Happy Birthday Brother Bear

Hello blogger-land!

I've been so bad at posting...this one is almost a month late! hehe.

So a few weeks ago, my brother bear turned 21! Finally legal! So of course I had to make him alcohol cupcakes...and an experimental burnt almond cupcake.

Left to right: Chocolate Kahlua, Burnt Almond and Mudslide

I'd never baked with alcohol before and I must say, its not as easy as it sounds! Thank goodness for google search! I dont remember the sites or recipes I used :( but I'm really thinking about grabbing the Boozecake book because my alcohol cupcake day was intense...and I'm interested to see what else can be done with booze and cake!

One thing I do remember is that when you overbake these babies they are not good. I over-baked the mudslide cupcake the first time around and my oh my was it dry! It reminded me of when Lucy Lui made muffins and they were hard as rocks in Charlie's Angels!

Anyhow, my other cupcake, the Burnt almond was a hit. Ahh its making my tummy grumble just looking at it! See?

For the cake I made my vanilla cake and added some almonds and almond extract. I topped them with whipped cream frosting and the delicious burnt almonds. I had (actually have, since I haven't gotten my cake from Dick's yet! :[ ) The cake was light and almond-y and the whipped cream was nice and light, but the almonds were definitely the star. Thanks to blogger Girlgonegrits for sharing the secret to the Dick's bakery almonds! Everyone loved them, and I will be making them this week for my dad's birthday! hehe.

Thanks for reading everyone!

xo,

Trinkette