Did I mention when I made the Chocolate Beer Cupcakes for Movember how much I loved the cake? I did? Well, I’ll say it again…it’s one of my favorites from the entire year of sweets. It’s moist, yet has a nice crunchy crust on top. It’s got a very rich chocolate flavor. And if you are disciplined enough to have one waiting for a couple of days, the beer flavor becomes more noticeable. It’s just a very tasty cake. I plan to use it again and again as the foundation for many chocolate cake creations.
So I made it again. This time I topped the cupcake with a Buckeye. I did not bake the Buckeye in the cupcake, rather I placed it on top after the cupcakes had been baked and cooled. These cupcakes tend to sink in the middle after baking, which makes them perfect for tucking a little surprise on top of before frosting. And while it may seem a little tedious to make cupcakes, a candy and frosting, you can make the candy ahead of time. Buckeyes freeze pretty well, so tuck a couple dozen in the freezer the next time you make them!
I frosted these with a super rich peanut butter buttercream frosting. This is a delicious frosting and holds up well unrefrigerated should you be traveling with cupcakes.
Here are the recipes you will need for this creation:
Chocolate Beer Cupcakes
Buckeyes
Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
1 stick butter
1 cup peanut butter (I use creamy)
1 lb. (approximately 4 cups) powdered sugar
3 T. cream
Using stand mixer, mix butter and peanut butter together until fluffy. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar. Add cream one tablespoon until the desired consistency is reached.
After baking and cooling the cupcakes, place one Buckeye on top of each cupcake. Then frost over the top of the Buckeye. I used a large star tip in a mechanical pastry bag, allowing the frosting to flow down over the Buckeye.
This week’s Sweet Friend is Eileen. I know Eileen because of that silly little car I drive. I’ve met so many interesting people because of that car–and our friendships end up being linked to much more than the car. I’m not sure how an auto manufacturer has so clearly defined their demographic, but I meet lots of foodies, hardcore foodies, because of my ride. Interesting!
Eileen lives in Omaha, about 3 hours away from me. Recently she came to KC for Tour de Donut and brought my husband Candy Cane JoeJoe’s from Trader Joes. She gets it–she understands this food thing we have going on at our house! This week it was our turn for a visit. We went to Omaha and had lunch with Eileen. (And we did go to Trader Joe’s but the candy cane JoeJoe’s were already gone.) We had lunch at Blue Planet Grill, which is perfect for carnivores, vegetarians and gluten-free eaters. I had a Buffalo tofu wrap in a gluten-free tortilla. I also could have had a sandwich on a gluten-free bun or a pizza on a gluten-free crust. There were many options and it left me wishing Kansas City restaurants would get on board so I could eat out more often close to home!
While eating lunch, the conversation turned to food, baking specifically. *Surprise!* How nice to eat lunch with someone who doesn’t return my comments on baking with weight versus measures with a blank stare, who understands my giddiness about a Dorie Greenspan cookbook! Eileen has spent a considerable amount of time in Europe and lived in Germany for several years so we have much to discuss about foreign baking, more than what lunch out provided. While it would annoy many, Eileen is great to indulge my questions about food from other lands and in between talking about all of that, we snuck in a fair bit of chatter about zippy little cars, twisty roads and group roadtrips. This was a thoroughly enjoyable lunch, so much fun that I wouldn’t hesitate to drive 3 hours for lunch again soon!
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