"Death by Leprechaun" Chocolate Cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream
These decadent dark chocolate cupcakes are filled with a dollop of Chocolate-Irish Cream truffle and topped with Irish Cream Buttercream icing. They are rich, indulgent, and absolutely deserving of their name - “Death by Leprechaun.”
45 gbittersweet chocolate coins (or chopped chocolate)about 1/3 cup
1 1/2cupssugar, granulated
1/4 cupcanola or vegetable oil
3tbspbutter, melted
3/4 cupbuttermilk,or whole milk with juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2tspvanilla
3/4tspkosher salt
1egg
1egg yolk
1 1/3cupall-purpose flour
3/4cupDutch process cocoa
1tspbaking soda
1/2 tspbaking powder
Irish Cream Chocolate Truffle Filling
1/2 cupheavy whipping cream
10ozsemi-sweet chocolate chips(about 1 1/2 cups)
2tbspbutter, softenedcut into 2 pieces
3tbspIrish Cream liqueurlike Bailey's Irish Cream
Irish Cream Buttercream
1cupbutter, softened
1lbpowdered sugar(about 4 cups)
3tbspIrish Cream liqueurlike Bailey's Irish Cream
Instructions
Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 300* F. Fill cupcake tin with liners of choice.
Pour coffee over chocolate coins. Allow to sit for 4-5 minutes. Whisk together until chocolate is incorporated into coffee. Add in sugar, oil, melted butter, vanilla, buttermilk, and salt. Whisk together until combined. Add in egg and egg yolk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. Add to wet ingredients and stir until mixture is no longer lumpy. This may take a few minutes, but stick with it.
Fill each cupcake liner slightly more than ½ full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack.
Irish Cream Chocolate Truffle Filling
Heat whipping cream in a small-medium saucepan (preferably with a heavy bottom) over low-medium heat, whisking frequently. Watch this carefully - you want to heat the cream but DO NOT let it reach boiling point. As soon as you see movement of a few “below the surface” bubbles, remove from heat.
Pour in chocolate chips and butter. Allow to sit for 30 seconds, then stir together with a spatula until glossy and smooth. Be patient with this stirring - the heat should eventually melt all the chocolate. If you find that you still have lumps, return the saucepan to low heat for 15-30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat again and stir until smooth, repeating as necessary.
Transfer chocolate to a stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment for 5 minutes until bowl feels cool and chocolate is expanded in volume and thick enough to hold some shape (soft peaks is fine).
Add Irish Cream liqueur and whip for 2-3 additional minutes. Transfer to a smaller bowl, cover and place in fridge to firm up further. I find an hour is usually plenty of time.
Irish Cream Buttercream
***This buttercream recipe makes enough to spread a layer of buttercream over 24 cupcakes. If you plan to pipe larger mounds of buttercream (as pictured in this post) you’ll want to double this buttercream recipe.***
Place 2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter in bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment. Whip for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Sift in powdered sugar (sifting is a must!). Mix on low until combined and then increase speed and whip for 2-3 minutes until fully incorporated and fluffy.
Add in Irish Cream liqueur and whip for another 2-3 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Transfer to piping bag, if using.
Cupcake Assembly
This cake recipe produces a very tender and moist crumb, which is delicious, but sometimes a bit delicate in cupcake form. This is especially true when the cupcakes are warm or at room temperature. I find it’s helpful to chill these in the fridge before filling and decorating. Not necessary, but helpful.
Using a large piping tip or small spoon (or melon ball scooper), scoop a ball of cake from center of each cupcake.
Place a heaping teaspoon of Chocolate-Irish Cream truffle into each hole. Smooth down with a knife, if needed.
Ice top of cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream, either smoothing icing over with a knife, or piping design of choice on top. If desired, garnish with chocolate shavings.
Note: The truffle recipe makes more than enough filling for the cupcakes, so if you want to vary your icing types, do the following. Make one batch of Irish Buttercream as directed above and frost half (~12) the cupcakes. Combine any remaining buttercream with the remaining Irish Cream Chocolate Truffle cream in the bowl of your stand mixer and whip with a paddle attachment for 3-5 minutes until increased in volume and fluffy. Then decorate the remaining cupcakes with this frosting mixture.
Notes
Once made and iced, store these cupcakes in the fridge. Remove and let sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before eating...assuming you can wait that long. ;)