Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I love St. Patrick’s Day, even though I’m pretty sure that I have zero Irish in me. I think that it doesn’t matter if you’re Irish, or not because on St. Patty’s everyone gets to be Irish. I continued my cooking madness with some cupcakes for the neighbors, and Jake’s co-workers. I made three kinds of cupcakes: Irish Car-bomb, Guinness & Bailey’s and Guinness & coconut. I have some pictures and the recipes below. While Reagan and I were eating breakfast I played some Flogging Molly. Reagan and I both danced in our chairs as we ate our breakfast! I put a video with some Flogging Molly for everyone’s enjoyment below! I also dressed Reagan and me both in green for the holiday. I figure that we both have to be festive! I put Reagan’s hair in a full blown pony tail today, which means with a rubber band. She cried a little when I was wrapping the rubber band in her hair. I started thinking that this is just the beginning. I know that for many years she’ll probably cry and get upset when I do her hair. I remember when my Mom used to do my hair and I would cry and says she was pulling my hair. I also remember when I was little that at night after I had taken a bath and put my pajamas on that my Dad would brush my hair, and it never hurt. I’m sure one day Reagan will want her Dad to brush her hair because it doesn’t hurt when he does it! I have to wrap this up because Reagan is fighting her nap and I have to go rescue her. I hope that everyone has a wonderful St. Patty’s Day! Jake and I will be at home doing a little celebrating on our own, which really means just drinking one Guinness each!














Chocolate Guinness Cupcake with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting~

(If you’re looking at the picture this is the cupcake on the left )

I wanted to be creative and try 2 different Guinness cupcake recipes. This cupcake is just a chocolate Guinness cake with a Bailey’s cream cheese frosting. The frosting is the same as the cake below, but the cake is different. I also changed this recipe to what I think works better.

1 C Guinness
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 C all purpose flour
2 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs

2/3 C sour cream
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake cups with liners. Mix butter, sugar until fluffy. Then add each egg one by one. Then add sour cream to mixture. Then slowly add in the Guinness. Add in the cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and flour. I mixed with the mixer for about 2 minutes. The batter was light and fluffy and looked more like chocolate mousse then cake batter.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting~

(If you’re looking at the cupcake picture this is the one in the middle!)
I found this recipe online and decided to change it because I didn’t think it had enough Guinness in it! I think the results turned out amazing and everyone seems to love it!

2 C unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 C Coco-Powder Unsweetened
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C dark brown sugar
4 oz./1/2 C unsalted softened butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg
1/2 C sour cream
1 14.9 fl. oz. bottle Guinness

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter or line with paper cups 2 12 count muffin tins.

In a large bowl briefly whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Add one egg and beat until evenly mixed and fluffy, make sure to scrape down the mixer bowl once in a while. Add the second egg and vanilla extract and beat again until light and fluffy.

Add the sour cream and beat in, then with the mixer running, slowly pour in the Guinness.

Sift the dry ingredients into the batter and slowly stir the batter until it is evenly mixed and there are no streaks of flour. Make sure to stop the mixer frequently to scrape down the sides and make sure to mix up any flour pockets hidden on the bottom of the bowl.

Divide 1/4 C of batter into each muffin cup, you’ll get about 20 – 24 cupcakes.

Bake at 350 degrees F on the middle rack for 20 – 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake in the middle of the pan should come out clean. Make sure to rotate the pans halfway through baking. Set on a rack to cool to room temperature before frosting.

Jamison Ganache Filling~

8 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
10 teaspoons Irish whiskey (I put a bit more then most recipes called for, but I think it’s important to taste the Jamison)

Melt the chocolate on your stove. Heat the cream with the melted chocolate and then add butter. Let it simmer for a few minutes. The final step is to turn off the burner and add the Jamison. Let the chocolate cool to room temperature. While I was waiting for the chocolate to cool I took a apple corer and cut the center of the cupcakes out. Then you want to poor the chocolate into the middle and let sit for about an hour before icing.

Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting~

1 8oz. bar of cream cheese, softened
1 4oz. stick of unsalted butter, softened
2 C confectioner’s sugar
10 Tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream ( I once again put more. Just add what you like)

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, add the cream cheese, butter, and confectioner’s sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the Bailey’s, more or less depending on how boozey you want the frosting, and beat until completely incorporated into the frosting. I had some extra ganacheand decided to drizzle it over the top.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcake with Butter-Cream Frosting & Green Coconut Flakes ~

(If you’re looking at the picture this is the one on the far right)

I once again had to do something a bit different. This cupcake is the same cake as the first cake, but has different frosting. The frosting is a butter cream and I colored the coconut to be green for St. Patty’s Day.

Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1 C (1 sticks) unsalted butter and (1 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
2½ C powdered sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
Mix the butter until it becomes light and fluffy. Then add your vanilla extract and finally slowly add in the powdered sugar.

Coconut Flakes~

2 C Sweetened Coconut Flakes
8 tsp green food coloring

All you need to do is put the coconut into a container that has a lid. Add the food coloring in the dish, put on the lid and shake. You can add as much food coloring until it’s the green you want.

Then frost your cupcakes and dip them into the bowl that holds the coconut flakes. I then at the end added more coconut to each cupcake by hand.