Irish Coffee Cupcakes ☘️

16 Comments March 16, 2025 terrie gura

Looking in the rearview mirror can be a good thing. It was only a few years ago that I had serious doubts about my abilities as a dessert baker; my strength has mainly been with savory recipes and sourdough breads. But I’ve been working hard to trust myself, and I’m enjoying the trend I see in my sweet treat baking— especially cupcakes!

For St. Patrick’s Day, I had fun making a boozy cupcake with the flavors of Irish coffee. The treat is just for grown-ups, made with double dark cocoa, spiked with Jameson whiskey, and topped off with a swirly Bailey’s Irish Cream buttercream frosting. And did I mention that there’s also a Bailey’s-infused dark chocolate ganache tucked inside?

It’s like a little pot of chocolate gold!

I relied on a few successful previous cupcake experiences, such as the mint julep cupcakes that I’ve made twice now, for the template of adding alcohol to a batter, and also my s’mores cupcakes, for the ganache filling. And though things mostly went according to plan, there were a few bumpy spots in the road. Never a dull moment in the kitchen, and that’s one of the things I love!

Here’s what worked:

Mise en place!

First and foremost, I’ve learned the importance of getting my ducks in a row. Things go much more smoothly when I take the time to measure out and line up my ingredients. Here, you see that I’ve organized everything into the order I’ll need them. I took time to make fresh coffee for the batter, and I even measured out the Jameson and Bailey’s so that they were ready at the right time. I cannot describe how much this single practice has changed my baking game. If you struggle with getting things right in baking, maybe this will help you, too.

Being ready has changed everything for me!

The cupcake batter

As luck would have it, when I searched for a good chocolate cupcake recipe on my go-to, King Arthur Baking, one of the recipes that came up was Irish Cream Cupcakes. This became my roadmap, at least for ingredient ratios, but I took issue with the instructions because Step 2 suggested combining all the ingredients into the mixing bowl at once! I’m no expert, but I am a creature of habit, so I followed the method that has served me well in the past. It started with my Irish butter and sugar, then the eggs, and finally the dry and liquid ingredients, alternated for even blending.

This method always seems to work well for me.

My jumbo cookie scoop is perfect for divvying out the batter into the cupcake liners. For some reason, my cupcakes always fill almost to the top, and this works fine, despite most recipes suggesting to fill them 2/3 full. The house smelled amazing as these baked for 22 minutes.

The icing on the cupcake

Never would I have imagined that buttercream frosting would be so easy to make, but this one really is. I began with Irish butter, whipped until soft and somewhat fluffy, and blended with powdered sugar. The Irish butter was more dense than typical butter, so I poured in a couple splashes of heavy cream and I was back in business. Another measure of Bailey’s put a perfectly boozy finish to my frosting, which I spooned into a piping bag, ready to go for icing my cupcakes.

The Irish butter was very dense, but a little heavy cream brought my frosting back to the right consistency.

And here’s where things got a little dicey:

Boozy ganache filling

While the cupcakes were in the oven, I made a ganache to pipe into the middle of my cakes later, but ran into all kinds of trouble. I’ve made ganache a few times and found it surprisingly simple, but I’d never tried spiking it with Irish whiskey. I’ll spare you the disappointing details of all that went wrong; I trust you’ll understand when you see this quick list of my Google searches. 😅

1. “What’s the ratio for thicker ganache?”

2. “How much whiskey can you add to ganache?”

3. “Can you whip thick ganache to make it lighter?”

4. “Alton Brown method for fixing broken ganache”

5. “What can you do with grainy ganache?”

In other words, it was a failure that kept on failing until I gave up. In the end, though, I found success by starting over (thank goodness I had more chocolate) and keeping it simple, and I spiked my make-good batch with Bailey’s rather than whiskey. Still a great flavor, and the consistency was perfect. After it cooled to room temp, I transferred it to a small zip-top bag for easy piping later.

Second time was a charm for my ganache. And, we had some leftover!

Putting it all together

To hollow out the cooled cupcakes, I used my apple corer tool, but I suspect it would also be easy to cut a small circle or cone shape from the centers with a paring knife, to make room for piping in the ganache. It was tough to resist eating all those little cupcake plugs, but I knew I’d need them later to cover the ganache before icing the cupcakes. A piping bag with a star tip makes quick work of this, but there’s no reason at all that you couldn’t just use an offset spatula or even the back of a spoon to swirl some of this delicious buttercream onto the cupcakes.

You could skip the ganache filling and just top these with buttercream, if you’d like!

Irish Coffee Cupcakes

Servings: 12 cupcakes
Prep Time: About one hour total
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Difficulty: Average
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You'll want to dance a jig when you taste these cupcakes, rich with decadent dark chocolate and a boozy kick from Irish whiskey and Bailey's Irish Cream.

Ingredients

8 Tbsp. salted Irish butter, softened (see notes)
3/4 to 1 cup organic cane sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup strongly brewed coffee, cooled
2 Tbsp. Jameson Irish whiskey
2 Tbsp. Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 1/2 cups unbleached cake flour (see notes)
1/2 cup Double Dark Dutch cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt (increase to 1/2 if using unsalted butter)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 heaping tablespoons dark chocolate, finely chopped (optional, but why not?)

Notes: I used salted Irish butter and my cupcakes turned out terrific. If your butter is unsalted, double the salt called for in the recipe.

