IRISH CAR BOMB CUPCAKES

A buddy of ours from AZ flew into town last night to stay with us for a week. It is always a pleasure having him and we look forward it to every time. Whenever he simply mentions that he's only thinking about flying in, we get excited and try to hurry him up. When we were picking him up at the airport at 11:00PM, I pulled into a parking space and played with my PANDORA for a bit to find something I was in the mood for. I was looking down and saw that Stuck in the Middle with You was playing and when I looked up at R in the passenger seat to say something, I saw that a dark figure was standing just 3 feet from the window behind him and ever-so-slowly lifted a lit cigar to his mouth.

I was initially startled, but burst into laughter when I realized that it was C. R stared at me like I was diseased for a moment, waiting for the punchline because he was oblivious to the scene behind him.

Now, R & I aren't big drinkers. We're more social & a special occasion type of drinkers and C being in town is considered a special occasion. I consider C a professional drinker, he strictly drinks beer. All types of beer and loves trying different beer. He used to travel a lot across the country for his job and whenever he was off duty, he'd roam around the city - getting to know the city from behind the scenes. He mostly frequented local breweries and is currently a big fan of STONE BREWERY in San Diego, CA. I consider all beers inedible so I really have no place in saying that Stone beers are too aggressive for me. Yuk. But I love their bottles.

Anyway, to celebrate C coming into town, I wanted to make an ARROGANT BASTARD cupcake, but when I found an Irish Car Bomb cupcake, I immediately thought it was the perfect cupcake for the occasion. Both C & R are full Irishmen and they're both loving and sociable drunks. It's funny watching R trying to keep up with C because he always ends up losing and getting more drunk than anticipated and hanging all over me by the end of the night while C is seemingly un-phased & still drinking. One memory I have of the two of them on a night out was a challenge made by, I don't know who, but it involved an irish car bomb. When the bartender put the shots and glasses of GUINNESS in front of him, I said "GO!" and started counting. C finished his in 3 seconds, literally, while R finished a few sips. 

In all fairness, R hates his first glass of Guinness. He always says the first glass of Guinness is too bitter for him, but any & all after that is easy. I don't know how he can call himself an Irishman to be honest. LOL

If I had to do it all over again, the only change I would make is to add the entire bottle of Guinness instead of the one cup called for. The Guinness cake's flavor was too subdued for the Jameson's ganache and Bailey's frosting flavors, in my opinion. I also would double the frosting recipe because the amount in the recipe frosted a few more than half of the cakes. I was a bit frustrated with this recipe because it was more than just your typical, blend, bake & frost recipe. The ganache filling was an extra step that made the process seem endless. It wasn't difficult, just grueling. When I was done coning the cakes, I almost trashed the buggers because I thought the cupcake corer I bought made too big of a core. I thought ganache would pour out and make more of mess than anything else. BUT after all is said & done, I was pleased with the end results because I generally don't like chocolate anymore.

OH! And my icing gun fucking broke on me midway through frosting. I couldn't open the damn thing to refill it with icing and cracked down the middle while trying to. I was royally ticked, but not really since you get what you pay for and I only payed $5 for it. I'm gonna buy me the reusable frosting bags, believing they won't freaking break.

R grading: B- 

B grading (B): She thought the frosting was too sweet. I thought so too, but thought that it complemented great since the cake & ganache were a tad more on the bitter side.

C thought the flavor resembled a car bomb a lot and because he has eaten so may, claimed that I was going to give him diabetes.
Mom didn't get to try the cupcakes this week. Dad ate two before they left to go bowling and Grammy had one, but wanted one more when she was done. So, mom was disappointed when the weekly four cupcakes were gone. Almost malevolent, really. So, I set three more car bombs aside to drop off for her. Before I left, dad requested a dozen White Russian cupcakes to take with him to a Superbowl party on Sunday. I thought White Russians were a tad more on the girly side, especially when standing next to the Superbowl, but whatever. I'm glad to do it. One dozen is nothing, really.