Irish Car Bombs

I have never been one to shy away from adding booze to my baked goods. So when I was looking for a fun cupcake recipe, these stood out immediately. Have you ever had an Irish Car Bomb? I have not, but if it tastes anything like these cupcakes, I would be in trouble.

More birthday delicious-ness!

Birthday cupcakes! I helped celebrate the birthday of one of my oldest friends yesterday, the big 2-6! I couldn't think of a better dessert to bring than champagne cupcakes.

Na na na na na nana ananana BATMAN

Yup, Batman cupcakes. A few months ago, my brothers best friend had a birthday. Since i don't live in Minneapolis anymore, I promised him that the next time I was back, I would make him cupcakes. That happened to be this past weekend. I asked him what kind he would like, and to my surprise, he picked something pretty simple and basic: vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Of course there was something different he wanted on them...Batman. As simple as these cupcakes sounded, I did have a bit of a hard time with them.

Baileys chocolate chip cupcakes with Baileys buttercream

Well it has been a few weeks at least since I have updated ! I baked these cupcakes for our Labor Day weekend outing. My family + significant others are going to a resort "up north" which as of last year is a new family tradition. This year we decided to do a "tasting menu" on one of the nights, so everyone is responsible for a dish. I, of course, got the dessert course. What a perfect opportunity to try out these Baileys Irish Cream chocolate chip cupcakes with buttercream frosting!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate. Need I say more?

I think I am one of the rare people that is not a huge fan of the peanut butter and chocolate combination. Yes, I enjoy eating several Reese's cups in one sitting, but anything besides that has never really been at the top of my favorites list; I think this is because I feel the peanut butter over powers everything. So when I came across these cupcakes, I went into it knowing I would probably not love these (which meant I would eat 2 instead of 10).

My first disaster

It had to happen eventually, right?

Making these cupcakes started off innocent enough, I found the recipe for pina colada cupcakes here. I made some changes though...instead of draining the pineapple slightly, I drained it all of the way and then added some Malibu rum to the pineapple and blended it together

Well...here it goes!

Alright, this marks the first entry for my blogging future! I am very new to this, so please bear with me as I learn! I want to use this first entry as a "get to know me" type thing.

Baking is something I have always been passionate about and a career I have always thought about. Out of high school, I enrolled in the baking and pastry program at Le Cordon Bleu in MN. I was there for four months and honestly did not learn a thing. After talking to people in the baking industry, I learned that the particular branch I was at was not highly regarded by professionals. So that was that, and I quit. Sad to say, that school really turned me off to the whole profession for awhile. So I went back to 'regular' school and tried out several majors...changing my mind often.

So here I find myself again...I am a year away from graduating with a geography degree and have rediscovered my passion for baking. The degree will be good to have, but i know for sure that baking is what I want to pursue. I went out one day a few months ago and bought a KitchenAid and knew that was a turning point. Over these last few months I have just been practicing things in my own kitchen. Next week though, I start a baking class at a local craft store and I CANNOT WAIT!

I am going to use this blog to chronicle my progress with things like recipes and just overall struggles/triumphs I guess.

Disclaimer: I am not good at photographing food, so I apologize in advance for the unspectacular pictures. I honestly follow a lot of baking blogs and their pictures are so beautiful...someday I will get there :) 

Also I want to send out a sappy 'thank you' to...
My family for always sticking by me throughout my indecisiveness.
My best friend and editor Tim for suggesting this whole blog idea to me! 

Enjoy and thank you for stopping by!

Me, my brother, sister and my mom (Maui '11)