Unbleached cake flour is available on the King Arthur Baking website. It is a finer texture than all-purpose flour and yields a more delicate, refined crumb. If you cannot find it, all-purpose flour will work fine.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F, and place oven rack in the center position. Line 12 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners.
Combine flour, cocoa, chopped chocolate, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate measuring cup, combine cooled coffee, Irish whiskey and Bailey’s and set aside.
Using a stand or handheld mixer, beat butter until it is light and fluffy (this is tougher with Irish butter, I discovered). Gradually add sugar while mixer is running and continue beating until all sugar is incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to thoroughly blend.
Alternate mixing in the flour and coffee ingredients, blending well after each and finishing with the flour. This usually works by dividing the dry ingredients into thirds and the wet ingredients by half. After the last addition of dry ingredients, beat on medium speed for about one minute to help bloom the cocoa.
Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Mine were more than 3/4 full and they turned out great. Check for doneness (by toothpick test) at 20 minutes, and bake a minute or two longer if needed. Cool cupcakes completely in the pan.
If using ganache, hollow out a small plug of each cupcake’s center, reserving the plugs. Snip a small corner from the ganache zip-top bag and pipe in enough ganache to reach the top of the hole. Gently press part of a plug over the ganache. I cut each cupcake plug to half thickness so that they didn’t protrude too much, and this was a great opportunity to sample the cupcakes!
Pipe on buttercream, taking care not to overdo it. For this recipe, I had just barely enough buttercream to finish my dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients

8 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar (use your judgment for desired consistency)
A splash or two of heavy cream, if needed, for fluffy consistency
3 Tbsp. Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur

Directions

Use whip attachment on stand mixer to whip butter until soft and fluffy.
Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and continue to whip until it is fully incorporated. If frosting mixture is too dense, whip in a bit of cold heavy cream to adjust.
With mixer running, stream in Bailey’s Irish Cream until blended. Add more powdered sugar as needed to adjust consistency again. Use frosting right away or if refrigerating, bring to room temperature before piping onto cupcakes.

Note: The ganache filling is an extra layer of decadence, and a fun surprise. If you are short on time or don’t want the extra indulgence, feel free to omit it and move right on to frosting the cupcakes.

Ingredients

3/4 cup Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting wafers
1/2 cup heavy cream, heated to the point of steaming but not boiling
3 Tbsp. Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur

Directions

Place chocolate wafers into a small bowl with tapered sides, or a glass measuring cup. Gently pour hot cream over the chocolate, pressing wafers down to be fully submerged. Leave it alone for about 8 minutes.
Use a spoon, silicone spatula or small whisk to stir the melted chocolate. Work slowly at first to limit splashing. Within about a minute, the ganache should be smooth and glossy. If any small bits of chocolate remain unmelted, place the bowl into a larger bowl of shallow hot water and then stir again.
Stir in Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur and allow the mixture to cool. While it is still pourable, transfer it to a small zip-top bag for easy piping into the cupcake holes.

Old Fashioned Cupcakes

4 Comments December 30, 2024 terrie gura

When I say these are old-fashioned cupcakes, I don’t mean old-fashioned like Grandma used to make. Unless Grandma was a whiskey-shooting wild child who liked taking her crazy ideas to the stand mixer so she could have her cake and drink it, too. In which case, yeah, they’re that kind of old fashioned. It’s the kind of grandma I’d want to be.

You can bet your booty there’s bourbon in here— or, in this case, Gentleman Jack whiskey (I’ll explain this choice in a moment). And the frosting? Also boozy, with a generous splash of blood orange bitters and a shot of caramel flavor. Garnished with a candied orange wedge and a cocktail cherry, of course.

For best results, add the cherries just before serving.

I started thinking about these when I baked this year’s batch of mint julep cupcakes for Kentucky Derby, and I will admit that the result of these old fashioned cupcakes exceeds even what my taste buds imagined. They really do taste like the cocktail! The best thing about them is that, despite the complex flavor arrangement, they are surprisingly easy to make.

What goes into an Old Fashioned cupcake?

For these grownup-only treats, I followed the formula template of my mint julep cupcakes, but with different flavor enhancers. Butter, brown and white sugars, eggs. And then the old fashioned flavors, in the form of orange zest, cocktail cherry syrup and (obviously) the whiskey. Alternate the addition of dry and wet ingredients, a bit at a time, to ensure even mixing; too much of either at once and you’ll end up overmixing the batter.

This smelled like a cocktail before they even hit the oven.

As an aside, do you see what my KitchenAid did with the zest? I guess it’s best to stir that in by hand at the end! Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners and bake, then cool for a bit before transferring them to a wire rack.

My cookie scoop made quick, easy work of dividing the batter.

Why whiskey rather than bourbon?

We’ve enjoyed many a cocktail with Gentleman Jack, and I got curious what kept it from being labeled as bourbon. It is, after all, 80% corn and aged in oak barrels, and obviously produced in the U.S., so it certainly qualifies to be called “bourbon,” but the folks at Jack Daniel’s like to point out that their whiskey is charcoal-mellowed, and they consider it to be superior in every way to bourbon.

I don’t necessarily agree, but Gentleman Jack is very easy on the palate, and lower proof (80) than most of the bourbons we usually drink, which makes it lovely with the sweetness of dessert. Boozy, but no harsh bite. Now, let’s talk about the caramel notes in this buttercream!

The icing on the (cup)cake

Buttercream is not as difficult as I once feared—at least, not the kind I make. The butter should be softened at room temperature for about half an hour, so that you can press a fork or finger into it and leave an indent without the butter losing its shape. I use salted butter to accent all the other flavors.

For an “old fashioned” vibe, I spiked the butter with dulce de leche to accentuate the warm caramel flavors of the whiskey. Whip those together with an electric mixer until it is soft and fluffy before adding the sugar. If you go too far with powdered sugar, you can smooth it out again with a few drops of cold heavy cream. You want it swirly, but stable.

Keep a spatula nearby for scraping down the bowl.

The finishing touch for my old fashioned cupcakes was a drizzle of Gentleman Jack and a spoonful of Stirring’s blood orange bitters. These are sold in a larger bottle than typical bitters, and they’re non-alcoholic, which makes them less intense. This is what really gives a “cocktail” flavor to the cupcakes, perhaps even more so than the star ingredient of whiskey. If you can only get regular, alcohol-based bitters, use half as much.

