Little Darcy

To celebrate St Patty's Day, I took it upon myself to create a new flavor exclusively for ACKC (one of the coffee shops that carries my cupcakes).  When building the flavors for my new cupcake, the last thing I wanted to do was create a basic vanilla cake and slap some buttercream on top that has been flavored with Bailey's. That was too simple and certainly in my view,  expected. 

So I tinkered in the kitchen one evening and created a deep (and I mean deeeeeeeep) chocolate cake. So packed with chocolate that the cake was black. When they came out of the oven I was a bit taken back by them. They looked so morbid, so dark. But when I bit into one....I almost passed out. The cake was so unbelievably moist and the taste was dark and rich. I had two. Okay, maybe 3.

I then thought to myself about some Easter eggs I used to have when I was a little girl.  The ones that oozed gooey sweet deliciousness. I wanted the same experience for this cupcake. To find the ideal recipe, I sat on the floor of my room surrounded by all my recipe books. I searched and searched for the best filling I could find. I then came across my Great Grandmother's hand written recipe book that is starting to fall apart. In there I found an English custard recipe. It was simple and sounded divine. I made it trying to interpret the measurements as the recipe came from her Grandmother and they didn't have measuring cups back then. So eggshells of milk turned into 3 cups of milk. I also added cornstarch to make it a bit thicker and I added Bailey's Irish Cream. I love Bailey's but I wanted to use it creatively.  The custard came out insane. I really think it should be bottled. 

I assembled the cupcake piping in the chilled custard and then pondered the buttercream. I mixed a bit of Bailey's into the buttercream but then added a swirl of chocolate syrup and salty caramel. I didn't mix it in, but rather left it so you could see the swirls when the buttercream was piped on top of the cupcake.

Let me just say that eating this little piece of heaven was euphoric. Below is the recipe, you all must try it:

Chocolcate Cake:

2/3 cup of Hershey's Dark Dutch Combination Chocolate Powder (this is a new product from Hershey's. You can find it in your grocery store, I used a finer chocolate that I get from my distributor but it is very similar to this Hershey's Dutch product)

2 cups all purpose flour

1  1/4  teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

1   2/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup Hellmann's Mayonnaise (sounds weird, but trust me, it makes a fabulous cake)

1  1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1   1/3 cups water

Preheat oven to 350

Mix flour, chocolate, baking soda, Baking powder in a small bowl

In a large bowl mix sugar, eggs, mayonnaise, vanilla and water. Slowly add the dry mix slowly into the wet mixture (use an electric hand held beater)

Pour into cupcake cups and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Custard:

3 cups whole milk

8 large egg yolks

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch (if you want the custard thick, if not, leave this out. I added it)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Heat milk in a heavy sauce pan over heat until hot, but do not boil it! Whisk eggs in a heat proof bowl along with sugar, cornstarch and salt.

Add a bit of hot milk to yolk mix (about a 1 cup). Then add the remaining milk to the egg mixture and whisk whisk whisk. Transfer the bowl to the sauce pan and cook over medium heat stirring constantly with a wisk. Add the Bailey's slowly. Cook and stir until the mixture thickens.

Put the mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl. Add vanilla and butter and mix in well. Let the custard cool and place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the custard (touching it) so it doesn't develop a skin. Chill it in the fridge for at least an hour or two. Using a piping bag and tube tip, pipe in the custard into cooled cupcakes. If you don't have a piping bag or piping tips, take a melon baller and make a deep well in each cupcake and fill each cupcake with the custard. Tap the cupcakes so the custard settles in evenly. 

Buttercream (This is not my usual recipe, this one is simpler and faster):

2  cups butter

5 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream (or more if you want it more potent)

Cream butter in a bowl using a hand held electric beater

Add sugar slowly mixing it in (if not you will be wearing most of the sugar if you use the electric mixer on full blast)

Add Bailey's and mix well until smooth. You can add more Bailey's, sugar or butter to taste. If you like it really sweet, add more sugar or add more butter if you want it thicker...etc.

Gently add  a tablespoon of chocolate syrup and caramel (ice cream syrups work very well) and pipe on the buttercream.

Try to only have one. But it's hard to resist. I suggest a coffee to go with the cupcakes.

I named this cupcake Darcy because I knew a girl named Darcy, she's as sassy as this cupcake.