Boozy Baking Supernova

Baking with booze is not for the faint of heart. Luckily, my heart is tiny and afraid of very few things (looking at you, spiders and wrinkles), so it is something I do with frequency. I've got my go-to's: the Guinness chocolate anything, Baileys buttercream frosting, margarita cupcakes, etc., but recently, my motto has been Disaronno or bust when it comes to baking (and drinking). When I volunteered my services as the boozy baker for a big event at work, I knew I had to try a recipe that was lingering in the back of my mind. It was either going to be out-of-this-world amazing or quite possibly the worst thing ever to happen to cupcakes in the history of time and space. I live my life based on the extremes, and if you haven't picked up on it, themed desserts. I work for a science museum, so I figured it was only appropriate to have a galaxy/space decorating motif with these cupcakes. Sometimes it's better to think inside the box than out of it, I suppose. Safe theme, daring flavor: the galaxy swirl cupcakes in Baileys chocolate flavor, and, drum roll please: Disaronno yellow flavor.

Literally the greatest flavor in the cosmos.

In space, no one can hear you scream. Or eat. While there still may be calories in space, I'm pretty sure that zero gravity business and relaxed-fit space suit would help hide a cupcake addiction. That being said, let's get to the bad news: these are in no way shape or form low cal. But dear sweet baby space Jesus are they delicious. Each recipe makes 24 cupcakes. The Baileys chocolate cupcake (no frosting) is 165 calories. About two tablespoons of Baileys buttercream is 150 calories. This totals 315 calories per cupcake (yet you won't care when you're eating it, I can promise that). The Disaronno yellow cupcake is 145 calories sans frosting. About two tablespoons of Disaronno buttercream is 140 calories. Together, this totals 285 calories per cake. Not only are they even better tasting than the Baileys cupcakes, they're much kinder in the calorie department. I know a chocolate buttercream with amaretto is fantastic, but just a plain amaretto buttercream is positively divine--and the cupcake itself is my new favorite thing in the entire solar system (sorry, Pluto, you've been ousted once more). Added bonus? You can make them from a box mix...

Corner Cutting Champion of 2018.

I wanted to make this easy on myself ...it had been a long time since I'd baked in mass quantity, so to make the chocolate Baileys flavor:

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix
• The amount of eggs the box mix called for PLUS an additional egg for richer flavor (4 total)
• Nixed the oil and instead used melted butter, with the amount of butter doubled for a silkier batter (it called for 1/2 cup of oil, so I used 1 cup of melted butter).
• Nixed the 1 cup of water it called for and instead used:
• 1/2 cup of Baileys
• 1/2 cup of milk
• Dump all ingredients together and blend on medium-high for two minutes. Line your cupcake tins with liners and bake according to package directions.
• After letting your cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, remove to a cooling rack to COMPLETELY cool before frosting.

For the Disaronno flavor:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• Followed my cake jacking method and added an extra egg, subbed melted butter for oil and doubled the amount, and nixed the water, instead using half milk and half Disaronno to total the amount of water the box mix required (I think it was like 1 1/4 cup. I can't remember specifically, so I can't give you an exact amount. Just use half booze and half milk for whatever your box mix requires as a water replacement to really make the flavor shine).
• Dump all ingredients together and blend on high for two minutes. Line your cupcake tins with liners and bake according to package directions.
• After letting your cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, remove to a cooling rack to COMPLETELY cool before frosting.

Cake jacking a box mix is super easy, and it does result in an insanely rich, flavorful cupcake. Using alcohol to bake with also brings out some great flavor, so you really can't tell these are from a box, and that is all that matters when you're insane and want to bake almost fifty cupcakes in one day while also writing a grant because you're Type A or bust. I think we all just figured out why I eat my feelings. Stress goes great with sugar. And butter.

So. much. butter.

