Irish Ice Cream Car Bombs

When Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious announced their annual ice cream contest cupcake, I was ready to revisit a favorite cupcake from the past year. My Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes were among the tastiest creations this year, but I thought I could make them even more delicious by adding ice cream.

I was right.

These are the perfect adult ice cream cupcake. The moist chocolate cupcakes are enhanced by rich ganache and decadent buttercream frosting with Irish Cream ice cream to cut through the sweetness like only ice cream can.

One of the best aspects of these cupcakes is they combine a room temperature cupcake, which always tastes better, with ice cream straight from the freezer. I love ice cream cupcakes, but this is the first version I've created that solves the problem of losing some of the cupcake flavor and texture due to freezing the entire cupcakes.

Irish Ice Cream Car Bomb Cupcakes
Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream  
Whiskey Ganache
8 oz. dark chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. whiskey
Irish Cream Frosting
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbsp. Irish Cream
Ice Cream
Irish Cream Ice Cream
Optional Garnish
Small chocolate cups

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat.

Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17-19 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

To make the filling, finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.


Cut out the centers of the cooled cupcakes. I used a large decorating tip to cut out the top and a chopstick to pop the piece of cake out of the tip before I proceeded to the next one.

Transfer the ganache to a piping bag. Fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

To make the frosting, use the whisk attachment of a stand mixer to whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated. Add the Irish Cream, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

There are two options for assembling the cupcakes that I found worked well. Both involve piping a thick and tall ring of frosting around the outside edge of each cupcake. One option is to dollop a small scoop of ice cream into the frosting ring immediately prior to serving. The other option looks a bit fancier and uses mini-size chocolate cups. Place a chocolate cup into the center of the cupcake, and top with a small scoop of ice cream immediately prior to serving. The advantage of this version is that ice cream doesn't melt into the cupcake if it's not served instantaneously in addition to the textural crunch of the chocolate. Both are delicious, so pick your favorite or split the batch!

Makes 24 fantastically delicious cupcakes. Don't take my word for it. Try these!

Irish Cream Ice Cream

Have you ever tried vanilla ice cream topped with a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme? Or even better ... the caramel version?

It's an incredibly simply dessert for adults. It also served as the inspiration for this ice cream. This ice cream is delicious in its own right ... but I'm sure a shot of Irish Cream drizzled on top wouldn't hurt.

This recipe is adapted from a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from David Lebowitz.

Irish Cream Ice Cream
1 cup skim milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup Irish Cream
5 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla


Heat the milk, salt and sugar in a saucepan until tiny bubbles form along the edges of the pan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, and then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat and infuse for one hour.

To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart  bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl, and pour the cream and Irish Cream into the bowl.

In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk, then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. This should take about 10 to 15 minutes.

Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Makes about 1 quart of ice cream.

Delicious Burger

No recipe ... just too delicious not to post a picture.

Latin Baked Chicken

I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light, subbing in spices rather than chipotle chile in adobo sauce since I didn't have any on hand. The chicken is moist and flavorful with good flavor but not overwhelming spice.

Latin Baked Chicken
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 8 oz. chicken thighs, skinned

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Combine lime juice, soy sauce, honey, cumin and cayenne. Add chicken, and toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Arrange chicken on a broiler pan coated with nonstick spray. (Make sure you line the bottom of the broiler pan as well.) Bake 15 minutes.

While chicken is baking, place remaining marinade into a small pan. Bring to a boil, and cook 3 minutes. Brush half the marinade on the chicken, and bake 10 more minutes. Brush remaining marinade on chicken, and bake 10 more minutes until chicken is done. Serves 4.

Chocolate Peanut Butter CheeseCake

After trying a cheesecake sandwiched between cake layers, I'm not entirely convinced why every cheesecake shouldn't be paired with cake and every cake paired with cheesecake. So, as I contemplated what I wanted to make for my birthday, I decided a peanut butter cheesecake sandwiched between two chocolate cakes coated in peanut butter frosting and drizzled with chocolate sounded appropriately delicious.

This cake does require some preparation time, but it's completely worth it. The cakes and cheesecake can be prepared ahead of time and frozen until the day you assemble your masterpiece.

I adapted my cheesecake layer from Brown Eyed Baker (although I still want to make her cheesecake in its original format).

Chocolate Peanut Butter CheeseCake
Cheesecake Layer
24 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
Cake Layers
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, divided
1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups creamy peanut butter
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
 4 Tbsp. milk (or as needed)
Garnish
Chocolate sauce
Peanut butter cups

To prepare cheesecake layer, preheat oven to 300ºF, and place a shallow roasting pan in the middle of the oven. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil on the stove. Line an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper in the bottom, and spray with nonstick spray. Wrap a double layer of foil around the bottom and sides of the pan to seal out water during the water bath baking stage.

Beat together cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar and then vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, on low speed. Beat an additional 20 seconds after scraping the bowl. Pour cheesecake into pan, and smooth the top.

Place cheesecake in roasting pan, and carefully add water to the roasting pan to fill it about 1 inch. Even more carefully, place roasting pan and cheesecake into the oven. Bake cheesecake for 1 hour or until center is slightly jiggly. (Mine took about 5 to 10 more minutes.)

Cool cheesecake completely on a wire rack, and then remove sides/bottom. Place cheesecake in the freezer until ready to assemble the cake.

To prepare the cakes, preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 9-inch round metal baking pans. Line the bottom with rounds of parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add espresso powder, eggs, 1/4 cup of the buttermilk, butter and vanilla to the flour mixture. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat for 1 minute, until blended. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Add the remaining buttermilk, and beat on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds, until just blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pans, then invert cakes onto a rack and remove parchment paper rounds to cool completely.

To make the peanut butter frosting, beat butter and peanut butter together until well mixed. Gradually add powdered sugar. When mixture gets thick, slowly incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time as needed to keep frosting spreadable. Beat at least three minutes to make frosting fluffy.

Apply a crumb coat layer of frosting to the cake using a long, thin spatula to cover the cake completely with a thin and even layer of frosting. Be sure to wipe off your spatula each time you are about to dip it back into the bowl to get more frosting to avoid transferring crumbs. Don't worry at this point about the crumbs being visible in the frosting on the cake. When your cake has a thin layer of frosting all over it, place it into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to "set" the frosting.

Once the first layer of frosting is set, apply the second layer. Start by adding a large scoop of frosting onto the top of the cake. Use a long, thin spatula to spread the frosting evenly across the top and then spread it down the sides of the cake too. Because you applied a crumb-coat layer, you shouldn't have any crumbs floating around in the final frosting layer. Garnish with peanut butter cups as desired. Drizzle with chocolate sauce immediately prior to serving.

Keep this cake refrigerated until approximately an hour prior to devouring its deliciousness. It should serve an awful lot because it's a very tall cake, but it's also a very delicious cake.