Frozen Mudslide Drink - The Adult Milkshake

What's a girl to do with homemade Kahlua and homemade Baileys Irish Cream? Mudslides, of course! For my friend who, after reading the Baileys post, emailed, "That's not a cupcake. I feel so betrayed," don't worry: a mudslide cupcake is coming soon!

Frozen Mudslide Drink Recipe

Jonathan and I just happened to have a bartender friend visiting town when we wanted to make the frozen mudslides. This is how he made them, and I wouldn't change a thing!

Makes 4 frozen mudslides

• 4 oz vodka
• 4 oz Kahlua
• 4 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
• 2 pints (32 oz) vanilla ice cream
• Chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)
• Whipped cream for garnish (optional and not shown in the above photo)
• Chocolate syrup for garnish (optional and not shown in the above photo)

1. Blend all ingredients.
2. Garnish with some combination of chocolate shavings, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup (or anything else you want to throw on there).
3. Drink immediately.
   

Homemade Baileys Irish Cream - You'll Never Buy it Again

My homemade Baileys Irish Cream led to far more questions and comments from my friends than my cupcakes ever do. "What's in Baileys Irish Cream?" "Where can I get the recipe for Baileys?" "OMG! This Baileys is sooo good! Will you be posting the Baileys recipe?" Sometimes I think that I should forget cupcakes altogether and just post recipes for things that people didn't realize they could make at home. Some of my most popular posts right now are homemade grenadine (my most popular post of all time), how to make clotted cream, and homemade tahini. But, how could I ever give up on my petite frosted friends?

Homemade Baileys Irish Cream Recipe

Here is the homemade Baileys Irish Cream recipe for all of my friends, both on and offline. It's easy enough that you should have time to whip up a batch to take to your New Year's Eve parties! I found the recipe on a discussion forum on Chowhound. The entire discussion is worth a read. It contains lots of information about the drink. I am repriting it below with my notes.

• 1 C light cream (I used heavy whipping cream, which made it even richer)
  
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1 2/3 C Irish whiskey (I used Jameson's)
• 1 t instant coffee
• 2 T Hershey's chocolate syrup (I used Torani)
  
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t almond extract (I skipped this entirely)
  

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds.
2. Bottle in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. Shake before using.
3. Will keep for up to 2 months.
   

Homemade Kahlua Using Your Favorite Coffee

Making homemade Kahlua gives you the flexibility to choose which coffee you would like in your coffee liqueur. Better yet, making homemade Kahlua is easy! You may even have the homemade Kahlua ingredients sitting around your house: coffee, vodka, light brown sugar, and vanilla extract. I can guarantee that you will impress your peeps when you show up to your New Year's Eve party with a bottle of homemade Kahlua rather than a six-pack of Bud Light. The only thing that might be more impressive would be a bottle of homemade Baileys Irish Cream.

Homemade Kahlua Recipe

A Google search for Kahlua recipes will reveal that there are several different ways to make homemade Kahlua. Many of the recipes call for instant coffee. I rejected those because I wanted to be able to use good quality freshly ground coffee. Others call for letting the recipe steep for several weeks; I rejected those because I don't have the patience. I ended up using a variation of a recipe that I found on a forum about Orchids. What do orchid growers know about Kahlua? Apparently, a lot. The end result of this Kahlua recipe is blissful. It has a sweet yet strong coffee flavor and it goes down super smooth.

Makes about 1.5 liters

• 6 cups brewed coffee (Use your favorite kind! I used Goshen coffee since I know that Bride and Groom 3.0 and many of my coffee connoisseur friends love it.)
• 1 pound light brown sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 liter of vodka (If you have access to a pure grain alcohol like Everclear, you may want to use that. I simply used SVEDKA Vodka and it worked just fine.)

1. While the coffee is still hot, mix in the brown sugar.
2. Let cool.
3. Mix in vanilla and vodka.
4. Serve over ice, in mixed drinks like a frozen mudslide, or use to make a cupcake (post coming soon).
   

Panettone - Cupcake Style

Panettone is one of the few cakes that you can buy in a box at Walgreens. I've always seen the panettone there, but like the Snuggie for dogs, I just look - I've never purchased. That being said, I can't tell you if my panettone cupcakes are better or worse than the panettone cake in the boxes. But, I believe that the odds of homemade baked goods being better than their store-bought counterparts are about the same as the odds of a book being better than its movie adaptation - just about 100% (feel free to correct me, fans of boxed panettone or movie adaptions of books).

Panettone Whoseewhatsee?

If you've spent the whole first paragraph wondering what in the world panettone is and how you say it (it's pon-a-tony), here is your answer: Panettone is an Italian sweet bread with dried fruit and/or candied fruit typically served during Christmas time. I've (of course) made mine in cupcake wrappers. I got the adorable seasonal wrappers shown above and below as a gift from cousin Bryna. Thanks!!

