Boulevardier cupcakes

Happy birthday John! At the birthday boy's request: cupcakes based on the boulevardier cocktail. Turns out, subbing out most of the liquid in a cake for booze works pretty well, at least in mini cupcake format. (I can imagine the texture might get a bit gummy in a full layer cake though.) And the tangy dark chocolate frosting sets off the edge of complex bitterness of the cupcake delightfully.

Makes about 4 dozen mini cupcakes. This amount of frosting was just barely enough—if you'd rather have too much than too little, you can scale up the frosting recipe. I kind of wish I had, because then I'd have an excuse to try this frosting as a donut filling... next time!

cake:
2 c flour
3/4 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c bourbon
1/4 c red vermouth
1/4 c Campari
1/4 c milk
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350F and put liners in the cupcake pans. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour through salt) and set aside; same with the liquids (bourbon through milk). Beat together the butter and sugars until fluffy, then beat in each egg one at a time. In 3 alternating additions, beat the dry and liquid ingredients into the batter until just combined. Fill cupcake pans and bake for 10 min or until a tester comes out clean.


frosting:

1/2 bag Guittard extra dark chocolate chips, melted
1/3 c cream cheese, softened
2/3 c sour cream
2 T corn syrup
pinch salt
a few dashes Fee Brothers barrel aged bitters

Melt the chocolate chips until smooth, eg in a double boiler. Beat together the other ingredients until smooth and fluffy. Slowly pour in the chocolate, beating as you go. Pipe onto the cupcakes.