Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig

I think I have found one of the easiest cupcake recipes in the world. And I have to thank Not Quite Nigella for making it even easier!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my plan for St Patrick's day was to make some cupcakes using (the real) Nigella's Chocolate Guinness cake recipe. I decided to half the recipe after reading that half was enough for approx 12 cakes, however I have a tendency to be a bit blonde and was worried that I might muck it up somehow. I had a quick peruse online and discovered one of my fave bloggers Not Quite Nigella had made these cupcakes two years ago and posted the half quantity recipe online..hurrah!

As I said, the recipe is very easy and takes minutes to make. Mine rose a little unevenly, mainly because I had a bit of a "moment" putting them in the oven and managed to trip over my feet so my lovely smooth and level cupcakes went in a bit messy. However as I'm of the 'slap the frosting on and cover any mistakes' school of cupcake decorating it didn't really matter how they looked naked, I was going to slather on some Bailey's frosting and hide any baking sins!

Nigella's recipe called for cream cheese frosting but I opted to try and make some Baileys frosting - just to make them a little more Irish, and, of course, yummy. I used the vanilla frosting recipe from the Primrose Bakery Cupcakes book, halving it as it makes a HUGE amount of frosting if not, and replacing the milk for Baileys.

55g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

30ml Baileys (although I added more to taste!)

In a large bowl beat the butter and Baileys and some of the icing sugar till smooth (recipe says half but I add it a little at a time or I end up with a icing sugar everywhere!). Gradually add the rest of the icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.

I had planned to colour the frosting with some white food colouring I bought from Squires, but it smelt, and tasted a little and I didn't want to detract from the flavour of the frosting and it was a very light colour frosting anyways.

So how did they taste? GORGEOUS! The base was very moist and flavoursome, and was still moist three days later. The frosting was totally yummy and went very well with the cake - in fact I think Baileys frosting will now be a permanent feature on my cupcakes!

The top two photos show the 'naked' Guinness cupcake in all its dark and brooding glory. In the other three pics the cake is encased in some of the most fabulous cupcake cases ever, purchased from The Gourmet Cupcake Company. I have some in cerise, lilcac and black and they don't lose their colour in the oven - definitely worth investing in some if you like to bake cupcakes!

Finally, I couldn't resist a photo with my Irish gifts - guess whose husband did a gig in Dublin a couple of years ago and forgot to get me a gift until he was on the ferry home ;)