a week in cupcakes: july 11

growing up,

july was always a big birthday

month for our family.

from the 14th to the 21st,

we had three birthdays:

first blair's,

with my dad's in the middle

and my mom's finishing

up the week.

our house was birthday central:

weathered deflated balloons

mixed with cheery new ones,

cards on every counter

and

the fridge crammed with

three types of cake.

it hasn't changed -

we're still celebrating

birthday upon

birthday,

regardless of the fact

that we're all adults

and now, the cakes

and cards are spread out

amongst several houses.

and, we've all added more people

with july birthdays into the mix.

my friend, colleen

(birthday: july 2nd)

had a big

birthday earlier in the month

and celebrated a week later

with a party at a local brewery

(party: july 11).

colleen and her husband, christian,

live in pennsylvania,

and we're in new jersey -

they were nice enough to let

us stay with them.

that, combined with the

fact that it was a birthday

(and i love any reason for

celebration),

confirmed that i had to

bake for the ocassion.

my fallback,

always seems to be cookies -

and i was heading there,

until i saw a recipe in

smitten kitchen's archives,

for cupcakes,

clearly reminiscent of college:

chocolate whisky

and beer cupcakes.

i don't know why i wanted to

make them.

yes, colleen and i met in college.

but, i was never a big drinker. never.

i nursed a beer or two all night

long, often staring at the clock

(i later learned that i was the only

one in my group of friends who actually

knew there was a clock in the bar)

until it was time to go home.

the two times in my life

that i actually drank an irish carbomb,

the drink that these cupcakes were based on,

i will blame on complete coercion.

after four years of saying no

to most shots,

to schlitz and slide,

to waking up to boone's and bagels,

i think i was tired of watching everyone else

have fun and also,

slightly sentimental enough about

the impending ending of college

to think that this would give me

an added memory.

and so, at senior week in dewey beach, delaware,

after months of prodding,

i agreed to drink:

1/2 pint of guinness with

a shot glass of

bailey's and jameson dropped in.

everyone swore to me

that it tasted like a milkshake,

and gave the very clear warning:

you actually have to shoot this.

if you drink it slow, it will curdle.

so i did. it wasn't terrible.

my next and last one,

was one week

later, the night before

graduation, at the tally ho,

the bar we spent a minimum

of two nights in each week.

that was enough for me.

yet, these cupcakes seemed perfect

for a birthday.

the grown-up version of

a drink we all spent a lot of time

talking about, if not actually

drinking. and - we were headed

for a brewery that night.

it was perfect.

when i e-mailed larry asking

him if we had:

guinness

jameson

bailey's

at home, i thought for sure

he would know what i was making.

but, he didn't. i was very excited.

i felt like it was the ultimate suprise dessert.

yes. i need to get out more.

the cupcake recipe was

very different than most cake

recipes i make: the butter

is melted and mixed with

cocoa powder, the eggs are blended

with sour cream and the sugar

is actually combined with

the flour.

but, it was a very easy (if not

admittedly, messy - you have to

dirty a bunch of bowls and

saucepans) and before i knew it,

the cupcakes were baking.

there was only one mistake

while baking, and it was totally

my fault. in spite of knowing better,

i opted to trust the muffin liner

package. it said that i could place

the liners on a baking pan,

fill them and bake them.

except for one really oozy

cupcake, it wasn't so terrible,

but it did make it hard to fit

them into the cupcake carrier

the next day.

the ganache.

i had spent a full day deciding

whether or not i should fill

them with ganache

as indicated in the recipe,

or use the ganache as a glaze.

i loved the idea of filling them,

but i just had a weird feeling

that for me, it wouldn't go well.

when the cupcakes were cool,

i made the executive decision

to add a little more heavy cream

to the chocolate and to dunk

the cupcakes in the mixture to coat.

the frosting, would be

for decoration.

you know how sometimes, right

before you start to do something

you know it will not go well?

well, i was sure that the glazing

would be a bust and i would

ruin the whole lot of them.

luckily, save for one unlucky

cupcake that slipped out of

my hands and fell in foil-first,

i was wrong.

the glazing was a great idea,

so easy and so pretty.

the frosting.

it came together,

well too, but i again suffered

from the fact that i am not

especially good at cake decorating.

i spent 6 weeks of culinary school

listening to a pastry chef tell me to:

put my pastry bag tip at

a different angle,

stop pulling away and creating points,

start leveling off the spatula to avoid swoops.

