I♥cuppycakes!

The Dude’s favorite cupcake

You can’t celebrate Cinco De Mayo without a crunkcake right? Whew! Glad we agree.

Luckily one of my favorite clients couldn’t agree more. He even let me pick the boozed up cupcake to make for his Cinco De Drinko party. Now that is one awesome client. There are so many different recipes that I have saved in my drafts waiting to be tested out so I didn’t have a shortage to choose from. Although sometimes having too many choices isn’t a good thing for me. I’m SO indecisive! There’s margarita cupcakes, rum+coke cupcakes, strawberry daiquiri cupcakes, long island ice tea cupcakes, martini cupcakes, cosmopolitan cupcakes, tequila sunrise cupcakes, whiskey sour cupcakes … The list goes on and on.

But finally it wasn’t the holiday that inspired me. It was my dear friend, RP, that came to mind when I created these cupcakes. If you don’t know why they are THE DUDE‘s favorite cupcake well… I guess you just won’t get it. But I know my friend, RP, will and that’s all that matters. Please send her good vibes tomorrow. She’s going in for back surgery. And since she’s always the eternal optimist she tells me “… it aint no thang” but I’ll be thinking of her anyways, wishing her a speedy recovery while eating one of these cupcakes. Love you girl. Kisses to Lily.

PS- Cupcake Hero::April roundup + WINNER will be posted tomorrow.

PPS- Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. Be safe.

Come back soon now ya hear.

White Russian Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from How To Eat A Cupcake

Makes 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For cupcakes—
1-1/4 cups AP flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1/8 cup Vodka
1/8 cup + 2 tbsp Kahlua

For Kahlua Whipped Cream—
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp Kahlua

chocolate shavings, garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

To make cupcakes—
Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer, fitted with flat beater, beat the sugar and butter until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating on low. Then add vanilla, 1/8 cup Vodka and 1/8 cup Kahlua. (Be careful of splashing!) Gradually add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. While cupcakes are still warm, poke holes with a toothpick and brush tops with leftover 2 tbsp Kahlua. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.

To make whipped cream—
Chill mixing bowl in the refrigerator for 10-15 or freezer for 5 minutes. (You don’t have to chill the bowl if you are short on time but I find that a chilled bowl helps when whipping the cream.)

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on medium-high speed until heavy cream becomes thick. Add powdered sugar and Kahlua and continue to beat until you get stiff peaks. Try not to overbeat! You don’t want butter.

To assemble cupcakes—
Using a Wilton 1M (or favorite star tip) pipe the Kahlua whipped cream on each cupcake. Garnish with chocolate shavings.

ENJOY!

Wifey rating: A
I love Kahlua! iIt was definitely the right decision to add Kahlua+vodka to the cake batter as well as brush more Kahlua on top. I like whipped cream but I think it would have been an A+ if I had made Kahlua Swiss Meringue Buttercream instead. Next time…

Husband rating: A
He has a slight aversion to alcoholic desserts. Too many past drunk college days but he really enjoyed the flavor of the cake and whipped cream. When I mentioned trying with buttercream next time, he said he preferred the lighter whipped cream option. He’s not a frosting freak like me. Oh well… more for me!

Other rating: (Will update later)