I confess, the buttercream is my favorite part! 😋

Decorating the cooled cupcakes is easy as well, and if you don’t have a piping bag with a star tip, don’t sweat it. Load up a zip-top bag and snip the corner. Or go old school and swirl a massive amount on with the back of a spoon. Just keep a stack of extra spoons on standby because, no matter how restrained you think you are, you’ll be licking them. Add the candied oranges and cherries when you’re ready to serve. Cheers!

Old Fashioned Cupcakes

Servings: One dozen
Prep Time: 45 minutes total
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Average
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Whiskey, orange zest and cocktail cherries give these easy cupcakes a distinctive, 'old fashioned' flair, complete with orange bitters-accented buttercream and a cherry on top!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 pinches kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup Gentleman Jack Tennessee whiskey (or lower proof smooth bourbon)
1 tsp. real vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. Luxardo cocktail cherry syrup (see notes)
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest
1 recipe orange bitters buttercream (below)
4 candied orange slices, quartered (I found these at Trader Joe’s)
12 cocktail cherries, blotted on paper towel

Notes: The cocktail cherry syrup I used is very thick, like pancake syrup. If using thin syrup, reduce amount of whiskey or milk.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F, with oven rack in center position. Line 12-muffin tin with double cupcake papers.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In a stand mixer, or a bowl with hand mixer, cream butter until softened. Add brown and white sugars gradually, beating continually. Stop to scrape down bowl twice. Add eggs, beating after each. Stream in whiskey and cocktail cherry syrup. Scrape down bowl.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat on low just until incorporated. Beat in half of the milk, then repeat with half of remaining flour, more milk, last of flour. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl, folding in the orange zest at the end.
Divide batter into lined muffin cups. They will be roughly 3/4 full. Bake 18 to 22 minutes; cupcakes are finished when they pass the toothpick test.
Cool in pan for about 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened at room temperature
2 Tbsp. dulce de leche
About 4 cups confectioner’s sugar (depending on desired consistency)
3 tbsp. Gentleman Jack
2 tsp. Stirrings blood orange bitters (or 1 tsp. regular orange bitters)
Heavy cream, if needed to thin icing to desired consistency

Look for dulce de leche in the canned milk aisle, or use a sticky caramel topping as a substitute. You could also omit this if you don’t mind giving up the caramel accent.

Directions

Using the whip attachment of a stand mixer, or whip beaters of a handheld mixer, cream the butter and dulce de leche until soft and fluffy.
Add half of the confectioner’s sugar and beat until incorporated, then stream in whiskey and orange bitters. Add remaining sugar a few spoonfuls at a time until you achieve desired consistency. If you overdo it, whip in a tablespoon or more heavy cream.
Pipe or spoon buttercream onto cupcakes, and garnish them with the candied orange slices and cocktail cherries.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

10 Comments June 21, 2023 terrie gura

Here I go, answering my own question of “what other cocktails could be turned into a cake?” I asked this just a few weeks ago, when I presented the tiki cocktail skillet cake that put a fun, boozy spin on a pineapple upside-down cake. I started making a list of other drinks that could work, including some suggested by followers in the comments section.

Somehow, this one was not on the tip of my tongue when I first asked the question. It came about when I found beautifully ripe, organic strawberries on a recent shopping visit. I told Les I would make strawberry shortcake for Father’s Day, but he challenged me to come up with something more imaginative that didn’t involve sponge cake or biscuits (neither are his favorites). What about a strawberry cake, I asked? And he said, “that would be better, and do you think you could make it a little boozy?”

C’mon, could I make it a little boozy?! I mean, does he even know me?

My first step was to find a recipe that would accommodate a ton of fresh strawberries, plus booze. Even a novice baker like me knows that too much liquid will wreck a cake, so that was a major hurdle. The internet is full of strawberry cake recipes, and most of them are dressed-up versions of a boxed cake mix, which didn’t fit my goal. I don’t mean to be snobbish, and if you’re cool with a box mix, I’m not judging. But I’m super sensitive to artificial flavorings, colors, thickeners and sweeteners, so desserts tend to be a little more complicated for me.

Besides, my goal was to take advantage of these beautiful fresh berries that are at their peak, so I searched until I found a scratch recipe that satisfied both my palate and my baking comfort level. Several recipes in my search results leveraged a technique called “reverse creaming,” which I’ve never heard of, let alone tried. Too much experimentation at once gets me into trouble, so I passed on those. Finally, I found this scratch strawberry cake recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction blog that would be a good starting point, and I made only a few adjustments to booze up the ingredients, and one to make the process more familiar to me.

Get ready for oodles of photos on this one; there were a lot of steps for this cake, and I wanted to be detailed, for my future self as much as any other reason. If it’s all too much for you, skip ahead to the end, where I’ve included a click-to-print recipe card. You know, in the event you find gorgeous strawberries at your market, too. 🙂

I got a little excited about the berries, and muscle memory took over when I sliced them up. Without thinking, I dumped in a bunch of sugar to macerate them before I even found the recipe I wanted to use. That turned out to be a problem because Sally’s recipe specifically said “don’t” add sugar to the berries before reducing. Oops. There was obviously no undo button for that, and I had to do some fancy math to make up for the sugar I had already used. This also meant that I had to watch the sweetened puree carefully to keep it from burning as I reduced it. If this all sounds complicated, well, what can I say? Nobody has ever accused me of doing things the easy way! It worked out just fine; next time I would just puree the strawberries naked and follow the recipe for the full amount of sugar. Don’t worry, that’s how I wrote the recipe.

This is how you turn a pound of berries into a half cup of flavor.

