Kentucky Bourbon Cupcakes

As you all know, my dad loved bourbon; specifically Maker's Mark.  Four years ago, for his birthday present he and my mom came to visit in Kentucky and I treated them to Woodford Reserve and Four Roses tours.  It was such a great weekend.  This year, his 57th birthday would've fallen on Labor Day weekend so we had an extra day.  An extra day usually makes for a lovely, lazy weekend.  With my extra lazy time, I decided it was fitting to bake bourbon cupcakes.  With Maker's Mark of course.  The cupcake is a fabulous recipe that tastes like a spice cake and the buttercream tastes delightfully like the inside of a bourbon ball.  So go ahead, bake these babies up!

Maker's Mark Cupcakes with Bourbon Buttercream
(cupcakes adapted from Maker's Mark; icing from this recipe)

Cupcakes:
8 Tbs unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup Splenda brown sugar blend
3 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup skim milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 
1/2 cup Maker's Mark bourbon

Icing:

1 cup unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs Maker's Mark bourbon
2 slight pinches of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking pans with cupcake liners.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar.  Add in the eggs and molasses.  Next, begin adding in all the dry ingredients.  Mix in the skim milk until all ingredients are well incorporated.  Add the bourbon and fold in manually with a spoon.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 27 minutes.  Let cool in pans for at least 5 minutes and then transfer to cooling racks.

For icing, cream the room temperature butter.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar in increments.  Follow that up by adding the vanilla, bourbon, and salt.  Mix until the icing has that 'whipped' look.  Frost once the cupcakes are cool.  Cheers!