This may shock you {as it tends to surprise most people}, but I - a self proclaimed frill wearing, Lilly Pulitzer loving, girlie girl - kinda sorta have a thing for whiskey.
Yep, it's true.
I discovered this affinity during a college football game many {many} years ago when a guy friend condescendingly offered me a sip of his whiskey and Coke, fully expecting me to hack and gag and carry on like a sissy. Much to his surprise, I took a gulp, handed back his plastic cup and said, "Mmm. What is that?" {Innocent little me.}
Ever since then, while the girls at happy hour were ordering Appletinis and Vodka Sodas, Whiskey & Coke became my signature drink. {I've since dabbled in Scotch, too, but that's another story.}
I have no idea why I enjoy the taste so much, but I do.
You can imagine my excitement when I had the opportunity to incorporate one of my favorite libations into a birthday dessert for my friend's hubby's 30th birthday. I almost squealed with delight when she told me that he loves chocolate {my hubs HATES chocolate} and thoroughly enjoys whiskey. I knew just what to make.
Chocolate-Whiskey Cupcakes
Yes.
I'm considering making this my go-to chocolate cake recipe {maybe subbing out the whiskey with something more family-friendly for other events. Maybe.} because they were so fluffy, chocolatey and delicious. The Chocolate-Whiskey Buttercream was the perfect way to enjoy the deep whiskey flavor without the burn. And the Chocolate-Marshmallow-Whiskey-Caramel-Bacon Brittle I added as a finishing touch?
Well that, my friends, will be getting it's own post.
I know wine and chocolate is the lady-like thing to enjoy, but I don't care. Put these in front of me and I will tear into them with wreckless abandon...and I don't care who sees it.
Some days you just need to say, "Keep the Pinot Grigio. Pass the Jack."
Chocolate-Whiskey Cupcakes
Adapted from Style Me Pretty and Originally from Fields of Cake
Makes 2 dozen cupcakes when filled just under ¾ of the way
2 cups all purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 eggs
½ cup strong brewed coffee
½ cup Jack Daniels {or your favorite} Whiskey
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together wet ingredients.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and whisk until just combined and mostly smooth. {Don't overdo it, it'll make for tough cupcakes.}
Scoop batter into cupcake liners, filling just under ¾ of the way full. {These tend to rise a lot for me, so keeping them at just under ¾ creates a nice dome without too much of a "muffin top".}
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
Let cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate-Whiskey Buttercream
2 sticks butter, softened
3 tablespoons Jack Daniels {or your favorite} Whiskey
4-5 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and whiskey with the paddle attachment until light and creamy. Slowly add confectioners' sugar one cup at a time until fully incorporated, but not too dry. Beat in melted chocolate.
Add cream or milk one tablespoon at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency.
Fill a piping bag fitted with desired tip with frosting, and decorate cupcakes. Or just slather it on. No one will care if they're not pretty. 😉
I had the opportunity to eat these cupcakes and they were hands down delicious! Awesome recipe! Great cupcakes! Thanks again 🙂
Wow, your cupcakes are so pretty!!!
Aww, thanks for the compliments! 🙂
You do really beautiful work! Will you be posting a recipe for your Chocolate-Marshmallow-Whiskey-Caramel-Bacon Brittle? It sounds over-the-top good! I'm going to make some of these cupcakes and would love to include the brittle on top. It adds such a professional look.
Thank you, Amy! I will definitely be posting the recipe for the brittle... that was actually the plan this week but Friday snuck up on me and it completely slipped my mind! Keep an eye out for it next week. 🙂
How many chocolate chips do I melt for the frosting? Thanks!
Hi there! 1/4 cups chocolate chips should do the trick, a little more if you'd like it a little more chocolatey. I fixed the typo in the recipe. Enjoy! 🙂
damn, i have no idea how much a cup is... i really want to try baking those... how much is it in litres? poor german me doesn't know.
Hi Tobias, 1 cup = 240 mililiters... not sure if that helps or not! (I actually had a conversion chart printed on the back of my blog's business cards for that very purpose!) If you do make them, please be sure to let me know how they turn out! Danke! 😉
How many cupcakes does that make?
@Eden - I believe it made approximately 24 cupcakes, depending on the size of the pan/liners you use.
Okay thank you can't wait to try them
Dianna-
I'm doing desserts for my brother's engagement party. He and his fiance also love whiskey. Do you think I could use my mini cupcake tins for this?
-Leah
@ Leah - You should be able to turn these into minis. Just be sure not to overfill them and remember that it'll make about double the yield, possibly a bit more. Hope they love them and let me know how they turn out!
These look great! I am going to make them for my dad for father's day, I am not a whiskey drinker but he sure is! His favorite is Crown and I was wondering if that would taste good also or if I should just stick to the Jack?
@Katheryn - Thank you! These had a strong taste of Jack, so if your Dad would be able to tell the difference I'd use what he enjoys! I think they'll turn out just fine with Crown. :)Hope he loves them!
Would not adding the coffee majorly affect the texture or taste of the cupcakes?
@Alyssam - The coffee in the recipe doesn't actually give any coffee flavor, it just gives them a richer and more intense chocolate flavor, believe it or not! If you'd rather not use it, you could replace it with the same amount of water, but I suggest giving it a try! I don't think the texture would be affected by the substitution.
Hello...the coffee part confuses me. Do I brew the coffee first? And what kind of coffee do I use?
