Butterbeer Cupcakes

Hey everyone!!

So tomorrow it’s my brother’s birthday, the one before he turns the big 3-0. Kinda scary huh? I’m only a year behind him.

And in light of his birthday I decided to make him something special, kinda like last year with this.

Yesterday I was bumming around the interwebs for the fun of it and I came across a recipe that I had to make.

Now for those who read the title and are geeks like me you should know what butterbeer is. If not this article should help you. 

And my brother is a geek like me so naturally we had to make it once he heard about it.

My brother helping me out

Luke checking it out.

I was geeking out the entire time we were making these. I couldn’t wait to try them!

The ingredient list:

recipe adapted from Sweet Tooth

For the cupcakes:
2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. butter flavoring
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda

For the butterscotch ganache:
1 11-oz. package butterscotch chips
3/4 cup heavy cream

For the buttercream frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup butterscotch ganache
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. butter flavoring
1/8 tsp. salt
1 lb. powdered sugar
Splash of cream or milk (as needed)

For the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each. Add in vanilla and butter flavoring.

Combine buttermilk and cream soda in a small bowl and alternate adding that combination with the flour mixture with the mixer on low, starting and ending with the flour.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks.

For the butterscotch ganache:

Melt butterscotch chips and heavy cream together using a double boiler until completely smooth. Cool to room temperature to allow the ganache to slightly thicken. Fill a plastic squeeze bottle with the ganache, and insert tip into each cupcake, filling until the ganache starts to slightly overflow.

For the frosting:

Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar and allow it to come together for about 2 minutes. Add cream a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

Pipe frosting onto cupcakes with a large tip and drizzle leftover butterscotch ganache over each.

I found a trick for the frosting, well mostly putting the frosting into a piping bag. Get the bag ready and stick it in a glass and pull the sides of the bag over the side of the glass that way it’s easier to shove the frosting in the bag and makes less of a mess.

Now as I as getting close to the end of making these and was on the clean up crew my youngest got a hold of tube of crackers. Didn’t think much of it because they were sealed. Came into the living room and found this….

Some of the cracker had escaped the sealed bag and made a mess on the bench and he continued to play with his trains in it.

Here they are!  They are nummy! My brother and I had a sample of ones that didn’t make it to the final cut {i.e. they didn’t get a wrapper}.
Now off to have a Harry Potter marathon. Now only if we had actual butterbeer to drink with them.

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