White Chocolate Cupcakes with Irish Cream Glaze

For St. Patty's day, Tricia attempted to incorporate some Irish into her cupcakes. After some trial and error with baking times and temperatures, she managed to create these delicious, super-dense white chocolate cupcakes. To "Irish" it up, she dyed them green and glazed them with a thing Irish Cream-flavored ganache. The dinosaurs? I don't know - you'd have to ask Tricia! See the recipe on the next page...

Cupcakes

• 11 ounces high-quality white chocolate chips
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup and 1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 5 large egg whites

-          Preheat oven to 325 deg

-          Melt white chocolate in double boiler

-          Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together

-          Beat sugar, butter, and vanilla until blended

-          Add melted white chocolate to sugar mixture and stir

-          Add flour mixture in thirds alternately with coconut milk in 2 additions

-          Clean beaters, and in separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form

-          Fold egg white mixture into batter in thirds

-          Bake 15-17 minutees 

Icing (Irish Cream Ganache)

• 5 ounces high-quality white chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup Irish cream

-          Place cream in a saucepan over high heat and bring just to a boil; immediately remove from heat and pour into bowl with chopped chocolate, whisking to mix and combine

-          Mixture solidifies as it cools, and must be re-heated out of fridge

When cupcakes are cool (but ganache is still warm), coat the cupcakes in the icing by dipping and rotating them in the icing or by spooning the icing on to the cupcakes and spreading it thin. The icing firms up within 10-20 minutes, and the cupcakes are delicious!