The puree needed time to cool, so I used that down time to get my other ingredients lined up and organized. This really helped me when I made my tiki skillet cake, so I’m trying to make it a habit. It still felt like too many components, so I combined a few things that made sense to me. That puree was thick as tomato paste, so I mixed the milk into it to make it pourable. I didn’t want to forget to add a few drops of natural red food coloring, so I added that to the extracts. Finally, I prepped my 9-inch cake pans and preheated the oven to 350 F.

When the butter was softened enough to blend, I started by creaming it with sugar, then whipped in the egg whites, sour cream and extracts. So far, so good!

My next adjustment was in technique. The inspiration recipe suggested adding whole amounts of some ingredients all at once, rather than alternating dry and wet additions to the batter. Perhaps this works well for a more skilled sweets baker, but I didn’t want to take any chances with unincorporated ingredients, especially when I was aiming to please my husband on Father’s Day. I did this the way my grandma would have suggested, and poured the batter into my prepped pans, one of which was fitted with a cake strip. These things are soaked in water then wrapped around the cake pan, and the intent is to help the cake bake evenly without too much “dome.” I only used it on one layer, as I didn’t mind the top layer being rounded a bit. As it turned out, neither layer had a dome.

To achieve the “daiquiri” effect, I had swapped out some of the vanilla in favor of rum extract, and I cooked up a boozy strawberry daiquiri syrup for soaking the baked cake layers before icing. That alone was so good, I’ll have to think up another reason to make it again— and soon! The syrup was flavored with Bacardi white rum, fresh lime zest, and bits of freeze-dried strawberries, which I had processed into powder in the food processor. I’m pretty sure I’ll still be finding strawberry powder in random parts of the kitchen this time next strawberry season. Who has a better suggestion for turning that stuff into powder?

Almost finished! The cream cheese frosting got its pretty pink color from the freeze-dried strawberry powder, which put a ton of fresh berry flavor into play, without messing up the texture with too much moisture. I used an extra cup of powdered sugar from Sally’s recipe, because I wanted it to be sturdier. More lime zest and another splash of rum, and this frosting was good to go. And when I say, “good,” I mean really gooood!

Putting the cake together was the easy part! I spooned most of that boozy daiquiri syrup over the first layer, which I poked all over with a toothpick first. A little edge of frosting kept it from soaking down the sides, and then I topped it with the second layer and frosted it up all over.

The resulting cake was beautiful and very tasty. Would I change anything next time? Not really, except for skipping the macerating of berries, which I wasn’t supposed to do in the first place. It wouldn’t be terrible to double the daiquiri syrup, and maybe it would soak in deeper if I applied it when the cake layers were still warm. I might put a little extra gel coloring into the batter to achieve more of a pink look. And I’d probably save a few of the prettiest fresh berries to garnish the cake at serving time.

But even without all of that, this was a big time winner. Les loved his Father’s Day cake, and I’m conquering my fear of baking, one recipe at a time. 🍓😉

Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

Servings: 10 to 12 slices
Prep Time: About 2 hours
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: Intermediate
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This pretty cake is packed with fresh strawberry flavor, and I found a way to put a fun cocktail spin on it, too!

For the cake batter, plan ahead for the time needed to puree and cook the strawberries, as the reduction needs to be cooled to room temperature, along with the butter, egg whites and sour cream. For best results, measure out and line up all your ingredients before beginning this recipe. The ingredients and directions are split up into three components: the batter, the daiquiri syrup and the frosting.

Ingredients

1 pound fresh ripe strawberries, rinsed and hulled (these will be pureed and cooked)
2 1/2 cups cake flour (see notes)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. fine salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups cane sugar
5 large egg whites, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream, room temperature (full fat for best results)
1 tsp. real vanilla extract
1 tsp. rum extract
4 drops red food color (optional, for extra pink color)
1/2 whole milk, room temperature

Directions

Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor until smooth. Cook the resulting puree over medium low heat for about half an hour, until the berries have reduced down to about 1/2 cup volume. The mixture should be almost as thick and sticky as tomato paste. Set this aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 F, with oven rack in center position. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by buttering the sides and bottom. Lay parchment rounds over the bottom and butter that as well for easy removal of the cake layers.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat butter in stand mixer with paddle blade. Add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Whisk egg whites until frothy; pour into mixer bowl and beat with paddle until evenly combined, about two minutes. Add sour cream, vanilla and rum extracts and food color (if using); beat until smooth.
Whisk the cooled strawberry puree into the milk to create a thick liquid. Add dry and wet ingredients to the batter, alternating so that you begin with flour, then strawberry-milk, flour, milk, flour. After each addition, beat on low speed only until addition is incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times during these additions.
Divide batter between prepared cake pans. Bake 25 minutes, using the toothpick test to check for doneness. Allow cake layers to cool in the pans, set on a cooling rack for even air flow underneath. When cakes are cooled, invert onto cooling racks.

The daiquiri syrup is next, and this can be made ahead and brought to room temperature before soaking baked cake layers. The syrup uses some of the freeze-dried strawberries that are also used in the frosting. Process those into a powder during this stage, and reserve most of the powder for the frosting.

Ingredients

1/4 cup cane sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 cup white rum (I used Bacardi brand)
zest of one organic lime
1 Tbsp. powdered, freeze-dried strawberries plus small bits (see frosting ingredients below)

Directions

Add the freeze-dried strawberries to a blender or the small bowl of a food processor. Pulse about 20 times to transform the berries into a powder. Sift the berry powder through a wire strainer, and measure out a tablespoon or so to be used in the simple syrup, along with some of the larger bits caught in the mesh strainer.
Make the daiquiri syrup by heating sugar, water and rum over medium heat until slightly bubbly. Add about a tablespoon of the strawberry powder, and a spoonful of the small bits, which will rehydrate in syrup. Stir in lime zest and set aside to cool. If you’d like, you can make this ahead and keep it in the fridge, but bring it to room temp when you’re ready to assemble the cake.

