September Birthday Baking- Continued

BLUE MOON CUPCAKES!!!

blue moon + cupcake = awesome

Did that grab your attention?!  That's right, beer cupcakes.  Now, I'm not new to this baking with alcohol thing.  I've done it before and I am most certainly a fan.  This, however, was my first time using beer and not some type of hard liquor.

I knew I wanted to make a beer-based cupcake because it was my brother's 21st.  After some research I decided on using the recipe from The Bitchin' Kitchen and slightly adapting it. To be honest, they weren't the prettiest cupcakes; I put a little blue food coloring in the batter to give it a festive color...so that might be the reason (I advice against it) and I could have used some prettier cupcake liners.  But, they tasted pretty darn good! I'd describe the cupcake portion as a little wheat-y, not in a bad way, and definitely orange-y.  The frosting was perfectly orange flavored as well.  You're not going to get drunk of these cupcakes, but the beer essence is there.

Blue Moon Cupcakes (about 15 cupcakes)
6 tbsp melted butter
2 eggs, room temp
4 oz buttermilk

6 oz Blue Moon beer
2 tsp vanilla
orange zest, from 1 orange
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp baking soda

Can I be honest? I definitely added a little more beer than that.  Not too much more and not enough to change the consistency but, hello, if we're working with beer we might as well make sure we know it's there.  I'd say I used between 9-10 oz. 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Melt butter in microwave and set aside
• Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, Blue Moon, vanilla, and orange zest
• In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, flour, coriander, and baking soda
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in portions and mix in between
• Fill baking cups with batter and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until done.
• Let cool

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
4-5 cups confectioners sugar
1.5 - 3oz. Blue Moon

Directions:

• In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, butter, orange juice, orange zest, and Blue Moon until creamy.
• Add sugar, cup by cup, and continue to blend
• Chill frosting and then decorate

I chilled the frosting, like the directions called for, and even though the frosting was firm, it definitely wouldn't form pretty peaks.  I chose to simply frost them and skip that fancy stuff.  Add a slice of orange or even some orange zest and voila! you have yourself a Blue Moon Cupcake!

Enjoy!