In every group of friends, each person has their "thing"... in my group I'm coining myself "the Cupcaker". Ever since I took Guinness Cupcakes with Baily's Irish Buttercream to a friends party I'm continually asked for them again. As much as I love them, I don't want to be "the Guinness Cupcake Girl" - not that that's a bad thing, but I'm not a one-hit wonder so to speak. Wanting to play off of that I concocted a list of boozey cupcakes to try out and decided to take some to a 4th of July party. After debating the list I decided to try White Russian Cupcakes because I've had those on my list for YEARS and the opportunity I wanted to try them at never came up. For those not familiar with a White Russian - you must not have seen The Big Lebowski, and I urge you to do so immediately if you like cult-classic type movies! A White Russian is made with Vodka, Coffee Liqueur (Kahlua) and cream (or milk like I make them) so you can see why they'd make a great cupcake!
Now, I never actually had a specific recipe I wanted to try, just an idea. In order to source a recipe I must admit that I am a fanfic addict - specifically, Twilight fan fiction. One of the stories I was reading (which has been taken down so I can't link) was based on Bella owning a cupcake shop where she would develop a recipe of the day based on a quote of the day Alice came up with. The author of the story actually created a blog with most of the recipes and when I read the chapter with White Russian Cupcakes I immediately ran to the blog to check it out since they've been on my list for so long.
These cupcakes were a HUGE hit! They contained the flavors of a White Russian without being too overpowering, were moist and overall were fantastic.
White Russian Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
1 18.25 oz. yellow cake mix
1 3.4 oz. instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
4 large eggs
1/4 cup Vodka
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Kahlua, divided
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For the Frosting
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. Kahlua
semi-sweet chocolate to shave or grate for garnish
Directions
Place rack in center of oven; heat to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin wells with liners and set aside.
In large mixing bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, milk, eggs, vodka, 1/4 cup Kahlua, and vanilla. Blend on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl and increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, scrapping down sides if needed. Spoon batter into liners, filling to 3/4 full to make between 22 and 24 cupcakes.
Bake until golden and spring back when lightly pressed with fingers; 17-20 minutes. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool 5 minutes.
Brush tops with remaining Kahlua. Remove cupcakes from pans and place directly on rack to cool completely before frosting.
Meanwhile, prepare the frosting:
Place large, clean mixing bowl and beater in freezer to chill a few minutes. Remove and assemble. Beat cream on high speed until thickened - about 1-2 minutes. Stop the mixer and add sugar and Kahlua. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, 1-2 more minutes.
Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.
The frosting recipe makes enough to spread cupcakes with frosting - if you want to pipe frosting on you will want to double the recipe.
Source: adapted from Morning Boss (Take the Cake by SandyK199 fanfic blog)
Woah-these sound amazing! I love a good white russian, then make it into a cupcake and I'm one happy girl! What a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic, and the photo is just absolutely gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI'm so thrilled that you're playing show and tell with this. Can I link it to my blog too?
Sandy - Of course you can share in your blog! They were absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to try some of the other recipes in your blog. Vegan Rehab - HELLO!!!
ReplyDeleteVegan rehab is indeed spectacular. My kidsK favorite though remains Charlie's Favorite...with the vanilla icing rather than chocolate. They go nutso.
ReplyDeleteI will have to make these as soon as I deliver baby.. well, soon after!! YUM
ReplyDeleteI made these for my Halloween party last weekend, and they were a smash hit! One of my guests is from China, and she commented that she doesn't usually eat dessert in Canada because they are all so sweet, but she LOVED these because they weren't overly sweet.
ReplyDeleteButtercup - one of my favorite things about them is that they're not overly sweet. Glad they were a hit!
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