For the frosting, I like salted butter because it emphasizes the bright flavors of strawberry, rum and lime. If you prefer unsalted butter, it’s an even swap.

Ingredients

1 heaping cup freeze-dried strawberries (look for them at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or online)
8 ounces full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick salted butter, room temperature
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 Tbsp. white rum
zest of one organic lime

Directions

Make the frosting; cream together the cream cheese and butter on high speed, using the stand mixer with whisk attachment. Stop mixer and add confectioner’s sugar, one cup at a time. Whisk until smooth and scrape down sides as needed. Beat in rum, then add powdered strawberry dust and lime zest. Beat until fluffy. If the frosting seems a little soft, cover the bowl and refrigerate a half hour or so, then whip at high speed for a fluffy texture.
Smear a little bit of frosting onto serving platter, then position first cake layer upside-down on the dab of frosting to prevent it sliding around on the platter. Use a toothpick to poke small holes all over the first cake layer. This will help the daiquiri syrup soak into the bottom layer of the cake.
Fill a piping bag with frosting, and lay a thick line around the outer edge of the first layer. Spoon most of the daiquiri syrup evenly over the cake layer, spreading it up to the edge of the frosting line to encourage it into the toothpick holes. When the syrup appears mostly soaked into the cake, pipe frosting all over the top and use an offset spatula to gently smooth it over the syrup. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Position the second layer of cake over the first. Use the toothpick to poke holes over this layer and gently brush the remaining daiquiri syrup over the top, stopping about one inch from the edges. This layer should have only a slight coating of the syrup; otherwise, the frosting might not stay put. Pipe a line of frosting around the edge of the top layer, then frost the sides and top of the cake.
Cover and refrigerate the cake a couple of hours before serving for best results.

Tiki Cocktail Skillet Cake

28 Comments May 30, 2023 terrie gura

On a recent grocery run, I was stopped in my tracks in the produce section by a stunning display of fresh pineapple. Their luscious fragrance caught me first, and those golden beauties were staring me in the face, just begging to go home with me. All the way home, I imagined whipping up some fun tiki drinks, one of my hubby’s favorites. I also considered making a classic pineapple upside-down cake, though I don’t have a great track record with dessert baking. It isn’t for lack of trying; rather, it’s a matter of getting into my own head in a way that messes me up. Still, I’d try it. And then, as I was putting away groceries, a crazy thought hit me.

Could it be a terrible idea to combine the two? Throw a little Comfort du Jour curveball on a pineapple upside-down cake by applying all the tropical flavors of a tiki drink? The magical combination of rum, pineapple, coconut and lime is the flavor equivalent to summer sunshine, and once the idea hit me to include them in a cake— with my good cocktail cherries, of course— well, there was no turning back!

It was every bit as delicious as it looked!

As I gathered up my ingredients to get started, I realized all at once the source of my frustrations with baking sweet treats. It’s me. Yep, it’s my own fault I’m a lousy sweets baker.

But this recipe proved I can break free of that negative self-talk. I just needed to be diligent.

My muse is frequently five or more steps ahead of my mind and my hands, and the exuberance that kicks in when I start making on-the-fly adjustments to a perfectly good recipe is exactly what gets me into trouble. I confuse myself with too many ideas for substitutions, throwing off the ratios that are so necessary for good baking results. It makes me crazy after hours spent in the kitchen on a recipe that seemed so promising at the start.

When I have a crappy result, I inevitably swear off baking— and I am using the word swear quite intentionally. Then, when my persistent muse comes around again, I repeat the whole scenario, sometimes verbatim. But for this cake, I pledged to slow down, chart my substitution ideas more thoughtfully, read the recipe (twice), and truly organize my ingredients into pre-measured amounts (not just put their pantry containers on the counter) to reduce the chances of disaster. And what do you know?— it worked!

I could not have been more organized for this project, right down to pre-arranging the pineapple!

My baseline recipe was a skillet version of pineapple upside-down cake that I found on the King Arthur Baking website, my go-to for all things baking. I imagined the wonderful flavors of a tiki cocktail and started rounding up my substitutions.

I wanted rum in the brown sugar topping, and in the cake batter itself. Sweetened flaked coconut would be great in the batter, but that wouldn’t be enough flavor so I’d swap out some of the sugar in favor of this sweet cream of coconut— the same stuff I use in a real tiki cocktail. Key lime juice would spike it with a touch of citrus, but just a touch. Almond extract would play the role of orgeat, the nutty-sweet syrup ingredient that is so distinctively tiki-ish. Our bourbon-drenched cocktail cherries felt more appropriate than the artificially colored bright red maraschinos, and it would be another touch of boozy, grownup candy goodness. And then, of course, my lovely fresh pineapple would be the centerpiece.

The cream of coconut made a big flavor difference, and I put lime juice in the rum and almond extract into the vanilla.

With my ingredients measured and in order, following the recipe roadmap was a cinch. The topping was easy, just melting together brown sugar and butter, and then boosting it with a shot of Jamaican rum. I let it get nice and bubbly, then turned off the heat and arranged the pineapple slices. The cherry halves would come later.

I creamed together the butter and cream of coconut, then gradually beat in the sugar. Next came the egg yolks, the flavorings and the flour-milk-flour-milk-flour additions. Alternating those ensures more even blending without overmixing. The egg whites, which were whipped separately, were folded in at the end and I spooned the batter over the brown sugar butter mixture that held the pineapple slices in the skillet.

What a world of difference it made to have my ingredients measured and ready!

The baking time was true to the recipe (my toothpick said so), and I inverted the cake onto a serving platter to cool. There’s a sweet spot in timing the inversion from a hot skillet; too soon and the cake may fall apart, too long and the toppings will stick and you’ll be patching them into place. Aim for 15 to 20 minutes for best results, then immediately press the cocktail cherry halves into place while the topping is still warm and gooey. Cool it completely before serving. Waiting to enjoy it was the hard part!

