Pastry Covered Awesome: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

When Anna and I went to Quiz last week I took along what was left of the Butter Pecan cupcakes as a treat for Team Vince and the wonderful bartenders that allow us to bug them every week. As I passed out cupcakes Tom the Bartender announced his birthday would officially begin at midnight.

Let me stop right here and say that I LOVE birthdays. From the time I was little, my mom made a big deal out of them. On your birthday you got to pick a restaurant for your birthday dinner (we didn't go out to eat much when I was younger so this was a HUGE deal), pick what kind of cake you wanted (and eat it for breakfast!), and of course there were presents. My mom always made our birthdays special, so I guess I want to bring a little of that to everyone else. That desire, combined with my love for baking, resulted in me offering to bake something especially for Tom's birthday.

He requested chocolate chip cookies and, internally, I scoffed. Yes, I scoffed at chocolate chip cookies. I love a chocolate chip cookie as much as the next girl, but there are so many other flavor combinations out there that it seems a waste to go with something so basic. After thinking about all the exciting recipes I've been wanting to try, and remembering that we were in an Irish pub, I asked him how he would feel about an Irish Car Bomb cupcake. "A what? You can make something like that?", he said. I told him the components; chocolate Guinness cake, Jameson's ganache, and Bailey's frosting, and he was in.

I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen and highly recommend it. I've tried two different recipes for Guinness Chocolate Cake and prefer this one because the Guinness flavor doesn't take over the cupcake. The cake isn't too sweet and pairs really nicely with the Bailey's frosting, which was incredibly sweet. The one thing I did change was in the ganache. I found that the amount of Jameson's to add wasn't enough to really impart any kind of flavor, so I ended up adding four teaspoons and there was still only the slightest hint of whiskey.

Here's a picture of the finished product! My roommate is responsible for the piping, she's pretty great and always willing to lend her creative skills to my baking adventures. On a different note, I've got to learn to stage pictures better.

To finish up, here are some pictures of Tom, Devin, and Kyle participating in a Double Car Bomb Race. Sorry the first picture is blurry, it was serious competition! Devin thought he was winning, little did he know...