Panettone Cupcake Recipe

To make these panettone cupcakes, I converted a panettone recipe from allrecipes.com to cupcake format. I am reprinting it below with the cupcake adaptation and my notes.

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 C warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/4 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C nonfat plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 T grated lemon zest (I used 1/4 t lemon extract and 1/4 t orange extract)
• 1/4 t salt
• 4 C unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C dried currants
• 1/4 C raisins (I also added 1/4 C dried cherries and 1/4 C dried cranberries. Feel free to add whatever dried fruit you like!)
• 1 T confectioners' sugar
• 1 T butter, melted (optional)

1. In a medium bowl, combine yeast, water and sugar.
   
2. Cover and let stand 10 minutes, or until foamy.
   
3. Add eggs, yogurt, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. Mix well.
   
4. Stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough forms into a manageable ball.
5. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary, until dough is soft and pliable, but not sticky. (You may need up to 5 cups flour.)
   
6. Place dough in a large, lightly greased bowl.
7. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
   
8. In a small bowl, toss dried fruit with confectioners' sugar.
   
9. Punch down dough, transfer to floured surface, and knead in the fruit.
10. Line cupcake tin with liners and divide dough evenly between them.
11. Cover loosely with dish towel, and let rise 30 minutes.
    
12. Brush with melted butter, if desired.
    
13. Bake for at 350 F for 25 minutes, or until cupcakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
    

Other Christmas Cupcake Ideas:

• '08 Christmas cupcake - Mulled wine cupcakes with chestnut butter frosting
• '07 Christmas cupcake - Eggnog latte cupcakes
• Honey baked ham cupcakes
• Ferraro Rocher cupcakes
  
• Baking Bites Holiday Cupcake Contest - Check out the Baking Bites Holiday Cupcake Contest for some great cupcake inspiration.
  

The Cupcake Placebo Effect

I gave Bride and Groom 3.0 and roommate Davin four pound cake cupcakes to taste. I told them that there was a slight difference between the cupcakes, but didn't tell them what it was. I will, however, tell you:

Solid yellow wrapper = Land O' Lakes Butter / Cold Oven
Striped yellow wrapper = Land O' Lakes Butter / Warm Oven
Solid blue wrapper = Challenge Butter / Cold Oven
Striped blue wrapper = Challenge Butter /Warm Oven

All four cupcakes had the EXACT SAME FROSTING!

Watch as the tasting trio spend the whole video talking about frosting differences.



I wanted to scream at the screen: "It's the same frosting, people!!!" The power of suggestion is amazing!

Unlike my tasters who tasted the cupcakes without the frosting (who all preferred the cold oven technique), Bride and Groom 3.0 and Davin used the imagined difference in the frosting to pick their favorites and ended up with different selections. I guess if I do end up making pound cake cupcakes for their wedding, there is no need to take the full hour to bake them the cold oven way - good to know.

Cold Oven Pound Cake - Do Not Preheat!

Have you ever made a cold oven pound cake? I hadn't even heard of cold oven pound cake until my friend Donna suggested I give it a try. "It's the best pound cake ever!" she exclaimed with such enthusiasm - immediately piquing my interest.

Cold oven pound cake is made using a typical pound cake recipe, but it's baked for a longer time in a cooler oven that hasn't been preheated.

Was it simply that Donna tasted a better than average pound cake recipe, or does baking cold oven pound cake really make a difference in the end result? I was determined to find out!

Is Cold Oven Pound Cake Better?

Using the exact same recipe, I baked half of my pound cake cupcakes in a preheated oven at 350 F for 25 minutes and the other half starting in a cold oven heating up to 275 F for 60 minutes. I then subjected my friends and family to blind taste tests (not that they minded).

EVERYONE liked the cold oven pound cake better! Some people went so far as to say that the cold oven ones were like a completely different dessert. The difference was in the texture. The cold oven pound cake was denser and had less of a crumb. It was what you would expect from pound cake. I'm not a food scientist (I can't explain why this works), but I would suggest that you try this technique the next time you make a pound cake.

Cold Oven Pound Cake Recipe

The key ingredient in pound cake, of course, is BUTTER. Pound cake gets its name from the fact that the classic pound cake recipe contains a full pound of butter. For my cold oven pound cake (in cupcake form), I used butter compliments of Challenge Butter. Challenge Butter is not sold here in St. Louis, but it is available in other parts of the country. I figured that if they were going to send me butter, I needed to make something super buttery! (By the way, check out Challenge Butter's website for a chance to win a 7-day/6-night trip for 4 people to the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana’s Paradise Valley, just North of Yellowstone National Park.)

The cold oven pound cake recipe I used was from Annie Laurie on Bakespace. It was one stick shy of the traditional full pound of butter. Annie says that her mother was famous for it, and I can understand why. I am reprinting the recipe below with my notes and modifications to make cupcakes instead of a cake.