Dont’ rush this step, or the cake may fall apart.

I served my tiki cocktail cake with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream, spiked with more booze of course, as well as a lime twist and a sprinkling of toasted coconut.

So was it worth the trouble? Mostly, yes. The cake was really delicious— definitely boozy, as intended— and the coconut and pineapple were solid co-stars. It had the perfect hint of almond, but the key lime was barely detectable, and next time I would probably just grate a little lime zest over the cake at serving time. The boozy cherries, as much as I love them, got lost a little bit with all the tropical flavors swirling around them, but they were still a nice little nod to a traditional upside-down cake.

The biggest victory for me was seeing the success that resulted from my planning and, for once, I didn’t swear off baking when this was finished. To the contrary, I’m already imagining my next cocktail-to-cake creation. Any suggestions? 😄

Tiki Cocktail Skillet Cake

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Average
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A few thoughtful ingredient swaps turned a classic cake into tropical tiki territory. You might say that I'm having my cake and drinking it, too!

Ingredients

1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) salted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. rum (I used Jamaican dark rum)
Fresh or canned pineapple rings, drained
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or additional all-purpose)
1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. fine salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup cream of coconut
3/4 cup cane sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup, minus 2 Tbsp. milk (see recipe notes)
2 Tbsp. rum (Jamaican again)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. key lime juice
Cocktail cherries, halved (use as many as you have pineapple rings)

Having all my ingredients measured and lined up before beginning made all the difference in the world for my successful outcome. Separate the eggs while they are cold, but let them come to room temperature before you start the recipe.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F, with rack in center position.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, coconut, baking powder and salt. Set bowl aside.
Cut unsalted butter into chunks to quicken softening. Separate the eggs, keeping the whites in a large bowl to be whipped. This will be added to the batter just before baking. Combine milk and 2 Tbsp rum in a measuring glass and set aside.
While all the ingredients are coming to room temperature, prepare the pineapple topping. Melt salted butter in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add brown sugar and whisk until combined and just beginning to bubble. Turn off heat and stir in 2 Tbsp of the rum. Give the skillet a few gentle shakes to settle the mixture evenly in the skillet. Arrange the pineapple slices as desired.
Cream butter and cream of coconut together in the bowl of a stand mixer, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides. When mixture is lighter and somewhat fluffy, gradually add sugar, beating and scraping down sides as needed.
Use an electric hand mixer to whip the egg whites until light and airy but not broken. Set aside.
Add one egg at a time to the batter, beating until well combined after each. Beat in vanilla, almond and lime juice.
Alternate addition of the flour mixture and milk as follows: 1/3 flour mixture stirred in until smooth. Next, 1/2 milk mixture. Then 1/3 flour mixture, remaining milk, remaining flour mixture. Scrape down sides and blend as evenly as possible without overworking the batter.
Give the egg whites a quick whisk again, then gently fold them into the batter, taking care to mix only until the whites are not distinguishable in the batter. Gently spoon the batter over top of the pineapple topping. Use a spatula to smooth out the top.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for about 15 minutes.
Run a knife or offset spatula around edges of the skillet to loosen the outer edge of the cake. Invert onto a plate or serving platter. Immediately place the cocktail cherries into the topping, pressing gently to set them into caramelized sugar.
Cool cake completely. Cut into wedges and serve with a dollop of whipped cream, spiked with cointreau or coconut rum. Sprinkled with toasted coconut.

Healthy-ish Zucchini Bread with Drunken Raisins

8 Comments July 6, 2022 terrie gura

When it comes to eating healthier, getting started is the hardest part. I’ve had fun making rich and decadent foods for me and my husband, especially since I started Comfort du Jour. But I’m on a roll with healthy swaps in the kitchen lately, and we are certainly not suffering for it; I dare say we may be enjoying our foods more than ever, and some of that is because we are giving up guilt, but not flavor. It helps a great deal that my commitment to lightening things up is timed exactly to the start of garden season and especially to the arrival of so much fresh zucchini.

I will admit that I have been surprised by the prolific yield of our zucchini plants, given that one of the four we planted was crushed when (apparently) a startled deer fell on the trellis. The plant was tied to grow up through the trellis and there was no way to release it from that mishap without pulling up all four plants. I figured that one was a goner, but nature always amazes me with its resiliency, and I am pleased to report that after a rough start, the crushed plant has rebounded and is still producing blooms. We have literally picked squash each day for the past week, and I’m scrambling to come up with fun ways to use them all.

These beauties are coming in faster than I can use them!

I have loved zucchini bread since I was a kid, and I set out to modify an old family recipe to reduce the oil and sugar without sacrificing flavor or texture. The original recipe was handed down from my maternal great-grandmother, and it has always been delicious as written, but includes some things I don’t use in my own kitchen today, like “vegetable oil.” I had a few ideas in mind, such as subbing in Greek yogurt for a portion of the oil, and melted butter for the rest—the way I see it, if a recipe must have fats, they should at least contribute richness and flavor—and I reduced the overall amount of sugar by a fourth, using a combination of cane sugar and brown sugar (the latter keeps the zucchini bread nice and soft). As always, I also substituted whole wheat pastry flour for half of the total amount, because white flour is just empty carbs.

Fresh zucchini is the star of this treat.

There was one more special switch-up in my modern version of my Great-Gram’s zucchini bread; I had this idea to embellish the bread with rum-soaked raisins for a fun twist. But would that have been OK with Grandma? As a young adult, I had the great fortune to know my great-grandmother, but I had no recollection of her ever taking a drink, so I paused over these rum-drenched raisins. On this twist, I consulted my aunt, who also likes to make healthy changes to time-honored dishes, but still respects the family heirloom recipes, as I do.

