As Valentine’s Day approaches, my thoughts turn to little bakes I can do to gift to my loved ones. When I was younger, Valentine’s Day was reserved for the one special person in your life, but these days anything goes. I tend to make a slight fuss of my boy, he’s a bit too young for actual romance, but he’s never to old to be told his mum loves him. One of the ways I express my love for him and others is in the kitchen, so I whipped up a batch of these Baileys Irish Cream cupcakes and decorated them in a manner fit for Valentine’s Day!

These cupcakes are really easy and decorating them is pretty simple too. I piped buttercream roses into mine, and they’re a lot easier to do than you’d think. If you’re not sure how to do it, watch this short video. You can add sprinkles, chocolates, drizzles of sauce, whatever you want. I went for some simple heart shaped sweets I got from a local shop and some chocolate hearts I spotted which I thought might fit the bill.

This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes and if you’re quick, you can have them baked, decorated and ready to it in about an hour. I love quick and easy bakes, I’m a busy mum and finding loads of time to bake these days is a bit difficult at times.

Easy Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients
225g soft butter or baking margarine like Stork
225g caster sugar
200g self-raising flour
25g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 large eggs
6 tablespoons of Irish cream, I used Baileys

For the Irish cream buttercream
150g soft butter
300g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
20g cocoa powder
6 tablespoons of Irish cream, I used Baileys

Method
Preheat the oven to 190c. Grab a couple of bun trays and put a paper cupcake case in each of the holes. You need to have 24 paper cases ready.

Beat the butter (or margarine) and sugar together until pale and fluffy. I used an electric hand whisk, but you can use a wooden spoon if you prefer. Add the eggs, cocoa powder, vanilla and Irish cream and mix together. Gently tip in the flour and baking powder and combine until it’s all smooth.

Using a spoon, drop the mixture evenly into the cases. If you were feeling like being precise, you can weigh each one to make sure they are more or less the same weight. This will help them look more uniform, it’s not essential, measuring by eye also works.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 18 minutes or so, until they are cooked through and risen.

Turn your cupcakes out onto a wire rack and leave to cool fully. If you’re in a rush, you can pop them in the fridge for half an hour or so.

While you’re waiting for your buns to cool, it’s time to make the buttercream icing. Sift the icing sugar and mix with your softened butter in a mixing bowl until smooth. Beat in the Irish cream and cocoa powder with the vanilla essence.

Once your cupcakes are cool, put your Baileys buttercream in a piping bag with a star piping nozzle – I used a Wilton 2D nozzle. Starting in the middle of the cupcake, swirl your buttercream around until you’ve got a buttercream rose shape. If you’re not sure how to do it, watch this short video.

It’s really simple, and if you’ve not happy with your first few efforts, you can scrape the buttercream back into the piping bag and start again. Once you’re happy with your cupcakes, feel free to embellish them however you want, with sprinkles or hearts or whatever you fancy.

Tip: Once you’ve finished decorating your rose cupcakes, you could pop them in the fridge for an hour so the buttercream firms up a little before serving.

These Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes are really pretty and very easy to bake. The icing is much easier that you’d think. I’m no expert cake decorator, but with a little bit of practice and patience, you’ll be piping buttercream roses like a pro!

if you enjoyed this, you might also like to try my simple Baileys Irish Cream cake, or these simple heart shaped Danish Butter Cookies.