Southern Comfort Cupcakes

Caramel and I have a kind of love-hate relationship – I love to eat it, but hate to make it. I sort of suffer from adult onset and self-diagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder and caramel is one of those creations that requires your undivided attention. And let’s face it, my attention never remains undivided.

I can’t even tell a story without being “sidetracked” multiple times. I often diverge into a totally unrelated topic and forget what I was even talking about in the first place. I guess I’ve been blessed with the story telling skills of Rose Nylund from the Golden Girls. Oh, and household chores, ha – I’ve been known to partially empty the dishwasher and fill it up with dirty dishes before realizing the rest were clean. I always blame the blog. It’s my go-to excuse.

Sooooo… back to the caramel! I saw this incredibly amazing Southern Comfort Popcorn on Bluebonnets and Brownies and knew I had to make it. However, we aren’t really a SoCo drinking kind of family, so I just added it to one of the 127 Post-it notes affixed to my desk. Then one day while browsing the mini booze bottles at the market I found two bottles of Southern Comfort buried in a basket of Puckers. Jackpot! The popcorn is pretty easy to make, but a little messy. Be sure to pay close attention to the caramel because it can go from perfect to burnt within a second.

The taste? It is ah-mazing. I knew the only way to make it even better was to make a cupcake centered around its awesomeness. I made the simplest of chocolate cupcakes and topped it with Southern Comfort infused buttercream, which is actually incredibly delicious – even to this non-whisky-drinking girl.

Because I never know when to quit, I topped each cupcake with a drizzle of melted chocolate and the Southern Comfort Caramel Corn. They were adult cupcake perfection in every boozy bite.

Southern Comfort Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes

1 (18.25 ounce) package Devil’s Food Cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs; lightly beaten
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon of vanilla

For the Southern Comfort Buttercream

4 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
4 tablespoons Southern Comfort

For the Garnish

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted and cooled
Southern Comfort Caramel Corn

Directions:

For the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line (2) 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, water and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

4. Evenly divide the batter amongst the prepared pans. {I use a large cookie scoop from OXO to scoop my batter; it holds 3 tablespoons}.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch. A small divot may appear in the center of the cupcake, no worries though because you’ll cover that with frosting.

6. Cool cupcakes thoroughly on a wire rack.

For the frosting

1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract and salt.

2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, add in the Southern Comfort and mix until light and fluffy. If frosting is too thick, slowly add in a little more Southern Comfort (1 teaspoon at a time) until you reach the desired consistency. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

For the garnish

Place melted chocolate into piping bag or plastic storage bag and snip off the tip. Drizzle buttercream with the melted chocolate and top with Southern Comfort Caramel Corn.

Notes:

- I recommend frosting these the day you are serving them. Otherwise, the caramel corn will lose its crunch.
- This recipe can easily be halved if you don't need 24 cupcakes.
- Cupcake Liners from Bake It Pretty.
- Cupcakes were piped using the Giant Round Tip from Bake It Pretty.

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