“I think she would be delighted,” was Aunt Joy’s reply, as other family members had recently confirmed to her that Grandma did enjoy a little nip on occasion. I have no doubt that she would have accepted my other changes, and I could even imagine exactly what she’d say, in her sassy, Norwegian accent:

“Sure, just use whatever you’ve got. You’ll know what to do.”

Despite being at least 6 inches taller than her, I looked up to my great grandmother in every way. ❤

The only thing Grandma might have fussed about was just how long I had been soaking these raisins in rum, which I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit has been since, ahem, Christmas or so. I had doused them in Jamaican rum in an effort to revive them (they were desperately dry), and I intended to use them in a holiday treat but got distracted. Then I figured I’d put them in banana bread, but I kept either forgetting or changing my plan. We have moved these raisins around in the fridge for months, and by the time the zucchini started coming in, they weren’t just tipsy, they were plain drunk!

There are worse things to be soaked in than rum.

Obviously, not everyone has a bowlful of drunken raisins hanging around, and that’s perfectly fine. Soaking for a few hours or a couple of days will get the job done, and as the rum (or bourbon or orange juice or whatever you use) absorbs into the dried fruit, the natural sugars seep out into the liquid, forming a syrup of sorts. That sweetness adds the special something to this zucchini bread, and you honestly don’t taste any alcohol. It’s more about making them super plump before baking, as you can see in these juicy jewels of sweetness, nestled in among the toasted walnuts and all those shreds of fresh zucchini.

To get this recipe started, I first wrote down all the substitutions I planned to make, and I also cut my Great-Gram’s recipe in half, because her instructions were for two loaves. I find it challenging to change a recipe on the fly, and I probably should have mentioned that when I wrote about “the problem with recipes,” given that it is a frequent challenge for me. We have a small household—just me and my husband—and unless I am cooking to entertain, I like to make things in small amounts. I wrote out the exact amounts of all the ingredients I’d be using for a single loaf, and arranged them on the counter. At our house, we call it mise en place, the French term that means, “all in its place, lined up, ready to go.”

If I don’t set it up this way, I will forget something!

The eggs were whipped first, and I started with a hand whisk but quickly switched to my electric mixer with the single whisk head attachment. Despite my excitement in outfitting my kitchen with new, upgraded small appliances, I have thus far refused to replace my handheld mixer that I have had since the late 90s. There isn’t anything special about it, except that it was made in the USA and still works great after all these years. My Great-Gram probably had one just like it, and she would heartily agree that “they don’t make things like they used to.” After the eggs are whipped and foamy, I added the sugar, a little at a time. Then the yogurt and melted butter. The original recipe didn’t call for the vanilla yet, but I find it easier to mix that into a batter with the wet ingredients, so in it went.

The dry ingredients got whisked together in their bowl—this is important, because you don’t want the baking soda or cinnamon to clump up when they hit the wet ingredients—and they were added to the egg mixture a little at a time, alternated with the shredded zucchini. Blending and folding a little of each in stages ensures more even mixing without overworking the batter (which would make the bread tough).

Finally, the drunken raisins and toasted walnuts were folded into the batter, and my modernized, somewhat health-ified version of zucchini bread was ready for the oven!

Grandma’s recipe said to grease and flour the pan, but I made a hammock of parchment paper instead, for easy lifting of the finished loaf. I’ve never liked inverting a soft loaf of quick bread; it’s too easy to break it and I don’t care for the unsightly rack marks it leaves on top. No oil or greasing is necessary here—just lay the parchment into the pan with a bit of a flap hanging over each long side, and then pour in the batter. For a nice crunch on top of the loaf, I sprinkled on a tablespoon of turbinado sugar just before baking.

The house smelled sooo good while this was baking, and 55 minutes later, a clean toothpick confirmed it was done. There’s no doubt, this quick bread would be a winner with my great grandmother. It’s packed with plenty of garden-fresh zucchini, and with reduced fat and sugar—plus the substitution of whole grains—I can enjoy it for breakfast or dessert without guilt.

Healthy-ish Zucchini Bread with Drunken Raisins

Servings: about 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Difficulty: average
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I’ve made a few “lighter” adjustments to a family heirloom recipe, and the result was delicious. My raisins were soaked in rum, but you could also use whiskey or bourbon, or skip the alcohol and soak them instead in orange or apple juice.

Ingredients

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar; I did halvsies of white and brown sugar
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (stir it well before measuring)
4 Tbsp. melted butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
a few scrapes freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup grated zucchini (unpeeled, large holes on a box grater)
½ cup raisins (soak them at least a few hours, with just enough rum to cover them)
½ cup chopped walnuts, optional (I toasted them in the oven 8 minutes first)
½ tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. turbinado sugar (for sprinkling over the surface of the batter before baking)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Toast walnuts if using, and allow them to cool while you prep the batter.
Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
Use a handheld mixer to beat the eggs until they are light-colored and fluffy. Add sugar gradually, blending to dissolve and fully incorporate it. Blend in yogurt and then butter.
Using a silicone spatula, fold 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, alternating with 1/2 grated zucchini and repeat, ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in raisins and walnuts.
Pour batter into non-stick (or greased, floured) bread pan. I laid in a sling of parchment, so I could lift the baked bread out rather than inverting it. Sprinkle the surface evenly with turbinado sugar.
Bake in lower third of oven for 55 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool at least 20 minutes in pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

This zucchini bread is delicious when served warm. Wrap leftovers snugly in aluminum foil at room temperature or refrigerate for longer storage.

Black Forest Cake

11 Comments January 27, 2022 terrie gura

Before we get into it, I’d like to issue my own disclaimer about the inauthenticity of this recipe as a “Black Forest” cake. Any purist would quickly point out that a true, German Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte would be more of a spongy chocolate cake, soaked with kirsch (a clear cherry liqueur) and decorated with whipped cream, sour cherries and shavings of chocolate. But when is the last time you remember me sticking to tradition?

