This recipe comes courtesy of Heather “Cupcakes” Saffer, a previous winner on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars and author of The Dollop Book of Frosting. In addition to the Strawberry Firebomb Cupcakes recipe, Saffer’s new cookbook also includes recipes for Frosted Popcorn with Toffee Honey Frosting, Gingersnap Stout Pie with Gingersnap Stout Frosting and more.

“To really showcase the Monster Jam theme on my episode of Cupcake Wars, I decided to create a fiery Cinnamon Whisky Buttercream to represent the sometimes catastrophic truck fires at monster truck rallies! I really didn’t know much about trucks, but I knew enough about frosting to know that adding a dash of cinnamon and a splash of spicy whisky would leave a lasting impression on the judges. So I whipped cinnamon whisky into this glorious, speckled Cinnamon Whisky Buttercream and dolloped it atop my Strawberry Firebomb Cupcakes to take home the crown!”

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Cinnamon Whisky Buttercream

Yield: Frosts about 1½ dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1½ tablespoons cinnamon whisky
• 3¼ cups 10x powdered sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon

How to Make It

Mix butter at room temperature in stand mixer with paddle until soft, about 3 minutes. Add cinnamon whisky and continue mixing for another minute. Slowly add powdered sugar and continue mixing about 3 minutes. Add salt and cinnamon, and continue mixing until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to ensure all ingredients are fully incorporated and distributed evenly and mix until light and creamy, another 2 minutes.

Extra Sweets!

Other frosting uses: Strawberry Firebomb Cupcakes (see recipe), vanilla wafer cinnamon whisky sandwiches, dolloped atop a shot of hot cinnamon whisky. 

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Strawberry Firebomb Cupcakes

Ingredients

• ½ cup milk
• 6 large egg whites
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1¾ cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup strawberry purée
• ½ cup cinnamon whisky

How to Make It

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake or muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment, pour in milk and egg whites and mix until blended. In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, and baking powder. Add butter and continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs. Add half of the milk mixture to the crumbs and beat at medium speed for 60–90 seconds. To the remaining half of the milk mixture, add the strawberry purée and mix with a whisk. Add this to the batter and beat for 30 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl, then beat for an additional 20 seconds. Add cinnamon whisky and blend. Spoon batter into cupcake tins until ¾ full. Bake for about 20–25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Strawberry Flambé Filling

Yield: Approximately 1 cup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup strawberries, chopped
• 2 ounces cinnamon whisky

How to Make It

Melt butter with brown sugar in saucepan over medium heat. Add strawberries and continue cooking, about 2 minutes. Add cinnamon whisky and ignite with a lighter or match. Once the flame dies, remove from stove.

Excerpted from The Dollop Book of Frosting Copyright © 2013 by Heather Saffer and published by F+W Media, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Photos Courtesy of Matt Wittmeyer Photography