Baileys chocolate cupcakes

They look sooooo good, and they taste even better. I love Baileys! The only time I buy it though is for Christmas and for St Patrick’s celebrations. It’s a flavour that I associate with those times and wouldn’t want to change that by using it more often. If you love Baileys like I do you will really want to try my Whipped Baileys and Chocolate Truffles.

I used the gold confetti sprinkles because I thought they would be perfect for St Patrick’s or for Christmas. If you had some gold cupcakes cases they would look great!

When making cupcakes I usually use my handheld mixer because it’s a smaller amount of batter and I find it much easier. I still use my main mixer for the buttercream though because it just makes it so much lighter and fluffier. I used a large closed star nozzle to pipe the swirls fitted into a disposable piping bag. I always use disposable piping bags as I hate to wash the reusable ones! You can see the bottles I always use for my ganache below, I fit them with a very small round nozzle.

INGREDIENTS

For the cupcakes
40 g cocoa powder
2 tbsp boiling water
3 tbsp Baileys irish cream
175 g butter
165 g caster sugar
3 eggs
115 g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
for the buttercream
200 g butter
400 g icing sugar
3 tbsp Baileys irish cream
for the ganache
50 g dark chocolate
50 ml double cream
to decorate
gold sprinkles optional
baileys chocolate cupcakes

INSTRUCTIONS

to make the cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan oven and add 12 cupcake cases to your cupcake pan.
In a small bowl add the cocoa powder, boiling water and Baileys and mix into a paste.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and chocolate/baileys paste. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold the mixture until just combined.
Divide the batter between the 12 cake cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Check they are cooked by inserting a cocktail stick in the centre. If it comes out clean they are done. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
to make the buttercream
Beat your butter until pale and fluffy then gradually add in the icing sugar. Then add in the Baileys and continue to beat the buttercream until it is light and fluffy!
to make the ganache
Put the cream and chocolate into a small microwavable bowl. Heat for 45 seconds and then in the microwave without opening the door for a minute. Remove the bowl from the microwave and mix the cream and chocolate to gether until it's combined and glossy.
to assemble the cupcake
Put your buttercream into a piping bag fixed with a large closed star nozzle and pipe a large swirl on to the top of each cupcake. Pour your ganache into a piping bottle with a very small round nozzle and drizzle the ganache over each cake. You could also just drizzle it over using a teaspoon if you wanted. Sprinkle over the gold sprinkles if you are using them and your cupcakes are complete!