Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes

1 box Duncan Hinz dark chocolate cake mix

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups water
white chocolate chips (if desired)

1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream added to cake mix
4 T Baileys Irish Cream added to icing

Confectioners’ sugar

8 oz cream cheese, softened

Wilton sprinkles

emerald sanding sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven. Place paper liners in 2 cupcake pans. Mix the cake according to directions, adding 1/4 cup Irish cream (be sure to decrease the total amount of water used–if the instructions call for 1 1/4 cup water, add 1 cup water and 1/4 cup Baileys). If you’re adding white chocolate chips, gently fold them into the mixture. Spoon the lucious batter into the liners. Bake (18 minutes worked for me).
. . .

After the cupcakes cool, get your big girl panties on and make the icing.
Into the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, blend 8 oz softened cream cheese, powdered sugar (see below), and Baileys Irish Cream (4 tablespoons). I began with 2 cups of powdered sugar and kept adding it bit by bit until the icing reached the proper spreading consistency. As Rachael Ray says, “Eyeball it.”