Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

My current business trip to Vegas has been somewhat of a bomb, but not the good kind that the Gap Band is singing about. I've been here less than 24 hours and have suffered the following:
1) The lobby of the hotel smelled like one of those taxi cabs that never throws away old air fresheners - the driver just hangs one after another making a cardboard bouquet hanging from the rear view mirror
2) There were only smoking optional rooms left when I checked in. The term "smoking optional" made me think - "eh, maybe it won't be that bad." I was very very very wrong. The room was disgusting, I think they pumped smoke into the room as one of the amenities. The ceiling was cover in yellow stains. not all over yellow in color, but splotches of yellow, greasy cigarette remnants. On the bright side, the hotel let me change to a non-smoking rooms the next morning. Unfortunately the damage had been done, and all my clothes and luggage smelled. Yeah, they should not be able to false advertise as smoking optional. Bah, nothing is real in Vegas.
3) There is no mini-bar in my room. Normally this isn't a big deal, but after a 5 hour plane ride I really wanted to head straight to my room have a cold drink...maybe a refreshing gingerale. I did not want wander the Habitrail of the casino floor looking for a bar or an overpriced convenience shop. I wanted to overpay from the convenience of my room.
4) I woke up groggy with bloodshot nicotine stained eyes and NEEDED coffee. There is no coffeemaker in my room. Now this is a BIG DEAL.
5) There were no lanyards left when I got to the registration booth. I had to clip my name badge to my collar all cockeyed. How was any high rolling gambler going to be able to flirt with me by name? The free conference tote bag that I picked up had the logo printed upside down.
6) The one block to the convention center was more like 5 blocks weaving in and out of people offering things I wasn't interested in. Again, not a big deal, until I had to walk back in the rain this afternoon, no umbrella.
7) and finally, I'm back in my hotel and change into my comfy clothes and realize that the pant hem on my new suit pants has begun to unravel.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was near tears after 2 minutes in my smokey room. But all in all, my mood is still pretty good considering all the bad things that have happened....but I realize that I'm just not feeling Las Vegas right now. I'd rather be home making cupcakes. Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes to be specific.

These cupcakes contain three kinds of alcohol and are the bomb, for real. The cake part of the cupcake is made with stoudt. A center piece is of cupcake is hollowed out, removed, and replaced with whiskey chocolate ganache. The frosting top is made with Irish Cream. My friend Emily directed me to this recipe and gave a fist pump when I told her I would need her help to make them for Thanksgiving festivities. I shared them at a Thanksgiving Eve party and already have a request for a repeat appearance.

Some thoughts about this recipe:

I highly recommend investing in tools to decorate cupcakes. It's one of the reason why making cupcakes get me all excited. This pastry bag kit provides several decorating tips and disposable plastic pastry bags. I'm still learning different techniques about how to use the pastry bag. Emily taught me that you should fold over the top of the bag when you are trying to fill it as she demonstrates in this photo. Although I'll never complain about having to lick frosting off my fingers, this technique makes things a little neater and sanitary. If the frosting or ganache warms up from handling the bag, stick the bag in the refrigerator to cool it down. The Wilton website has some good pastry bag instructions and decorating tips. But, it's just as easy to jump head first into the frosting (wouldn't that be heavenly?) and just figure it out as you go.

I'm more of a towering frosting kind of girl, but the frosting was delegated (and unsupervised) to Emily. This recipe makes a small amount of very sweet frosting. It was plenty to cover the cupcakes, so I'm grateful for her agreeing to frost the cupcakes so that I could change and get ready for the party. But, if you like to be more liberal with your frosting, you should double the recipe.

This recipe prompted me to buy another cupcake pan so I could make all 24 at once the next time I make cupcakes. Makes it easier to pace yourself and evenly distribute the batter. Since I plan on making oodles of more cupcakes in the future, this investment was worth it.

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes
Source: Smitten Kitchen

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup stout (such as Guinness or a chocolate stoudt)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting (double recipe if you like frosting towers!)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys Irish Creme (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer (or a sharp knife and a steady hand will work) and a piping bag (a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Instructions
Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, hollow out the center of the cupcake. You can use a 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer to cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. Or you can just use a knife. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. These center pieces are yummy, so taste away.  Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top. If the ganache isn't cool enough, it will dribble out of the bottom of the pastry bag, making quite a mess, but a tasty mess! Be sure the ganache has cooled enough to avoid a mess, especially if you have a dog that likes to help clean up.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. Adding the powdered sugar slowly helps prevent the frosting from being grainy.

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin, add in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar and beat. Ice and decorate the cupcakes. You can use a star tip and dot the cupcake with frosting stars. To add your own touch - sprinkled the cupcakes with various colors of sanding sugar or shaved dark and white chocolates would look and taste fantastic as well.

Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)