It Takes A Long Time...

"It takes a long time to become young."-Picasso

In the fall my sister and I threw a birthday party for my dad at my house. I won't tell you which birthday it was (hint-it was a big one!). Many of his friends and even more of our family attended. There was good food and good wine and a good time was had by all. It always surprises my how fast any get together can turn into a kitchen party here on the "Best Coast". It is almost as if once a couple drinks are ingested there is this magnetic pull that drags people into the kitchen.  I am not complaining, it's fun and feels like home! I think I had close to 20 people in my postage-stamp sized kitchen, it really was impressive!

Instead of cake I whipped up cupcakes and keeping my dad and his tastes in mind I decided upon Irish Stout cake with Irish Cream frosting. The strong hint of warm spices elevated these bad boys well above a classic pink birthday cake. Bite sized and moist, they were a major success! Recipe follows!
-m

Stout Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart)

• 3 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/2 plus 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbs of ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 tbs of ground ginger
• 1 tsp of ground cloves
• 1 1/4 c of veg. oil
• 1 1/4 c of molasses
• 1/2 c plus 1 tbs packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs plus one yolk
• freshly grated zest of an orange
• 1 1/4 c of stout beer (such as Guinness) settled

Pre heat oven to 350 and line muffin tins (of choice) with paper liners. Whisk together all dry ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl combine rest of ingredients and mix on medium-low speed (either with beater or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer). Gradually add flour mixture to wet batter mixing until just combined. Pour into cup cake liners (filling 3/4 full) and bake for ~20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool and frost as desired!

Baileys Irish Cream Frosting (...good lord this is decadent!)

• 1.5 cups  of softened butter
• 4 cups of icing sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla
• 3 tbs of Baileys...nomnomnom

With an electric mixer or with the paddle attachment in your stand mixer, cream butter until smooth and whipped (approx 2 min).On medium add sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating well between additions and scraping down sides of bowl. After every second addition, beat on high for 10 seconds to aerate frosting- making it light, fluffy and airy. Add vanilla and Irish cream- beat on medium until mixed and smooth. Frost with knife or pipe as desired. Can be kept for a few days in an air tight container if needed!