My version of this cake is a departure in almost every category, save for the chocolate and cherry flavors. Cake baking is not in my wheelhouse, so I went for a recipe that I knew I could count on—a sourdough chocolate cake from King Arthur Baking that has served me well before—and I adjusted the fillings to match it. My whipped cream filling is enhanced with mascarpone, making it more substantial to support the sturdy cake. The cake itself is not super sweet, so the cherries had to be. And kirsch liqueur (or any cherry liqueur, for that matter) is nowhere to be found in our liquor stores, so I reached straight for what’s plentiful at our house—bourbon, and that was a very good call.

The cake is not difficult to make, but it is fussy enough that it deserves a special occasion. I was going to save this until the week of Valentine’s Day, but my husband heard on his favorite sports talk show this morning that today is National Chocolate Cake Day, so, heck yeah! We might as well get a jump start on swooning over it. 😉

Every slice has a great balance of cherry and chocolate. Who cares if it isn’t a *true* Black Forest cake? 🙂

We splurged on this decadent, multi-layer dessert to finish our New Year’s Eve meal of White Clam Pizza and our newest addition, the Oysters Rockefeller Pizza, and the cake was delicious for the occasion (and, remarkably, just as good later as leftovers straight from the fridge).

Frosting a cake requires patience that I do not have (especially at the holidays), so I went for a more rustic appearance, which also afforded us a glimpse of the yumminess that was to come, in the form of mascarpone cream and cherries hanging out the sides. There was no whipped cream wrapped around the outside of my cake and no shavings of chocolate, as one would find on a true Black Forest Cake. But it was delicious, with a capital D.

My layers were a little uneven, but the flavors were phenomenal.

So, is it authentic Black Forest Cake? No, but “Sourdough Dark Chocolate Cake with Bourbon-Soaked Cherry and Mascarpone Filling with Ganache Topping” is a mouthful. Plus, it didn’t fit in the title box. 😉

Ingredients

1 recipe Sourdough Chocolate Cake | King Arthur Baking, baked in 9-inch layer pans* (see instruction notes)

Bourbon Cherries and Syrup

1 lb. bag frozen dark sweet cherries

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened black cherry juice

2 oz. bourbon

Mascarpone Filling

1 cup heavy cream

8 oz. tub mascarpone

1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 tsp. real vanilla extract

Ganache Topping

8 oz. dark melting chocolate wafers

1 cup heavy cream

1 oz. amaretto (optional)

8 bourbon cherries or morello cherries, with stems (for decorating cake top)

Instructions

Bake the cake as instructed on King Arthur website. I followed the instructions with one ingredient adjustment; I replaced half of the natural cocoa with KA’s Double Dark Dutch Cocoa. I am crazy about the deep, dark color and chocolate flavor! Also, I baked it in two buttered and cocoa-dusted 9-inch layer pans rather than the 9 x 13 that was suggested, and the cake was done in 30 minutes. Cool the cake layers completely before removing them from the pans.

Not riding the sourdough train? No problem; use any other dark chocolate cake recipe you like, provided the layers are sturdy.

For the cherry syrup, mascarpone filling and shiny ganache topping, I’ll provide a visual walkthrough, and you can scroll to the bottom of the post for a printable recipe if you want to give it a go in your kitchen. Happy Chocolate Cake Day! 🙂

Combine the frozen cherries and sugar in a saucepan.
Add the unsweetened black cherry juice and bring to a slight boil.
When the syrup has simmered a few minutes, drain the cherries into a bowl and return the syrup to the pan.
Pour bourbon over the strained cherries and steep until they are cooled.
Simmer the syrup over medium heat until reduced to 2/3 cup.
Drain the cherries again and add the bourbon syrup to the other syrup.
Transfer the syrup into a squeeze bottle if you have one; I found it an easy way to distribute the syrup over the cake layers.
Sift powdered sugar into the heavy cream.
Whip the sweetened cream until soft and lightly fluffy.
Add the mascarpone and whip on low speed until until combined.
Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the syrup into the mascarpone and fold until blended.
Transfer the mascarpone cream to a large zip-top bag and put it in the refrigerator.
To slice the cake layers, I used a long piece of unflavored dental floss.
The layers may not be totally perfect, but that’s OK.
When you’re ready to assemble the cake, smear a small amount of mascarpone cream onto the cake platter to stabilize the first layer.
Drizzle about 1/3 of the cherry syrup over the cut side of the cake layer.
The syrup will soak into the cake, drenching every bite with the bourbon-cherry flavors.
Snip the corner of the mascarpone cream bag and pipe about 1/4 of it onto the soaked cake layer. Spread gently to get more coverage, or just fill in with a few dots of additional cream.
Arrange 1/3 of the drunken cherries onto the mascarpone cream. Repeat with the next two layers, saving a rounded piece for the top.
Pipe some of the remaining mascarpone cream around the top edge of the final layer. Refrigerate the cake while you make the ganache.
To make the ganache, heat heavy cream over medium-low heat until steaming. Pour over chocolate and leave it alone for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, blend with a whisk, stirring mainly in the center of the bowl.
At first, it will seem like it isn’t working, but stay with it.
Aha! Continue to whisk until the entire mixture is smooth and chocolatey.
This is what my ganache looked like after only one minute of whisking.
Stir in a small amount of corn syrup for a glossy shine and to keep the sugars from crystallizing.
Just for fun, I whisked in a half shot of amaretto. We like it in bourbon-cherry cocktails, and it worked here as well.
Slowly pour the cooled ganache onto the cake. The ganache will run off the center of the cake, but the mascarpone will keep it from running off. Keep pouring.
I poured the ganache right to the top of the edge. When the ganache has set, cover and refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.
Just before serving, pipe on the last bit of mascarpone cream, making little cushions for the bourbon cherries. Serve immediately.
The cake keeps very well in the fridge, and we decided the flavors were even better after a day or two!