National Margarita Day!
(and the cupcake that started it all)
Classy margarita cupcakes. Classy because they are made with Patron.
Tuesday, February 22nd is National Margarita day and we here at the Boozy Bakeshop feel it is a matter of civic duty and national pride to help you celebrate with margarita cupcakes. Not that you should need a holiday to enjoy a margarita. Or a cupcake. Sometimes you just bake a birthday cupcake for a colleague who enjoys margaritas one day in January. You might make a comment about it on Facebook. A friend may see it and possibly go out and start a blog one Thursday after work. You might find a love of turning cocktails into pastry.
But I digress.
Salt, no salt, frozen or funny flavored, celebrate this revered holiday with the beverage of the day, or if you’re like me and have to work in the morning, celebrate with a boozy baked good instead.
Margarita Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 3 egg whites
- 2 Tbs vegetable oil
- 1.5 oz triple sec
- 2 oz tequila of your choosing
- 7 oz lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
For the frosting:
- 1 1/2 sticks butter (12 Tbs)
- 4-5 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 Tbs tequila
- 1 Tbs lime juice
- zest of one lime
- lime slices for garnish (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with cupcake papers.
In a large bowl, prepare batter according to package directions substituting the 1 1/3 cup water with triple sec, tequila and lime juice. Add lime zest. Mix well. Pour into cupcake tins, filling about 2/3rs of the way, and place in oven. Bake for 19-22 minutes until cupcakes spring back when touched.
Meanwhile, prepare frosting. Using an electric hand mixer, cream butter and 1 cup confectioners sugar in a high sided bowl until fluffy. Add tequila, lime juice and lime zest. Mix in remaining sugar, adding more if necessary to reach desired consistency, if piping, it should be a little stiffer.
Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting. If garnishing, cut lime into very thin slices, about 1/8 inch thick. cut each slice into quarters. Pat dry with paper towels and place on frosting.
Eat. Can be refrigerated up to 3 days.
Happy Red Wine Cupcake Day
I don’t like Valentine’s Day. But admittedly, I’m a Grinch when it comes to all holidays. I try to avoid them in general. In college, V-Day was about a production of the Vagina Monologues, cookies shaped like lady parts and ending violence against women. Later it was replaced with large gatherings food and friendship sans Hallmark associations. This year I’ll be 100 ft underwater off the coast of South America trying not to get eaten by a shark.
But…
Some people really like Valentine’s Day.
So for those people, I throw on the cloak of delirious creativity. I’ve been thinking a lot about creating an aphrodisiac cupcake. Giddy off the fumes of freshly unpacked neoprene and grad school readings I pour some left over tinto de toro (Moore Bros’ has a delicious one…. ) into a batch of chocolate cupcakes. Wait…something else. Chilies are considered an aphrodisiac; I toss in some cayenne.
19 to 22 minutes later, one eyebrow arched in skepticism – nom! I ponder the flavor combination in my mouth…oddly delightful. But it needs…frosting.
Back to the laboratory! I conjure a spicy ganache but the addition of red wine makes it break. Curses! Reheating the chocolaty goodness it dawns on me…cayenne gets spicier with the application of heat. Can these be saved?
Heart thumping, sweat beading on my brow I call for back up, Sarah Super-Taster arrives. She loves chocolate chili combinations, but will this be enough? Will it be too much? She takes a bite.
Bang!
Chew!
I’d say tune in next week, but well, after a few tweaks, I can safely say the real hero of the day was…the recipe below.
Oh yeah, February 14th is also Batman Sticker Day – the action packed alternative to Valentine’s.
For the cupcakes:
cupcakes at tea time
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cup red wine of your choosing
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
For the frosting:
- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicy)
- 1 Tbs red wine
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with cupcake papers.
In a large bowl, prepare batter according to package directions substituting the 1 1/4 cup water with red wine. Add cayenne. Mix well. Pour into cupcake tins, filling about 2/3 of the way, and place in oven. Bake for 19-22 minutes until cupcakes spring back when touched.
MEANWHILE, on the other side of town….prepare frosting. Using a double boiler melt chocolate and heavy cream together. Once melted, stir in cayenne, red wine, and vanilla extract. Chocolate should be smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. You can refrigerate to speed up the process. Using an electric hand mixer, mix frosting in a high sided bowl until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar, more if necessary to reach desired consistency.
Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting. Spread a slightly thinner coat to avoid over spicy cupcakes. Can be refrigerated up to 3 days. by Ellie
Mmmm…oozy & boozy
Martha Stewart's Ginger-Pecan Cake as interpreted by Ellie
Boozy baking is everywhere!
My momma had a birthday on Saturday and there was an absurd amount of baking to commemorate her awesomeness. The recipes that did not come from my very talented mother came from marthastewart.com. This is a delicious ginger pecan cake with bourbon whipped cream. Boozy!
by Ellie
Game Day Cupcakes
Packers and Steelers cupcakes face off
The Superbowl is one of my favorite holidays, after St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, and the Fourth of July (which I love more for the fireworks and cookouts than the patriotism, I think). It’s also a great excuse to make boozy cupcakes and feed them to friends. Game day cupcakes should definitely be beer-based, so I went with a chocolate cake made with a stout beer. (Honestly, I used Guinness, even though I should have used an American stout. Oh well.) I decided to make team cupcakes and give each its own boozy frosting flavor. Then I tried to get fancy with the frosting… as you can see, my piping skills are still developing.
Guinness Cake:
- 1 box choclate cake mix
- 1 ⅓ cups Guinness
- ½ cup oil
- 3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350. Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until batter is lump-free. Poor batter into paper-lined cupcake tins. The bubbles in the batter will make it rise just a little more, so do not overfill! Aim to make each liner ⅔ full.
Green Bay Creme de Menthe Frosting:
- 1 stick butter
- 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 tablespoons creme de menthe
Combine butter, vanilla, and creme de menthe in a large mixing bowl. Beat ingredients together, gradually adding remaining sugar. Separate frosting into ⅔, ⅙, and ⅙ portions. Use food coloring to dye the ⅔ portion green and one of the smaller portions yellow. Frost to resemble Packers’ logo.
Pittsburg Ginger Liqueur Frosting:
- 1 stick butter
- 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 tablespoons ginger liqueur
Combine butter, vanilla, and ginger liqueur in a large mixing bowl. Beat ingredients together, gradually adding remaining sugar. Reserve ⅔ of the frosting, then separate the other third into 4 equal parts (twelfths!) Dye one red, one yellow, one blue, and one gray. (To make gray frosting combine a few drops red, blue, and green food coloring.) Frost to resemble the Steelers’ logo.
When I brought these cupcakes to a party, there was some debate over whether you wanted to eat the cupcake of the team that you were rooting for (in celebration) or of their opponent (as in, you’ll devour the competition). In any case, there were a lot more Steelers cupcakes left over at the game’s end. by Erin
Coming Soon!
Tonight, Ellie and I will be recording our second Boozy Bakeshop episode. Get ready for chocolate cupcakes made with red wine and– trust us, here– cayenne pepper. I’m sure Ellie has a super clever name for these delicious treats, which I will now try to guess… maybe something about being hot and full-bodied? Any thoughts for witty puns?
In any case, we hope to have the complete video ready to go by the weekend so you can give them a try yourself!
By Erin
