It’s a rainy Sunday in San Antonio, which means it’s a great day for baking up a batch of these Bourbon Chocolate Cupcakes with Bourbon Buttercream! When Rabbit Hole Distillery gifted me a bottle of their Dareringer Sherry Cask Bourbon, I knew I wanted to create something naughty with just a hint of nice 😉 So, yeah, these cupcakes may have some extra protein in them, but you’d never know it! The texture is classic and perfect – soft, fluffy, and light. And the slight fruity sweetness imparted on the bourbon from being aged in sherry casks is the perfect compliment to this chocolate cupcake.

I made a bourbon buttercream to go on top of these delicious little clouds of chocolate and IT. WAS. AWESOME. I’d never tried booze in a buttercream before, and it might be my new favorite thing. There’s not enough bourbon in there for you to get the “whoa, that’s boozy!” factor, but there’s just enough that you can get a little bit of the flavor and the alcohol actually helps cut through the butter to brighten up the whole bite.

If you’re not a huge baker, you may not be familiar with room temperature butter. And trust me, you want your butter for this buttercream to be the right temperature or else you’ll end up with a greasy buttercream (I know this from experience!). Room temperature butter is actually still cool to the touch and when you press your finger into it, it should make an indent without sinking or sliding down into the butter. Read all about it here. To get your butter to room temp, just pull it out of the fridge and stick it on the counter 1-2 hours before you need it.

Shop for this Recipe

Here are some goodies I used to create these cupcakes. Note: these are Amazon Affiliate Links.

Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Bourbon Chocolate Cupcakes

Servings 14 cupcakes

Calories per serving 394 kcal

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

3/4 cup all purpose flour (90 grams)
1/2 cup sugar (96 grams)
1 scoop Dymatize Elite Chocolate Casein Protein Powder (33 grams)
1/2 scoop Cellucor Molten Chocolate Whey Protein Powder (17 grams)
1/2 cup dutch cocoa powder (46 grams)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

3/4 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt (6 fl oz)
1/4 cup Rabbit Hole Dareringer Sherry Cask Bourbon (2 fl oz)
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee or espresso, cooled (2 fl oz)
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Bourbon Buttercream

1 cup unsalted sweet cream butter, room temperature (8 oz)
4 cups powdered sugar (480 grams)
1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream (0.75 fl oz)
1 1/2 tbsp Rabbit Hole Dareringer Sherry Cask Bourbon (0.75 fl oz)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Line a muffin tin with non-stick/parchment cupcake liners.
Whisk together all dry cupcake ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
Whisk together all wet ingredients, then add to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full with batter. Bake at 350° for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to cool.

Bourbon Buttercream

Using a hand held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar, heavy cream, bourbon, and vanilla extract.
Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Scoop into a piping bag and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.