The only way to find gold at the end of your rainbow on St Patrick’s Day is with LOLA’s delicious chocolate cupcake infused with Baileys Irish cream! Baileys is a liqueur that combines cream, honey, coffee and cocoa. It is one of our favourite drinks and creates a truly decadent dessert.
muffin pan lined with 12 muffin cases or mini-cupcake pan lined with 24 mini cupcake cases
Makes 12 regular or 24 tiny
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/ Gas 4.
Put the chocolate, butter, sugar, Baileys and whisky in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Heat, stirring, until the chocolate melts and you have a smooth, glossy mixture. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
Now add the egg and salt and beat with an electric hand mixer. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into the bowl and beat until blended.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cases. Bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or a little less for tiny cupcakes. They should be well risen and a skewer inserted in the middle should come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
While the cupcakes are cooling down, make the Baileys buttercream.
Put the butter in a bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until very soft and smooth. Sift half the sugar into the bowl, beating until incorporated. Add the second half of the sugar and beat on low speed. Slowly pour in the Baileys and milk and when they are all mixed in, beat for 3–5 minutes on a higher speed.
Spread the frosting over the cold cupcakes using a spatula, or spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle/tip and pipe it on top of the cupcakes. Top with a sugar shamrock and dust with edible glitter.
Shamrock sugar sprinkles can be bought from these and other online cake-decorating suppliers: