Ganache-Filled Cupcakes

Last week was not only St. Patrick's Day, but also one of my best friend's birthdays. Since my husband and I officially became a couple more-or-less on St. Patty's Day (7 years ago!), we didn't always get to celebrate with her. The festivities would also almost always fall on the night before the Shamrock Run, an annual run in downtown Portland that I had done for 7 years. This year, I decided to skip the race since it was the day after St. Patty's Day and I wanted to be there for the party. My friends have an ideal house for a party and there was plenty of Jameson to go around. I wanted to make something fun and delicious to go along with the party's obvious theme. I found this recipe for a so-called "Irish Carbomb" cupcake recipe on Pinterest (follow me!) and thought they would be perfect for the party. I ended up going back to the original Smitten Kitchen recipe and ended up following that one as I couldn't tell what the "adaptation" from the original recipe was and I trust the Smitten Kitchen recipes a little more, having some experience with her recipes.

The Saga of the Cookie Monster Cupcakes

I'm never working with blue frosting again. At least not with a piping bag. Below is a picture of the prototype of my sister's 40th birthday Cookie Monster cupcakes. She saw them on Facebook months ago and asked if I could make them. "Sure!" I said with so much naive enthusiasm. After consulting with some fellow bakers on Twitter, I decided to go with a buttercream frosting. I had never made buttercream, but how hard could it be?