Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes from Scratch

Cupcake in green wrapper with white frosting, green and gold sprinkles, green candies on white surface; bowl of green sprinkles behind.

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Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes from Scratch

Rich vanilla cake surrounds a 'hidden middle' crowned with a magnificent swirl of Bailey's Irish Cream frosting made with cream cheese.

Prep Time20

Cook Time25

Chilling Time for Frosting2

Total Time2 45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Irish, Southern

Servings: cupcakes

Author: Jenny DeRemer

Cost: $0.16 per cupcake

Equipment

2 12-cup muffin tins
24 paper cupcake liners
stand mixer with paddle attachment
or large mixing bowls and handheld electric mixer
piping bags or zippered plastic bags
cake decorating tip

Ingredients

for the frosting

3 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream Liquor plus more to taste, but keep in mind the liquor will thin the frosting to a degree, so add slowly so you achieve proper consistency
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese softened to room temperature
1 cup Confectioners' sugar sifted

for the vanilla cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract may also use vanilla paste
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
¾ cup whole milk

optional

3 or 4 drops green food coloring
festive icing sugar or sprinkles for decorating

Instructions

make the frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter with cream cheese, Baileys, and Confectioners sugar. Depending on your preference for frosting/decorating, scrape into a piping bag or into a zippered plastic bag with a tip. Alternatively, cover bowl with plastic film to later frost using an offset spatula.
Place into refrigerator for at least 2 hours. NOTE: this frosting will be very stiff, so you may need to allow 10 minutes or more to soften before you begin to frost. Apply the frosting only to completely cooled cakes or cupcakes.

bake the cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350°F and line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand held mixer), beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add each egg one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla mixing until combined.
In a separate bowl whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, beating until just combined. Pour in the milk and mix until fully incorporated. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
For Green Centers:
Ladle 1 1/4-cups of the batter into a small mixing bowl. Add 3 to 4 drops of green food coloring and whisk until fully incorporated. Using a short drinking glass, open a piping bag or sandwich-sized zippered bag over the mouth of the glass, one corner point down. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the green batter into the baggie and into the corner point. Seal the top being sure to squeeze out most of the air from the bag. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full with regular batter. Use scissors to cut a SMALL tip at the corner of the bag. Insert the tip into the center of each battered liner and submerge the tip slightly. Squeeze for 2 to 3 seconds, the equivalent of a teaspoon of green batter. Repeat with each battered liner.
Load into a preheated oven and bake until slightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and place on wire rack for 5 minutes before removing each cupcake from the pans and allowing them to cool completely.
Frost with Bailey’s Irish Cream frosting. Dust with festive sprinkles or other toppings.

Notes

Please Note that table salt and iodized salt are NOT substitutions for Kosher salt. Do not use table salt or iodized salt in any of the recipes you find on Not Entirely Average UNLESS specified otherwise.

Refrigerate Cupcakes Covered in an airtight container with tight-fitting lid due to cream cheese frosting. Eat within 5 days of baking/assembling.

Baileys Frosting Works Well also with this Guinness chocolate beer cake batter.

Variations and Substitutions:

- Add red (just enough to make the batter pink) or blue food coloring for sweet gender reveal cupcakes.

- Reduce Bailey's by half in a pot on the stove and drizzle the viscous glaze that it becomes over the frosting for a seriously flavor packed cupcake.

- Skip the food coloring and instead pop a frozen Rolo or frozen Hershey's Kiss into the center of each cupcake right before baking for candy middles.

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