Cinco de Margarita
Because I rarely drink tequila and am partial to any holiday that serves as an excuse for celebration, camaraderie, and tacos, five ways to enjoy tequila that won’t leave you confused about how you got home last night. (Well, the margarita might, so exercise restraint. You have work tomorrow.)
Uno – Best Basic Margarita
Rim glass with sea salt if desired. Combine 1 1/2 oz Tequila, 1/2 oz triple sec, 2 oz lime juice in a cocktail shaker, pour over ice. Garnish with lime wedge.
Dos – Margarita Popsicles
Pour 3/4 cup sugar into a sauce pan with 1/2 cup water, 3/4 cup lime juice, 2 Tbs lemon juice, 2 Tbs orange juice, bring to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Combine with 1 1/2 oz tequila and 1/2 oz triple sec. Pour into popcicle molds. If you want to be fancy, artfully place thinly sliced limes in the molds before freezing.
Tres – Margarita Cupcakes
Click here for this oldie but goodie.
Quatro -Margarita Pie
Click here for what is not pizza.
Cinco – Margarita glaze
Combine 1/2 cup tequila, 1/4 cup lime juice, lime zest, 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and diced, 2 Tbs honey, and 1/3 cup marmelade in a sauce pan. Simmer about 3 minutes to use to brush on meat or poultry during last 5-10 minutes of grilling or simmer until liquid reduces and reaches a syrupy consistency, about 5-10 minutes, and serve on cooked meat or over vanilla ice cream or dollop on the top of cheesecake, or really on anything that spicy sweet stuff makes sense.
Real Girlfriend
Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes and dating advice from The Oatmeal
I saw this the other day on The Oatmeal and I thought “hey, that could be about me. I rock climb. I bake cookies. I’m gonna bake cookies shaped like ewoks.”

I don’t really know what an ewok is.
The google provided some direction. They’re sort of Paul Ryan looking. Not what I was thinking. I think I was thinking of gremlins. Or Oscar the Grouch?
But wait, the underbite, the big sad eyes, throw a towel over his head and Disco here could do a mean ewok impression.

Exhibit A: ewok on the left, Disco on the right.
Photo of Disco by @lot71. Ewok is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd.
I was serving up a taco feast at Disco’s house later that night! I’d bring cookies!
Cookies, check! Ewok, check! Oh, The Oatmeal, I’m on my way to being a real girlfriend!
Oh, but wait, by definition, I need a boyfriend to be a real girlfriend. Rock climbing and new found ewok knowledge aside, I’m single. My cookie spatula IS shaped like Darth Vader but the implications of James Earl Jones and meta-cookie eating were making my head spin. So I made these instead. The frosting is a revelation; I want to bathe in it.
Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Makes 3 dozen minis (or 1 dozen standard)
- 3/4 cups unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder (I prefer King Arthur’s Double Dutch Dark Cocoa)
- 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teas espresso powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teas cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 oz rum
- 1/2 cup sour cream
For the frosting
- 12 Tbs (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 c. powdered sugar
- 1 Tbs heavy cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1.6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted (about 2/3 c. chocolate chips)
- 5 oz. white chocolate, melted (about 2/3 c. chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini cupcake tins with cupcake papers. Place cocoa, flour, baking powder, espresso powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed until really good and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla and rum. Reduce mixer speed to low. Spoon in the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full. Bake 17-19 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting.
Meanwhile, in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add cream, vanilla, cinnamon, cayenne, until combined. Reduce speed to low and pour in the bittersweet and white chocolate. Scrape down the side of the bowl and the paddle, continue to mix on medium-high a few more minutes until light and well blended. If frosting is too soft, place in the refrigerator for a few minutes until it is the right consistency to pipe or spread onto cupcakes. Refrigerate cupcakes after frosting. Bring them up to room temperature before serving.
Straight Up Cupcake
Being a child of the 80′s, third wave feminism with it’s girl power anthems and roots of sex positivity (see: Madonna), didn’t really have an effect until post-wave radio replay of the early 90′s. I vaguely recall women scoffing at my stay at home mom while they raced off each morning in shoulder pads, Easy Spirits, and the Mercedes their dual income household afforded them the privilege of driving. I was 5 in 1988. Mandatory modern/hip hop/jazz dance class at my grade school introduced Patti LaBelle moves and “you go girl” into my vocabulary. One beat of “Straight Up” and the whole song gets full cranial replay with a few of the elementary dance moves twitching through my muscle memory.
