Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes

Libations used - 3-4 Tbs Baileys Irish Cream

Libations left over - I made these in the morning, so I tossed a shot of Baileys in my coffee - perfect way to start the day...

This week I went sailing with some friends (post-tsunami advisory...) and it was BYOB, so I brought my booze in the form of cupcakes.  I made a vanilla base cake with a recipe from one of my favorite cupcake shops in Santa Monica, Vanilla Bake Shop.  It's a little complicated, but so worth it.  The frosting is a vanilla buttercream with Baileys Irish Cream substituting the milk/heavy cream.  I hope this gets all of you Lush Chef fans in the mood to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  I'll be posting the second recipe on Wednesday.

Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes - serves 24

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cake - 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1 3/4 cups + 2 Tbs + 1 tsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup + scant 1/3 cup cake flour (Note, this is different from pasty flour!  There's a different ratio of wheat in the two)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sour cream

Frosting - 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (do not melt)
• 3-4 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract
• 3-4 Tbs Baileys Irish Cream

To make the cake:

- Preheat oven to 350

- Beat butter and sugar together using a mixer until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and beat to combine.

- Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

- Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt into a separate bowl.  Add flour mixture to your large bowl and mix until well combined.  Add sour cream and mix that until well combined.

- In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with mixer until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold egg whites into batter.

- Fill each muffin cup 1/2 full with batter and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:

- Beat butter for a few minutes with mixer on medium speed.

- Add 3 cups of confectioners sugar and turn mixer on lowest speed until sugar has been incorporated with the butter.

- Increase mixing speed and add salt, vanilla extract and 3 Tbs Baileys Irish Cream.

- You can add more sugar to thicken the consistency or more Irish Cream to thin it.

I always like to use pastry piping bags when I frost cupcakes.  Also, these cupcakes needed some  color, so in the spirit of the Irish, I threw on some green sugar crystals.