Butterbeer Cupcakes

If you are a Harry Potter fan you will love this recipe. I had never made cupcakes from scratch before so this was.......well a new experience. I was browsing around on Pinterest for a recipe to make a dessert for Allen's best friend's mom's birthday tonight and a dinner party tomorrow, and I stumbled across this recipe Sunday Sweets: Butterbeer Cupcakes. She is a better blogger about it. I was going to take step by step pictures but as I said before this was my first time making from scratch so I got a little flustered and forgot to until I was half way through. But any who, here we go!

You will need:

Makes 18 cupcakes

For the cupcakes

2 cups of flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon butter flavoring

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup cream soda

For the ganache

1 11-oz bag of butterscotch chips

1 cup heavy cream

For the frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup butterscotch ganache

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon butter flavoring

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 16-oz package powdered sugar

Splash of milk or cream (as needed)

Let's start with the cupcakes. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl until combined, set aside. In large bowl, cream butter until fluffy with hand mixer or stand mixer. Add sugars and mix until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until combined before adding another. Once all eggs are mixed in, add butter flavoring and vanilla. Alternate adding small amounts of buttermilk, cream soda, and dry ingredients until combined. Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with liners and I spray them with Pam to make sure that they don't stick. Fill liners 3/4 of the way with batter. Bake for 15-17 minutes until you can insert toothpick into center and comes out clean. I baked mine for 15 minutes and they were done, but every oven is different. Cool on wire rack or counter.

Now for the ganache. I worked on this while the cupcakes were baking. In a double boiler (or a heat safe bowl over saucepan with barely simmering water) combine chips and cream until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature. And lucky for me I had some squeeze bottles on hand, makes things alot easier to squeeze into cupcakes and to drizzle later. You can find them at stores in the kitchen section for cheap. Once cooled, use a funnel to pour into bottle. Insert bottle tip into center of cooled cupcake and squeeze until ganache starts to come out of the top. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. It creates a burst of flavor to the center. Trust me its awesome!

And last but least, the frosting!!! In large bowl, cream butter until fluffy. Add ganache, butter flavoring, vanilla and salt (I added a little bit of rum flavoring too for a little bit more flavor). mix until combined. Mix in sugar a cup at a time. Add splash of cream or milk a teaspoon at a time if needed. I didn't need to. 

Now to finish up the cupcakes. I learned this little trick from my dad. When putting frosting in a piping bag it can get a little messy. What I do is I take a large glass and put bag inside folding the top of the bag around the rim of the glass. It really helps you keep the bag snug in place and easier to put the frosting in without getting it all over your hands. Don't fill it up too much otherwise you won't be able to twist the top to seal. Take out of the glass and push frosting down to bottom and twist the top shut. Now I used an open star tip but you can use whatever you like. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes and drizzle ganache over the top. 

And your done and they are ready to enjoy! I already snuck one. I just couldn't help it! And all I have to say is wow!!!!! You can enjoy it with cream soda or you can make this super easy recipe for some yummy butterbeer Easy Butterbeer Recipe

I hope that you give these a try. The really are amazing and yummy. I promise that if I make them again I will take more pictures.

If you do try them, let me know what you think of them and if you did anything different. 

Thanks for checking out this recipe! Gonna finish listening to my Josh Groban station and then I'm off to the party! Catch ya later!