Ms. Abdul, in her post structuralist interpretation of the classic boy-girl relationship asks for honesty. She’s not a Disney princess, waiting in hopes for some needy ego-maniacal somnophiliac. She’s demanding the hard, but straight talk of low expectations. Whether Ms. Abdul’s lover provides her with said straight up answers, and whether she chooses to believe them, remains to be seen. (The chorus repetition suggests she is dubious at best, requiring multiple confirmations). I get the sensation that it was a two steps forward, two steps back kind of deal, leaving her alone with a [MC Skat] cat.
In any case, while we’ve certainly entered fourth wave feminism, where we reclaim the domestic by selling aprons on Etsy and canning things, I’m not sure if Gotye is really the anthem of our times. Then again, I get little broad spectrum pop in my world of new wave 80′s synth/indie rock/grand ole opry. In one such testament to fourth wave feminism, I took a day off of my career to cater a gallery opening hosted by the ever amazing and beautiful Streetwater for Straight Up, a collection by the devastatingly talented Cameron R Neilson. Since the project started in Manhattan, we served manhattans, straight up. Which of course, I turned into a bite sized cupcake. Or rather, 324 bite sized cupcakes.

this cupcake was not photographed at a perfect 90 degree angle, therefore it is not infringing on IP rights of the initial Straight Up concept. Nor is it in anyway a parody. I was simply sitting on the floor, looking up.
Manhattan Cupcakes
Ingredients
Makes 3 dozen minis (or 1 dozen standard)
- 3/4 cups unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder (I prefer King Arthur’s Double Dutch Dark Cocoa, your chocolate cake comes out close to black in color and tastes fudgy rich. This is not some weak Hershey’s mess. This is real cocoa for the chocolate lover.)
- 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teas espresso powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 oz bourbon
- 1/2 cup sour cream
For the ganache
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 Tbs confectioners sugar
- 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1 teas vanilla extract
- 1 Tbs bourbon
- 1/4 cup + 1 Tbs red cherry jam (Hero or Bon Maman preferred)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini cupcake tins with cupcake papers. Place cocoa, flour, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed until really good and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing with each addition one. Add vanilla and bourbon. Reduce mixer speed to low. Spoon in the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full. Bake 17-19 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting.
Meanwhile, Put chocolate in a heat proof bowl. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring cream and confectioners sugar to a low boil. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Add in vanilla, bourbon, and jam, whisking after each addition. Feel free to add more jam to taste if you like your ganache more sweet, but it does make the frosting softer. Refrigerate until completely cool. Using an electric mixer, beat until fluffy. Frost and eat!
Over My Head and Covered in Sugar
My sister got married this past weekend in scenic Lake George, New York, an occasion for which I made 220 boozy cupcakes of two varieties. When she’d asked me, a year ago, to bake for her wedding, I thought it was a terrific idea and didn’t bother to consider how wildly unqualified I was to make cupcakes on this grand of a scale.
So this weekend I found myself in the kitchen of her venue, wrestling with a restaurant-grade stand mixer, terrified that I would ruin these cupcakes (and hence, I’m pretty sure, the entire wedding), and covering basically everything and mostly myself in powdered sugar. See picture for evidence.
While my cupcakes were clearly made with more love than finesse, I think they turned out pretty ok. (Time was on my side as they were only presented three hours into the open bar reception.)
I made two types, a “bride” cupcake consisting of champagne cake with strawberry frosting and a “groom” cupcake that was Guiness and chocolate topped with Bailey’s buttercream. The frosting alone took nine POUNDS of butter (roughly the same number of pounds I gained sampling frosting and then eating celebratory buffalo wings at the wedding after-party).
Making buttercream special:
Buttercream frosting consists, most basically, of butter and confectioners sugar. The exact ratio of those two ingredients depends on the kind of frosting you’d like: the more sugar, the stiffer the frosting. If you’re spreading the frosting with a knife, it should be a little more buttery, but if you’re piping it, a little stiffer is better. If you’re leaving you’re buttercream plain, you may want to add one teaspoon of vanilla per quarter pound of butter. Otherwise, add 2-3 tablespoons of booze, pureed fruit, etc. to flavor it.
Strawberry Buttercream:
sliced strawberries
½ pound butter
4 ½ – 5 ½ cups confectioners sugar
Puree strawberries in a food processor. Sift confectioners sugar to remove clumps. Cream butter and ¼ cup of the strawberry puree. (As it’s hard to puree just ¼ cup of strawberries, I recommend pureeing your whole pint and then just adding the leftovers to a delicious smoothie.) Add sugar one cup at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
Bailey’s Buttercream:
Bailey’s Irish Cream
½ pound butter
4 ½ – 5 ½ cups confectioners sugar
Follow the steps above, adding Bailey’s instead of the strawberry puree. Add to your favorite cupcake or consume straight from the bowl.
