The cupcakes were very spur of the moment. Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo. I thought about making margarita cupcakes or Corona cupcakes. Tomorrow is also the Kentucky Derby. Nothing says most famous horse race ever than big hats and mint juleps. I can make those other cupcakes any other time, but tomorrow is the only appropriate occasion for these.
You'll probably have to make a grocery/liquor store run for these little guys. Fresh mint and mint extract weren't things we had around the kitchen. And unless you have a very well stocked home bar, you're going to have to pick up some booze. Conveniently enough, I had to pick up some other stuff for upcoming cupcakes. Commonly, a mint julep is made with bourbon, water, sugar, and mint. You can pick up any cheap bourbon you want. I splurged and got Wild Turkey. The recipe also call for Creme de Menthe. There are clear and green. I got the green, since I like a little color in my cupcakes.
This is just your standard cupcake recipe. I added my dry ingredients one half at a time. Don't forget to scrape the bowl after each addition. When you add the milk and liquor, add it gradually while the mixer is on. I added all the milk at once, and when I turned on the mixer, it splashed everywhere. I filled my cupcakes the average 2/3 full. It would have been okay to fill them a little more. The cupcakes were done at 25 minutes perfect. Since this recipe made so many cupcakes, I had to break out one of our darker cupcake pans. I don't like these pans for a few reasons. The edges go straight down. They aren't tapered so they don't make, what I call, a pretty cupcake. Also, darker pans will get hotter and bake your cupcakes faster. My cupcakes that were in that pan can out a little more done than my other cupcakes.
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| Dark Cupcake Pan vs. Light Cupcake Pan |
The icing was a little fussy. When I mixed all the initial ingredients together, it for sure did not become creamy. It was like a lump of cookie dough. Instead of milk to thin out the icing, I used bourbon. If I'm baking cupcakes with alcohol, I want people to know. I want them to get that kick after each bite. Eventually the icing got to be more "icing like". It didn't look like much. I spread a thin layer onto each cupcake. So thin, you could see the green of the cupcake through it. I went back and added more after each cupcake had icing. It worked out alright. For once, I actually used all of the icing.
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| Weird Lump of Icing |
The mint I bought had massive leaves, so i decided to pass on that garnish. It's pretty much all for looks anyway, I would recommend passing on it too. I couple green sprinkles was enough for me and they were all ready for the serving.
Weird: the one word I have to describe these cupcakes. They're adorable. I like the perfect light green the cupcakes were. They're minty. I guess I should have assumed that much. It's sorta like eating a tube of toothpaste (which could work out, I guess, if you just at some stinky onions or garlic). They aren't boozy enough for me either. The bite from the bourbon is there, but not as strong to really know it. Maybe you could completely skip the Creme de Menthe in the cupcakes and just add a full cup of Wild Turkey. I definitely could have added more in the icing. Then you need to hope that the mint extract has enough of a minty punch to it to carry it through the whole cupcake. Maybe I should have made margarita cupcakes.
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| Green Cupcake Batter |
Cupcake Ingredients
1 c butter
2 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp mint extract
4 eggs
2 3/4 c flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 c milk
1/2 c bourbon
1/2 c Creme de Menthe
Cupcake How to
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Combine salt, baking powder, and 1 3/4 c flour.
3. Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and extracts in a large mixing bowl, until creamy. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Add the milk and liquors to the batter. Then the rest of the flour (1 cup).
4. Mix as little as possible, just until the batter comes together.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake cups. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool.
Icing Ingredients
3 c sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mint extract
2 tsp vanilla
1 stick of butter, melted
milk
Icing How to
1. Combine the powdered sugar, salt, extracts, and melted butter. Beat until creamy.
2. Gradually add milk, until the texture is right for piping.
3. When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe or spread the icing on top.
4. Garnish with cake sparkles or sprinkles, a straw, trimmed to size, and mint leaves.
from blog.hwtm.com
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