the instructions call for 1 1/4 cup water, add 1 cup water and 1/4 cup Baileys). If you're adding white chocolate chips, gently fold them into the mixture. Spoon the lucious batter into the liners. Bake (18 minutes worked for me).
. . .
After the cupcakes cool, get your big girl panties on and make the icing.
Into the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, blend 8 oz softened cream cheese, powdered sugar (see below), and Baileys Irish Cream (4 tablespoons). I began with 2 cups of powdered sugar and kept adding it bit by bit until the icing reached the proper spreading consistency. As Rachael Ray says, "Eyeball it."
Ice the cupcakes, taking care not to ruin your freshly cleaned kitchen,
and garnish with sanding sugar and/or shamrock sprinkles.
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