Around this time of the year, a lot of people like to make “Irish Car Bomb” Cupcakes, with whiskey, Irish stout, and Irish cream. Of course, this is reminiscent of the Irish Car Bomb shot where you drop the booze into the beer and chug it. I have a couple problems with these cupcakes.
First of all, did you know that the term Irish Car Bomb is offensive? It refers to the bombs often planted in cars by the IRA. Not the greatest name for a drink, really.
Secondly, the beer is clearly the third wheel in this operation. Whiskey and Irish cream are two of my favorite things to drink, but the type of beer used here is not (I do like it on occasion, but it’s not my first choice) Plus, when the cream hits the acidic beer, it curdles!
I decided to ditch the beer and the cutesy cupcakes and make a cheesecake with Irish whiskey and Irish cream liquor. It came out dense and super creamy, with just enough booze flavor to make it pleasant and not overpowering. Save room after your corned beef and cabbage this year!
First, make the cookie crust.
Just press it into your pan. To make this cheesecake a bit different, I decided to cook it in a tart pan instead of a Springform. It would work in either pan, but the wide and shallow tart pan made for a good ratio of caramel to cheesecake in each bite.
The filling comes together quick in the food processor. Irish cream and eggs are added after this smoothens out.
I baked this at 350˚ for about 50 minutes until it still was just barely unset in the center.
While the cheesecake cooled, it was time to make the caramel. Here you see the sugar and water boiling away. It is starting to brown at this stage. The next step is to remove from heat, add cream, and whisk, but this is hard to take a picture of because it is a time sensitive (and possibly dangerous) maneuver. Make sure to use a big enough pot because the cream bubbles up high in the pan and the sugar is VERY hot. After that step you add the whiskey.
After the caramel cools a bit, it is ready to pour on the cake. You can see that the cake has formed a nice little lip around the edges which will hold the caramel perfectly.
Sooo good.
I microwaved the cream so I could add some instant coffee to it when it was warm. After it cools back down, whisk to make whipped cream.
I never get seconds of dessert, but I had to have a few extra bites of this one.
Nice Irish cream and whiskey flavors, but not overpowering.
Dan Whalen bought the 1.75 liter bottle of whiskey to make this recipe, even though he only needed 4 tablespoons. Check out his blog at The Food In My Beard; check Dan’s Tablespoon profile often to try his recipes with creative international spins!
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