I used my old Baileys buttercream frosting recipe, but I wish I would've used all butter instead of half butter and half Crisco. I find Crisco can sometimes leave a weird after taste when mixed with gel dyes. So instead of linking to my old recipe, here's the full buttercream version of my Baileys buttercream (live and learn and eat the frosting):

• 1 1/2 cups of butter at room temp
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 5 cups of powdered sugar
• 5 tablespoons of Baileys

Now, Future Kate will thank me the next time she wants to use this recipe. I used full butter in the Disaronno frosting and it was leaps and bounds better in taste and a bajillion times easier to pipe with. By the time I finished piping the Baileys cupcakes, I may have acquired early onset arthritis. I may never be able to play video games again. The horror. Before I go into mixing and piping, let's get to that amaretto buttercream. I still have some leftover in my freezer in the event of an emergency. My definition of emergency ranges from, "House is on fire to remembered something awkward I did 15 years ago," so I'm banking on busting into that bag sometime within the next 72 hours because my backlog of embarrassing moments is rather impressive. For the best frosting you'll ever eat in your life, get:

• 1 1/2 cups of butter at room temp
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 5 cups of powdered sugar
• 5 tablespoons of Disaronno

For either frosting, start by creaming the butter for 2 minutes until fluffy. Then add in the vanilla extract, two cups of powdered sugar, and two tablespoons of booze. Blend on low until the mixture is sticky, then blend on medium-high until things mostly come together. Turn off the mixer, add in the remaining three cups of powdered sugar and three tablespoons of booze. Blend on low, then turn to high and fully incorporate everything.

Fun with frosting!

 Ever since I baked Derek's galaxy swirl mirror birthday cake  last June, I have not been able to get over how gorgeous all those colors looked together, and I've been dying for a reason to visit space (theme) again. Space...so hot right now. Zoolander references aside, galaxy swirl is still all the rage, so I'm happy to add my two cents on getting the style to your liking. I'm also available to provide my two cents on why 90s music is still the best, what things ketchup should and should not go on, and the merits of using your blinker. Book me for your next speaking engagement!

But beware, I have the mouth of a well-educated sailor.

For my galaxy swirl cupcakes, I used Americolor's electric blue and royal blue, and Wilton's violet dye. I put equal amounts of frosting into three separate bowls, and then used the following combination in one bowl: 6 drops of electric blue plus 2-3 drops of royal blue and mixed well to achieve a bright blue hue. In another bowl, I mixed 6 drops of royal blue and 2-3 drops of violet to achieve a deep navy (photos don't do it justice) and mixed well. Finally, I used 6 drops of violet and 2-3 drops of royal blue for what I call "Vikings purple" (but don't worry, it won't choke when you need it to work most). I got out three piping bags, and I added half of the electric blue to one bag, half of the navy blue to another bag, and half of the purple to a final bag. I snipped the tip off of each of these three bags and then fit a HUGE (see that trash bag on the right above) piping bag with a 1M tip and gently loaded each bag of frosting inside as evenly as I could:

My veins are bulging because this weighed more than a small dog.

You'll want to pipe out a bit of frosting until all three colors are coming out at once. Then, design however you'd like. I did a traditional swirl on half and a star mound on the other half (these are easy, start in the middle of the cupcake and just pipe a mound of frosting until it's nice and poofy). To swirl, start on the outside edge of the cupcake and pipe in a circular motion, slowly working your way to the inside of the cupcake, overlapping as needed, until you get to the middle. Pipe a small start in the center and pull away the tip:

Space! A tasty frontier!

Oh yes, don't forget the sprinkles (or it really will be a tragedy because space is sparkly whether you like it or not):

Its like Wilton knows...

Wilton has adorable gold or silver stars and edible flakes in a million colors, so find colors that compliment whatever dyes you chose for your galaxy swirl. I pipe about 4 cupcakes, stop, and add sprinkles while the frosting is still "wet" and not set.

My kitchen was so colorful!

These really were so, so pretty. I did the same style for the Disaronno cupcakes as well, mounds on half, swirls on the other:

Shinnnnyyyyy.

The mounds were super adorable, but the swirls did a better job of mixing the colors together to form a gorgeous space-themed treat. While I definitely had one of each, I'm still drooling over how good those Disaronno yellow cupcakes were, and this event was last Thursday. The amaretto and yellow cake flavors together are absolute bliss. Not to knock the Baileys chocolate cupcakes, a traditional flavor pairing, but these Disaronno cupcakes had a bold, sweet flavor, and it will definitely be a repeat recipe for years to come in my boozy baking adventures. You still can't go wrong with how rich Baileys makes any chocolate recipe, so if you're ever in the market to make a borderline ridiculous amount of cupcakes, try both! People will happily sample one of each, especially if you've done the galaxy swirl frosting--just tell them its for market research and space exploration. I've searched the universe for some of the best desserts, and these will not disappoint. 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

You'll fall into a black hole of flavor. Okay, I promise...no more space puns. This isn't Space Balls: the Blog. Yet.