Boozy Cupcakes {part two}

My first installment of Boozy Cupcakes was an experiment for a baby shower I helped throw this past weekend.  It was a co-ed baby shower with lots of BBQ, beer and cupcakes!  When planning the shower we started with the invitation utilizing the colors of the baby’s nursery:

(if you need custom invitations check out my Etsy store!)

Since the shower was co-ed and this was the theme, I thought what better reason to make boozy cupcakes, right?  My only problem was there are a lot of really good sounding boozy cupcakes and trying to decide which recipes to select was hard!  I knew I’d make the Guinness Cupcakes and Champagne Cupcakes I made in part one again.  Next I decided to go with some fruity options.  So I found a recipe for Blue Moon Cupcakes over on Erica’s Sweet Tooth.  Initially I was going to also make Corona Cupcakes, then I went to the store and saw my options.

A few years back I discovered Strawberry Beer by Abita.  The Strawberry Beer is only available for a very limited time each year and gets snatched up pretty quickly.  I was completely floored that my local grocery store had this available in the “make your own six pack” department.  When I saw this I knew I was going to make Abita Strawberry Cupcakes instead of Corona Cupcakes.  I used the recipe on Erica’s Sweet Tooth’s site but cut it in half for both the Abita Strawberry and Blue Moon cupcakes.  I wanted variety not quantity so this seemed the best way to do it.

Abita Strawberry Cupcake Recipe 

3/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp pureed strawberries
1 cup Abita Strawberry Beer
1/4 cup milk

This recipe makes approximately 24 cupcakes (so halved it made 12).  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  I mixed the flour, baking powder and salt in a large 4 cup measurer and set to the side.  In my mixer bowl I added butter and sugar until it was well combined and light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time really mixing them in.  Once all the eggs have been mixed in, add the vanilla and pureed strawberries.  Mix the beer and milk together.  Alternately add the beer mixture and the flour mixture.

Once the batter is ready pour into cupcake liners and fill approximately 2/3 full then bake for 18 minutes or until the tester comes out clean.  Then poke tiny holes in the cupcakes and brush with beer. (I totally missed this direction, so I
can tell you they turn out fine without this step.)

For the icing on these I decided to go with a Strawberry Buttercream I found at Blissfully Delicious.

Strawberry Buttercream Icing

3 sticks unsalted butter at room temp
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup fresh strawberry puree
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

I started by creaming the butter in my standing mixer then slowly adding the powdered sugar a little at a time so that it blended in well.  Then add the vanilla and strawberry puree and blend until light and fluffy.  This really had a great flavor to it.

Blue Moon Cupcake Recipe

3/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 cup Blue Moon Beer
1/4 cup milk

Follow the same instructions as above but substitute orange zest for strawberry puree and Blue Moon for Strawberry Abita.  I stuck with the recipe Erica’s Sweet Tooth paired with these cupcakes.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

12 oz cream cheese, cold
6 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange
1 tsp orange
4 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Then add the orange juice and orange zest.  Once blended gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  The orange zest creates a nice effect.

I cut this recipe in half and it still made a ton!  So you might want to pipe the icing on instead of icing the cupcakes flat to use it all up.

Here is the boozy cupcake buffet from the co-ed baby shower this past weekend.