@Anonymous - Hi there! Yes, brew the coffee first. I just use my morning coffee which happens to be espresso that I brew like regular coffee in my drip coffee, but you may use whatever you have on hand. If you prefer to leave the coffee out, just use water, however, I think the coffee adds to the chocolate flavor.
Ok great...thank you!!
Hi Dianna,
I acutally used your recipe (swaping the whiskey for burbon) and made some amazing dark chocolate burboun cake pops. Thanks for posting such a yummy and versitile recipe.
-Leah
I always make these with Crown Royal Maple, so not only does Crown work just fine but you'd be surprised how well the hint of maple works with chocolate.
I've featured this recipe on my blog, hoping that you don't mind, but if you do, please contact me and I'll remove it. All the best.
Can I use coke in place of the coffee?
@Anonymous - Hm, I've never tried, but I'm assuming it would work. It would probably make them even sweeter, though, so you might want to reduce the sugar content a little? Let me know if it works out for you!
Would you please post a link to the Chocolate-Marshmallow-Whiskey-Caramel-Bacon Brittle recipe? Both sound incredibly yummy but can't find the recipe for the brittle. Thanks so much.
@Anonymous - The "brittle" ended up being "bark", maybe that's why it was hard to find it! 🙂 Here you go: https://www.thekitchenprepblog.com/2012/09/chocolate-caramel-marshmallow-whiskey.html Hope you enjoy!
I made these over the weekend, and they came out perfectly. I don't like whiskey as a rule, but these really brought out a lovely smokey flavour without any of the bitterness that usually makes whiskey taste unpleasant. I think my muffin pans must be smaller than yours, because I had a lot of batter left over after filling all my pans. The leftovers worked beautifully as a miniature loaf cake that we ate still hot from the oven.
hiya this may be a stupid question buuut: with the strong brewed coffee, i dont have an expresso machine would a strong brewed filter coffee do?
@Jocasta - I don't have an espresso machine, either! I just use double the amount of coffee grounds when I brew my coffee to make sure it's strong. You can also use regular brewed coffee, though the flavor will not be quite as deep.
sorry as well when we say two sticks of butter how many grams?
@Jocasta - Two sticks of butter is equal to 8 ounces or 226 grams.
Any advice on how to alter the recipe for high altitude? These look amazing!
@Anonymous - Thank you! I'm not an expert on high altitude baking since I live in below-sea-level Florida, but this article from King Arthur Flour looks like it has a lot of good info! Hope it helps! http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/high-altitude-baking.html
Perfect, thank you!!
hi there, how much cups or grams of butter do I use for the frosting ? thank you
Hi I was just wondering if I had to adjust anything to make it into a cake? I poverty the idea of using this recipe plus the icing and then adding the bark on top. But as a cake. Would that be possible?
Hi, Thank you for posting such a delicious recipe. I would like to try it out for a friend's birthday party coming up this Saturday. Wanted to ask if I can replace the oil with unsalted butter? If yes, then what would the quantity be? Thanks a lot!
@Anonymous - Hi there! I've never tried the recipe with oil, but according to a substitution chart I looked up online, you should be able to replace 1 cup of butter with 10 tablespoons of canola oil. I can't vouch for the results, but you're welcome to give it a try and report back! 🙂 Hope they turn out great!
Hi Dianna, Thank you very much for your prompt response. 🙂 Apologies for not being clear in my earlier question. I meant to ask if I could replace the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil mentioned in your recipe of the cupcake batter with unsalted butter. Could you please advise. Regards, Vipasha
Vipasha - That makes perfect sense! That's what I get for trying to answer a question while tending to a baby. 🙂 I think the texture of the cake would turn out a bit differently, however, I think it would work. I read on another site that the butter can be melted and used in place of oil in equal proportions. So for this recipe, you'd need 1/2 cup melted butter. Again, I've never tried this, so I can't say it would work for sure!
Hi Dianna, I just wanted to thank you for posting this very easy and fool proof recipe. I made these yesterday and they were an instant hit at the party! Everyone devoured them in a matter of seconds 🙂 I added some Baileys Irish Cream in the buttercream frosting instead of the Whiskey and it was absolutely heaven. I am making another batch as i write this message since i got none for myself... this batch will be only mine 🙂
Hello Dianna, I was wondering if you could tell me if you used sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder?
Hi Diana, I used unsweetened. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much for answering my question! Making them for father's day!
Hi! I was wondering about making it as a cake as well and doing a layer cake with the batter and frosting. Just curious if anyone has tried that!? My husband's birthday is coming up and that would be perfect!
@Anonymous - I've never tried, but I'm sure you could! Either that or a sheet cake as I'm not sure there's enough batter for several layers unless you double the recipe. I use cupcake/cake recipes interchangeably all the time, just take into account that your baking time will vary depending on the size of the pan you use, etc. Hope the husband enjoys it!
Awesome, thank you! I will let you know how it turns out 🙂
I love how you say that MAYBE you'll change it to something more family friendly for other event...hehehehe... Gonna try making these for my Dad's 70th, with some Bushmills...it's his favorite. Excited to try these!! ~~Julie G.
Made with gf flour, soy milk & Nuttlex. Amazing.
What would I replace or add if I wanted to not have alcohol in them
You should be able to replace the liquid portion made up by the whiskey with more coffee (I haven't tried this), but the flavor will be different, of course. They'd be more of a plain chocolate cupcake -- which is still a good thing!