liquor-rific

Nothing perks me up faster than thinking of new flavors for cupcakes.  The other day I was getting ready and remembered a little gem of a cupcake that my cousin made a few months ago.  It was chocolate and orange...and pretty much looked delish.  Then it hit me.  What if I added some orange liquor to the mix?  Cue the angelic choir and part the clouds!  I patted myself on the back for my extreme culinary innovation...and headed to the liquor store.

The local booze shop is a veritable powerhouse of alcoholic choices.  Wine and Beer?  Take the door to your left, good sir.  All you future stars of an Intervention episode?  Liquor to the right!  I've taken up boozy baking as a hobby and I find myself there often.  I wish I could preface my trips with, "Oh, this giant bottle of Tequila?  No, no.  I'm not drinking this all by myself...I'm going home to make cupcakes."  I imagine the cashier will look at me and shake her head...So that's what the kids are calling it these days.  Perhaps people everywhere will start using this as their drinking catchphrase.  Downing a bottle, they will yell out "Don't worry, liver.  I'm just baking!"

At the very least, I find my trips to the liquor store an adventure in humanity.  Just last week I found myself in front of a mother and son at checkout.  I turned to look at them and realized the boy had his mouth clamped down on the conveyor belt.  Like. A. Cookie.  Yes, I know what you're thinking.  ALL those germs!  My eyes drifted to the mom wondering how she would react.  Naturally, she was staring off into space clutching onto a bottle.  I tried so hard not to judge.  Who knows?  If I had a kid like that...I might drink birthday cake vodka, too.

Oh, how I digress.  My boozy baking was waiting!  I couldn't wait to get home and whip up a batch of these darlings.  I decided to use my favorite dark chocolate cupcake recipe from the blog browneyedbaker.  I found a bar of chocolate with orange peel to substitute the dark chocolate she used in the recipe.  Total genius, I know.  I also added two tablespoons of the organic orange liquor to the batter when the vanilla goes in.  The batter looked fabulous...smooth and almost a mousse.  Into the polka-dotted cupcake liners it went!

But, oh, what happened next makes me sad.  Darn my non-stick cupcake pans.  They have ruined my baking on more than one occasion.  I pulled out the cupcakes only to find them DRY.  Gross.  There is nothing worse than a crumbly cupcake.  The only thing that made it better was the frosting I whipped up while they were in the oven (getting really, really dry).  I used the Vanilla Buttercream recipe from the same blog and added 5 tablespoons of orange liquor and only 1 tablespoon of the vanilla.  Now, the trick is to WHIP that butter for the full five minutes.  The result?  A bowl of shut the front door and eat the bowl deliciousness.  I had a very difficult time not sticking my entire face in the bowl.

My takeaway from this baking session?  Thank goodness for liquor-rific Buttercream.

Wine, champagne, liquor or beer - baking is fun when they are near!
Unleash your boozy baker.

xo,
the unsolicited baker