Cuddle Puddle
Once, in another lifetime, I spent one night lying on the floor with 31 other similarly minded people. It was one of those times when crying, hugging, and declarations of never ending love are normal modes of expression. The rest of the world doesn’t function like that: unbridled expression of comaraderie, brotherhood, family. Only small children lie in a puddle of bodies, taking comfort in the closeness of the many, just breathing next to them. It was the end of three months of theater school, and the intensity of the experience left us all, I think, trying to cling to the magic just a little bit longer. One set of arms is not long enough to hug 31 other people. Instead, we lay on a floor in a haphazard pile. I have a photograph of this, taken from a balcony above, and looking at it recently, I am shocked at the stories it tells in a multicolor blur of scarves and leg warmers and collegiate hoodies and ancient sweatpants, through a filter of fuzz from 35mm color fast film taken flashless in low lighting. Somehow, it does not smack of poor photography, only of joy, and love, and family.
At the time, we were eating bourbon balls, brought straight from Kentucky by someone’s parent. My friend turned 30 this weekend. I promised to bring cupcakes to the bar we were to surprise him at. I had one of those weeks where I just wanted to stretch my arms around my New York family and take comfort in their nearness. But, my arms aren’t long enough. And only theater nerds think it is normal to lie on the floor in a puddle of people. So I made some bourbon ball cupcakes, my typical food-as-feelings way of saying you are my joy, you are my love, and you are my family.
Bourbon Ball Cupcakes
Makes 1 dozen
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
- 1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 1/2 teas baking powder
- 1/8 teas salt
- 1/2 teas ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teas ground nutmeg
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3/4 cup pecans, chopped medium-fine
For the filling:
- 2 oz semi sweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 oz bourbon
- 1 teas vanilla extract
For the frosting:
- 12 Tbs (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 6 cups confections sugar
- 2 Tbs vanilla extract
- 1/4 c bourbon
- 1 Tbs heavy cream
- chocolate sprinkles (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cup standard size cupcake tin with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on medium high until fluffy about 3 minutes. Add sugar and mix for about 5 minutes more. Mix in eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on low, alternate add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in pecans. Divide batter evenly among the cupcake tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool completely before coring out centers or frosting.
Meanwhile, heat the cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and add chocolate, bourbon, and vanilla. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes until mixture is cool and slightly firm. Beat with an electric hand mixer until fluffy and color lightens.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric hand mixer until fluffy. Beat in 1 cup confectioners sugar. Add vanilla and bourbon. Mix. Add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time. When combined, beat in cream. If the frosting seems a little soft, add more sugar as desired.
When cupcakes are cool, core them using a cupcake corer (an apple corer works okay too). Using a frosting bag with a plain tip fill centers with chocolate filling. Frost with butter cream. Decorate with chocolate sprinkles (optional).
Schnapptastic!
I went to New Zealand during part of the rainy season. Surprisingly we had great weather, save a few torrentially rainy days that prohibited outdoor activities. On one such day, we went to the local tourist office to see what what we could do. My friend and I were in wine country and wandering around to vineyard tastings seemed like a good way to take the chill off. Then I saw the flyer – bright yellow with pictures of 1950′s men and women dancing a fancy jig. “Schnapptastic!” it exclaimed. “Schnapperrific!” I turned to my friend. “This place. We must go. It is Schnappciting!”
And lo, we went and it was as foretold: a schnapps distillery (brewery?) of epic deliciousness.
Remembering the warm and fuzzies the schnapps provided on that rainy day provided some inspiration for these Peppermint Mocha cupcakes (well, that and my second favorite seasonal Starbuck holiday beverage, but getting nostalgic for commercial enterprise is a little embarrassing). There is a boozy and non boozy baking option.
Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes
Ingredients
Makes 3 dozen mini cupcakes or 1 dozen standard
For the cupcakes
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 Tablespoons instant espresso powder
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- (optional) 2 Tablespoons coffee liquor, like Kahlua (or coffee schnapps!)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
For Boozy Frosting
- 1 stick of butter (8 Tbs) softened
- 3 1/2 – 4 1/2 cups confections sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Peppermint Schnapps
- (optional) 1 teaspoon peppermint extract if you like it extra minty.