Makes 24 cupcakes (Note: Read the comments on this post.  People have reported that it makes many more than 24 cupcakes.  Maybe even double that.  You may want to halve the recipe.)

• 1 1/2 C unsalted butter
• 3 C sugar
• 6 eggs (cold)
• 3 C sifted cake flour (I used all-purpose flour since that was all I had on hand, and it worked well)
• 1 C whole milk, VERY cold (I used 2%)
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t almond extract (Use any extract here that you like. I used coffee extract.)
  

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Beat in flour, one cup at a time, alternating with milk.
4. Add extracts.
5. Beat on medium-high to high speed for two minutes, scraping down sides of bowl.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
7. Place on middle rack in a COLD oven and bake at 275 F for 1 hour.
   

The Frosting

I frosted these cupcake with banana whipped cream with cacao nibs. But an advantage of such a plain cake is that you can top it with whatever flavor frosting you most love!

Flashback


This is not the first time that I have made pound cake cupcakes (although it's a first for the cold oven variety). I made mini pound cake cupcakes to dip in chocolate fondue for Valentine's Day. You might consider trying that same technique with this recipe for the holidays. If you make these as minis, simply bake for half the time.

Banana Whipped Cream with Cacao Nibs

Banana whipped cream is the ultimate in decadence for the banana lover. Use it to top even the most boring desserts (if you're short on time, you could even use a store-bought cake) and you'll be sure to impress. Mixing in some crunchy cacao nibs takes the whipped cream to the next level of dessert heaven.

Banana Whipped Cream Recipe

Tip: Most recipes that call for bananas recommend that you use overripe bananas because they are extra sweet. This requires advance planning. If you have a spur of the moment desire to bake with bananas, you can microwave a not-so-ripe banana to bring out its sweetness.

• 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 banana
• 1/4 cup cacao nibs

1. Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
2. Mix in sugar until incorporated.
3. Peel and slice banana.
   
4. Microwave the slices for 45 seconds. (This may vary by microwave. You are looking for something very soft, but not liquid.)
5. Mash the microwaved banana and let it come to room temperature.
   
6. Stir the banana and cacao nibs into the whipped cream.
   

Where Did You Get That GORGEOUS Cupcake Wrapper?

The gorgeous cupcake wrapper came from Alison of Sugar Cat Studio. I am excited to announce that Sugar Cat Studio is going to be a sponsor of Wedding 3.0!!! I'll be showcasing a variety of wrappers from Sugar Cat Studio in the months leading up to the wedding, and Alison will be creating custom wrappers for Bride and Groom 3.o's big day!

Don't wait to see her designs here, though - go check them out on her etsy site now. They would make a great gift for a cupcake lover. I adored the box they came in with the cute cupcake sticker!

Coming Soon

The cupcake under the frosting is up next.

Cupcake Gift Idea: Penguin and the Cupcake

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We spent it in New York. I didn't bake at all during the trip (hence the lack of posts). However, my mom made a cake out of my vanilla cupcake recipe. She used pumpkin yogurt instead of sour cream, which turned out to be a repeat-worthy seasonal modification.

Since I don't have a new cupcake to post and everyone's mind is on holiday shopping, I thought I would share with you my new favorite cupcake book - Penguin and the Cupcake. Let me start by saying that this is not a paid review. I did not even get the book from the publisher (I get lots of free stuff, but I'll always tell you when I do). This book was a gift for baby Myles from our friends Bryan and Anna.

Things I love about Penguin and Cupcake:

1. It's honest. Penguin says, "I decided to head north to find some cupcakes. When I was all packed up and ready to go, I spread my wings and took to the sky." The book then goes on to point out that penguins can't fly, he was lying, and he actually had to take an airplane (sure, penguins don't take airplanes either, but let's ignore that).
   
2. It's filled with environmental facts. Penguin goes to search for cupcakes because penguins are having trouble finding food due to over-fishing in the ocean.
   
3. It has things that are fun to say when reading aloud to a kid like, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
4. The illustrations are adorable. You'll have to buy the book to see them.
5. It's not girly. I am 100% positive that if we had a girl, people would have bought her tons of cupcake stuff (probably more than I would even want her to have). There is no reason why cupcakes have to be all pink and girly. Little boys can love cupcakes, too!
   
6. Penguin and his cupcake aren't on TV. I get tired of seeing kids' books based on TV shows. It takes the imagination out of reading.

Remember that bit above about full disclosure? If you buy Penguin and the Cupcake for the little someone in your life, please buy it by clicking on this link. That gives me a VERY small commission, which you can think of as your holiday gift to a cupcake blogger.

Thanks! You'll love it!

P.S. I baked today, so expect a new cupcake post soon!