Haymitch Chocolate Whiskey Hunger Games Cupcakes

by cakeyou in Cooking > Cupcakes

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Haymitch Chocolate Whiskey Hunger Games Cupcakes

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“The Hunger Games” is a sensational trilogy about a dystopian United States that holds a gladiator-style fight to the death in a futuristic murder arena complete with hybrid creatures, force fields, and cameras to broadcast the carnage into every home with a television set.  The participants in those Games?  They’re children between 12 and 18.  This is teen reading at its finest: think Lord of the Flies meets Twilight meets Spartacus.

The story is awesome, and the characters even more so.  One of my favorites is the alcoholic ex-champion, Haymitch Abernathy, who won the 50th Hunger Games by using a force field to repel an axe thrown by the other remaining tribute.  To punish his unorthodox victory, his loved ones were murdered, and Haymitch became an alcoholic.  Haymitch is now a mentor to the new set of Hunger Games contestants.  And he drinks.  And manipulates the other characters. And is generally a bad-ass.

To show my appreciation of Haymitch, I decided to bake a themed cupcake in his honor.  An alcoholic cupcake.  A cupcake that intimidates all the other baked goods.  A cupcake that would scare the chocolate chips out of a cookie.  A cupcake that could growl slightly and cause a souffle to collapse.  A cupcake so hardcore it frightens the frosting off of lesser cupcakes.

Ingredients

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For the cake:

-  1 cup cocoa powder
-  1/4 cup espresso powder
-  1/2 cup whiskey (I used Maker's Mark and it worked REALLY well!)
-  2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
-  2 cups sugar
-  2 cups all-purpose flour
-  1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
-  1/2 teaspoon salt
-  2 large eggs
-  1 teaspoon vanilla

For the frosting:

-  12 ounces cream cheese
-  1/2 stick butter, cut into pieces
-  1 3/4 cup icing (powdered) sugar, sifted
-  2 tablespoons whiskey, optional

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-  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
-  Melt butter in a saucepan over moderate heat. 
-  Mix whiskey, espresso powder, and cocoa powder in a small bowl and add to butter.  Mix until thoroughly incorporated. 
-  Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
-  Remove from heat and cool 10 minutes.

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-  While chocolate mixture cools, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
-  Whisk together eggs and vanilla in a small bowl.

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-  When chocolate mixture cools, transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer.
-  Add egg mixture to the chocolate and mix until combined well.
-  Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. 

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-  Divide batter into mini cupcake pans and bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
-  Let the cupcakes sit for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer them to cool on a rack.

This recipe makes about 57 mini cupcakes.

Frosting

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-  Beat the cream cheese and butter with a mixer until smooth.
-  Add the powdered sugar and whiskey.  Mix until light and fluffy.

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-  Spread or pipe frosting over each cupcake.