- 2 teas vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons whole milk
For Sober Frosting
- 1 stick of butter (8 Tbs) softened
- 3 1/2 – 4 1/2 cups confections sugar
- 2 or 3 teas Peppermint extract (start with one, add more to taste)
- 2 teas vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup whole milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini muffin tin with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, espresso powder, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
Divide batter among cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 16 to 18 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile make the frosting.
with an electric hand mixer, cream butter. Add vanilla, 1 cup confectioners sugar. Beat until combined. Add milk, peppermint flavor (schnapps or extract) and 2 1/2 cups more sugar. Mix until combined. Add additional sugar if frosting seems soft and additional extract if you want it mintier.
Frost as desired. Eat. Schnappawesome.
I Have a Turtle
Not a real turtle. but once when ponder “what animal would you be if you were an animal” in college I decided my friend be would a turtle. Turtles make great friends. They’re cautious and cheeky and sage and can bite off your finger or munch passively on a leaf. Turtles hang around. In cartoons they are depicted as grumpy or really chill or plucky and cute. They carry their home with them. Turtles are awesome.
This particular turtle has a favorite cocktail: Makers and ginger. So when my turtle was turning 28, I brought some Makers and ginger cupcakes to the park to celebrate, decorated with, well, turtles. But delicious turtles. Turtle, turtle, turtle.
Makers Mark and Ginger Ale Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes (makes 1 dozen) If you prefer to use cake mix, make sure you purchase a dark chocolate variety, make according to recipe with addition of ground ginger. Substitute 2 oz water with bourbon if you like them extra boozy.
- 3/4 cups unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder (I prefer King Arthur’s Double Dutch Dark Cocoa, your chocolate cake comes out close to black in color and tastes fudgy rich. This is not some weak Hershey’s mess. This is real cocoa for the chocolate lover.)
- 3/4 cups all purpose flour (no specific endorsement here)
- 1 teas espresso powder (optional)
- 1 teas ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
For the glaze
- 2 oz semi sweet chocolate
- 2 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 2 Tbs corn syrup
- 1 Tbs butter
- 2 oz Markers Mark
- 1 teas ground ginger
- lime zest
For the frosting
- 1 8oz block of cream cheese
- 1 stick (4 oz) butter, softened
- 4-5 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 oz Maker’s Mark
- 1 teas vanilla extract
- candied ginger and marzipan tutles for garnish (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard cupcake tin with cupcake papers. Place cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing with each addition one. Add vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low. Spoon in the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. You can glaze the cupcakes warm, but let cool completely before frosting.
Make the glaze: melt chocolate, butter, corn syrup, ginger and lime together over low heat in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. If you have bad luck scorching chocolate, use a double boiler. Whisk in Maker’s Mark. Poke holes in cupcakes with a skewer or fork. Spoon glaze over cupcakes, using the back of the spoon to spread the glaze into all the nooks and crannies. Let cool.
While the glaze cools, make the frosting. Using a hand mixer, combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Add 1 cup confections sugar and mix well. Add Maker’s Mark, ginger, and vanilla. Mix in remaining sugar, adding more in necessary to reach desired consistency.
Marzipan Turtles
- Dye one pea sized ball of marzipan white
- Dye one pea sized ball of marzipan black
- Dye one ping pong sized ball of marzipan green.
- Leave remaining marzipan natural color.
Shape four small balls of marzipan together to form feet. Roll a log of marzipan to form body and head, rounding the head end and curving it upward at a cute, expressive angle. shape small amount of green marzipan into a disc to drape over naked turtle to form a shell. Flatten tiny discs of white marzipan to form eyeballs. Add an even tinier disc of black on top of each to form pupils. Using a toothpick, lift eyes and place on head of turtle.
In-cake-tion
If I bake a boozy cake with cupcake vodka, is it a vodka cupcake within a cupcake? Or just inside out?
Cupcake. Vodka. I’ve been pouring vodka into cupcakes for some time now, but these brilliant
folks over at Cupcake Vineyards have taken it to a whole new level. The cupcake is inside the vodka! Well, its more like its infused, or flavored but I like to believe that them merely reduced the cupcake down to the molecular level of deliciousness and through forced covalent bonding and redefining the Heisenberg uncertainty principle with Schrodinger’s lolcat, have made a delightful Frankenstein’s monster. Or they have a shrink ray that miniaturized the cupcakes to the size of sugar crystals and just dissolved them in the juice of potatoes.
Either way a cupcake made with this, so meta.
National Margarita Day!
(and the cupcake that started it all)
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.