yet, i still thought that i could make

them pretty. unfortunately, i think

i succeeded in making a pretty sophisticated

confection (cake plus ganache glaze),

look like a fourth grader's art project.

i tried several designs, kicking myself

every time it didn't look so great,

before finally deciding upon

a frantic back and forth frosting

square in the middle of the cupcake.

i thought they looked ridiculous.

but, in the 24 hours between

making them and giving them,

i grew rather fond of the frenetic design.

bottom line:

these were cupcakes modeled after

a bar favorite and truth be told,

it probably didn't matter what they

looked like. plus, i think they

were rather delicious. while

i'm not a huge fan of chocolate -

i'd always choose vanilla if given

the choice -

i think these were one of the best

cakes i've tasted in a long time.

rich and so moist, with just

a slight, is-there-beer-in-here?

aftertaste.

the glaze was thick

and a great addition

to the yummy cake.

and the frosting was, i thought,

very sweet. but in small doses,

it brought everything together.

i was worried that they wouldn't

come together well,

that it was risky to bake something

new not only because it was

for something special,

but because it was for someone

who has quite a lot of baking

expertise under her belt.

i worried that they would melt

and wilt on the long car ride

into philadelphia and that

they would be even gloopier

by the time they got into

colleen's kitchen.

but i needn't have worried.

they survived the ride.

colleen and christian each

had one unwrapped before

we even had our overnight

bags upstairs. and my favorite

part? colleen's mom ate one, too.

it was the perfect start to what i didn't

know was to become,

a cupcake marathon.

stout cupcakes with whisky glaze and irish buttercream

adapted from smittenkitchen.com

chocolate stout cupcakes

larry and i split the last cupcake three days after i had made them and the cake was still very moist - i was impressed. i actually think - that as long as i'm not making them for someone who cannot have alcohol - these could turn into my chocolate cupcake standby.

1 cup stout, like guinness

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoons salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cups sour cream

arrange racks in top and bottom thirds of the oven. heat oven to 350˚f. line cupcake wells with cupcake liners (i was able to make 21 cupcakes from the batter, but you could have up to 24, i think).

in small heavy saucepot over medium heat, bring stout and butter to a simmer. remove from heat and whisk in cocoa powder until mixture is smooth; set aside.

in mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

in bowl of electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream on medium speed 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until completely blended. carefully (mixture is still hot and dark and chocolatey), add stout mixture to eggs; use spatula to gently combine (this keeps the mixture from splattering). on low speed, beat just until combined. add flour mixture; use spatula to fold the two mixtures together; on low speed beat until just combined.

at this point, i think it's easiest if you can transfer the batter to a large measuring cup, or something with a spout for pouring. fill cupcake liners 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. bake 16-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean. (it's best to rotate the pans midway through baking - top to bottom and front to back.)

let cakes cool 10 minutes in pan; transfer cupcakes to rack to cool completely.

when ready to glaze: dip cupcakes, cake side-down, into glaze, rotating to cover completely. gently turn upright, letting excess drip off. place on cooling rack. if the cupcake is not completely covered, use a spoon to carefully drip over uncovered areas of the cake. let sit 20 minutes, or until glaze has firmed up.

when ready to frost: place frosting in large resealable bag. snip small edge from corner (about 1/4-1/3-inch). pipe designs on cupcakes.

chocolate whisky ganache glaze

i debated whether or not to halve the recipe below. i didn't, but i had figured that using it as a glaze, i would need much less. i was right - i had so much ganache left over, that i ended up chilling it to make truffles. so, it's halved below. if you're worried that it won't be enough, or if you're ok with leftovers, double it. also, if you don't want to use whisky, you can leave it out or replace it with a splash of vanilla extract.

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chips or bar, chopped)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons whisky

place chocolate in bowl. in small saucepot, bring heavy cream to a simmer; pour over chocolate. let sit 2 minutes; whisk together until smooth. stir in butter and whisky.

irish cream buttercream

again, i halved the original recipe because, when used as a decoration or garnish, you don't need nearly as much frosting. i had a ton left over when i used the full recipe. if however, you'd rather use this mixture to frost the entire cupcake, double all ingredients below. oh, and if you don't like irish cream or would rather not use alcohol, smitten kitchen recommends milk or heavy cream.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (or more)

2 tablespoons irish cream (or more to taste)

in bowl of electric mixer, beat butter until completely softened. slowly add confectioners' sugar a few tablespoons at a time, until the mixture is thick (if it seems a little too thick, remember that the liquid is coming to smooth the mixture out). add irish cream; beat to combine.