My Wedding Cake - part 5

Here are some pics of my finished wedding cake! Everyone really enjoyed it, and I had fun making it!

This was a whiskey sponge cake with rum buttercream icing and mango curd in between each layer.

Playing with food...

AKA My wedding Cake! part 2-

I really enjoy the taking pictures part of making cakes. It's like doing a fashion shoot. It's a skill on its own.

This was a white chocolate/whiskey cake I tested out, adapted from a Peggy Porschen recipe. It wasn't whiskey-ish enough though, but it tasted amazing! Very caramel-y. I threw some lemon curd on it to see how it would taste, and of course the lemon just overpowered everything else. I would like my cake to have some sort of tropical fruit involved though. Probably mango. Maybe lime. More testing MUST be done!

OMG I'm getting married in 3 weeks. Let me freak out just for a second.

O_o

My Wedding Cake! - Part 1

I'm getting married at the end of the month!

Our wedding is going to be really small and casual. A lot of it is DIY. Like these invitations I made! Y'know, cause I'm all artsy and stuff...

And of course, I'm making my own cake! It's going to be a mish-mash of our various cultures (Caribbean/Irish), and of course will include lots of booze! I've been experimenting today, so stay tuned for more posts to come!

~Leisl <3

And a good time was had by all...

For my guy's birthday - Guinness beer chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing and little fondant skulls.

Irish Up Your Cupcake?

I wanted to do a cupcake inspired by a St. Patrick's Day game my hubby worked on. He made these cool looking 3D animated coins for it, so I decided to re-create those. Plus, it's St. Patrick's Day so it's gotta have booze right?

Then I found this awesome recipe from this blog!  It seems like it's been passed on and on and on, but the original name seems a little offensive, so I'm not sure what to name them. Irish Kiss cupcakes? Irish Up Your Cupcake Cupcakes? Ah well, they taste amazing!

The only thing I did a little differently was adding green tea powder to make the icing green. It's a more subtle color instead of that crazy tons-o-food coloring green. The coins are made with fondant and shined up with lustre dust.

Here's the recipe!

For the Guinness chocolate cupcakes:
1 cup stout beer/ Guinness
2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey's ganache filling:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
2 tbsn. butter, room temperature
2 tsp. Irish whiskey OR Bailey's Irish cream

For the Bailey's buttercream frosting:
8 tbsn. unsalted butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 - 8 tbsn. Bailey's Irish cream (use 8, trust me)
(added 1 tsp of green tea powder to make it green, or use green food coloring)

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
2. Combine stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend.
5. Add stout mixture and beat to combine. Mix in dry ingredients on low until incorporated.
6. Divide batter among cupcake liner about 2/3 full and bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.
7. To make the ganache, place chocolate in heatproof bowl.
8. Heat cream in saucepan until simmering, then pour over chocolate, let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth.
9. Add butter and Bailey's and stir until combined. Set aside until cool and thick enough to be piped (you can use the refrigerator to speed the process but stir every 10 minutes to ensure even cooling). Meanwhile, cut a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method and once the ganache is of the right consistency, pipe the ganache into the centers.
10. To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high until light and fluffy.
11. Gradually add powdered sugar until incorporated. Mix in Bailey's until smooth. Add more if necessary until frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading (if adding green tea powder, or food coloring, add it here). Frost the cupcakes as desired and enjoy!

** (optional) Decorate with excess chocolate ganache

Production Photos can be seen on my Flickr Page!