Sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne of Georgetown Cupcake and TLC’s hit series DC Cupcakes are baking pros. Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with their recipe for Irish Cream Cupcakes from Cupcake Diaries. Happy baking!
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As kids, every St. Patrick’s Day, our grandmother would dress us up head to toe in green. In retrospect, it’s pretty funny since our grandparents were very Greek and probably didn’t understand what the heck everyone was celebrating on this day. We think it was their way of assimilating into their new cultural surroundings.
During the day, we would run out into their backyard, dressed in our green slacks and shirts, and drop to the ground, searching for four-leaf clovers amid the grass. Our grandfather had found one years back and always kept it in his wallet to show us. He said it brought him good luck. We desperately wanted to find one on our own to bring us good luck, too, and would spend hours going through blades of grass to see who could get their hands on one first.
We never did find a four-leaf clover all those years. Now we believe you make your own luck in life!
Irish Cream Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons European-style unsalted butter, at room temperature.
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 ¼ teaspoons pure vanilla extra (preferably Madagascar Bourbon)
- 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature.
- ½ cup Valrhona cocoa powder, sifted (may substitute another good-quality cocoa powder)
- ½ cup Irish Cream (such as Bailey’s brand or nonalcoholic Irish Cream coffee syrup)
For the Irish Cream Frosting:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ¼ cup Irish Cream (such as Bailey’s brand or nonalcoholic Irish Cream coffee syrup)
For the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a standard cupcake pan with twelve paper baking cups, and a second pan with six baking cups, or grease pans with butter if not using baking cups.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt on a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper and set aside.
Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl with a handheld electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Stop to add the sugar; then beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.
Combine the vanilla extract and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.
Reduce the speed to low. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add one third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another third of the flour mixture, followed by one third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and mix slowly until just combined.
Add the cocoa powder, beating on low speed until just incorporated.
Add the Irish Cream, still beating on low speed until just incorporated.
Use a standard-sized ice-cream scoop to fill each baking cup with batter, so that the wells are two-thirds full. Bake for 18-20 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the frosting:
Mix all ingredients in an electric mixer for approximately 5 minutes, until the frosting is light and airy. The Irish Cream will give the frosting a slightly beige color.