St Patty's Day Irish Cream Cupcakes

Happy St. Patty's!!

I made up a batch of chocolate cupcakes with true Irish Buttercream frosting. Yes, I mean that it was made with Bailey's. Though I doubt it would be enough to cause problems, I am legally obliged to disclaim that you should be over 21 to consume these treats.

I used the devil's food cake recipe I stole from the Food Network to make the cupcake. Honest truth: It is delectably chocolatey, moist, and very light, but they don't rise to a picturesque rounded top, which is bothersome. Would it be worth sacrificing flavor or texture simply to rectify the flat-tops? I actually would prefer my cupcake to be a little more substantial (they are just TOO lightweight), so I will continue to experiment anyway. I think it's kind of funny that I'm running a business, yet I still haven't committed to base recipes. hehe. I just love trying new things too much!

Anyway, I do enjoy the taste of Irish Cream, so was greatly anticipating the excuse to finally make these cupcakes. I made a standard buttercream base (proportions: 1/2 cup soft butter: 2 cups powdered sugar) and added about 3 tablespoons of Irish Cream instead of milk. And it had just the right amount of kick and is perfectly creamy. Single complaint: Too sweet. I guess I'm getting used to my cream cheese frostings which have about half as much sugar as the regular buttercream (at least when I do it). So this frosting kind of hurts the teeth. Regardless, all who have tried them think they're quite tasty.

My other little experiment was piping a little shamrock on the top of each of them. eh. I guess I'm not so good with the decorating. It took about a dozen cupcakes to even decide what the right technique could be. It was only after experimenting on about 2 dozen (out of about 30 cupcakes altogether) that I found my shamrock groove. I probably just needed to use a less wieldy tool than my massive frosting gun (that I LOVE).

To those of you who don't have smell-o-vision installed, my apologies. For anyone else who got to share in the sweet treat for this fun holiday: cheers! *cupcake toast*