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.
The Boozy Bakeshop 
Great combinations on your cupcakes! These are some of our favorites for baking with booze. 🙂 Cute pic of you post baking…I’m usually in a t-shirt and not so fancy!
the cupcakes were the absolute best, thank you thank you THANK YOU. you’re my hero. I love you so hard. xoxo LMN