Kahlua Chocolate Cupcakes With Kahlua Frosting
By: Patti at Worth ...
Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 3:43pm

Ingredients




3 eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup strong cold coffee
3/4 cup Kahlua
Kahlua Frosting (recipe follows)

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat egg whites until frothy; then beat in sugar until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.  Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Beat in egg yolks one at a time.  Sift flour, cocoa and baking soda together.  Add to creamed mixture alternately with coffee and Kahlua; blend well.  Fold egg whites into batter.  Fill prepared cupcake cups to 2/3 full.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove cupcakes from tins and cool on rack completely before frosting. 2 Kahlua Buttercream Frosting 3 Tbsp butter 4 Lb. powdered sugar 5 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder 6 Tbsp. Kahlua 7 Tbsp. hot coffee 8 In large bowl, cream together butter and powdered sugar.  Add cocoa powder, Kahlua and hot coffee.  Beat until smooth.  Frosts 2 dozen cupcakes.

About


The beginning of my friendship with Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, the powerhouse behind wildly successful culinary blog The Kitchn, was steeped in Kahlua.  She was probably in the fifth grade.  It’s a fun story.
My boutique PR firm had Kahlua as a client for many years.  Pretty yummy work; our best PR efforts were culinary-focused.  Over time, our library of Kahlua food recipes grew to more than 500.  I still have the whole collection (and promise to share plenty), but I wasn’t the person who developed them.  Part of my job included dreaming up Kahlua recipe concepts and themes.  I then hired the incredibly talented and calm Karen Gillingham, Sara Kate’s mommy, to bring the ideas to life.  And she had lots of ideas herself.
Before freelancing, Karen was a food editor with the LA Times.  We are both home economists, so I knew her from that circle of food pros.  Karen was perfect to work with after I first endured a nut case of a recipe developer and stylist inherited with the account.  Quickly, I disinherited that whack job and landed Karen because I was in awe of her ability and style.  Did I mention she was calm?
Long hours together results in lots of family talk.  Little Sara Kate was an engaging, freckle faced cutie patootie.  Seeing her now as a businesswoman and mother, Karen should probably write a parenting book.
Besides creating recipes, Karen and I shot volumes of food photos together.  On occasion, Sara Kate was there; her mom claims I gave her a straw hat prop which she hung on the wall in their family cabin.  If she still has that hat, I won’t tell the Kahlua people.
Time to think about baking oooey chocolaty Kahlua things.  Here is a Karen-created recipe, great for grownup fun like a Hollywood Bowl picnic.

Comments:
Becki Stankus

The frosting doesn't have enough liquid. I'm guessing it should be a cube of butter instead of a Tbsp? I added more butter, more Kahlua and some whipping cream to make up for the lack of liquid and it turned out great!
Patti at Worth ...

Yikes, this format dropped all the measurements off in the frosting recipe. Here is the original post with the correct quantities, so sorry:
http://worththewhisk.com/2009/06/08/mmmm-kahlua-chocolate-cupcakes-with-kahlua-buttercream-frosting/
im

MMM they sound really good!
te

That looks so fabulous. I have a huge soft spot for kahlua!