Car Bomb!

Oh how I love my ladies. I've been looking forward to this month's BKT baking day all week. We had set the date and the project at our last get together a month ago. We had all seen Smitten Kitchen make the car bomb cupcakes and were so excited to try them ourselves. We always have lunch at our gathering and decided to have pizza on this dreary day. The photo portion of this post is divided into two parts, lunch and the cupcakes.

We have such a great time when we get together. We were at Toria's today and we all work so well together. Each of us does some of the dishes...we all read the recipe...we each take initiative for parts of the recipe. We are a great team. While the pizza was cooking we watched a Will & Grace rerun which is always sure to leave me in stitches. Got to love Jack McFarland. Of course there was a bit of animal harassment. Toria has two cats, Lola and Baxter. Baxter had the pleasure of getting a dab of ganache (loaded with Irish whiskey) on his nose. He proceeded to the living room to pass out. Sammy S. is on this list for harassment next month!

These cupcake were so good. I will admit that I may have gone a wee bit overboad with the whiskey in the ganache filling. It is a bit strong. But really...what harm can a little extra whiskey do? The frosting is wonderful. I love the flavor of the Irish cream. These came together much faster than I thought they would. I can't wait to have another.


Of course we all had to take our turn cleaning the bowl!

The prettiest Jewish girl I know!!

Kacey made these delicious pea and mushroom dumplings. I sort of have a thing for vegetable dumplings. I had them once in San Francisco and haven't been able to find many around here. These were really good! The extra one even ended up on our pizza!! (look at those pretty pink finger nails!)

It appears to be the hip thing to put egg on pizza, pasta, and salads lately. I've been wanting to try egg on my pizza and Kacey was willing to try but Toria wasn't all for it. I think it was the runniness of the egg that got her. We ended up cooking the egg too long so it wasn't so much runny as it was gummy. Yummy none the less.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Yield: 20 to 24 cupcakes
Source: Smitten Kitchen

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: 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 stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes.