Birthday Shots

Today is our friend Derek’s birthday, and yesterday was his cousin Brad’s.  We, along with some other friends, spent the holiday weekend at Derek’s family’s place at the beach.  In honor of Derek and Brad, I decided to try out making Birthday Shots. 

In my mind, the quintessential birthday cake is yellow cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top.  I went ahead and baked up a yellow cupcake mix from a box.  But instead of using a canned chocolate frosting, I decided to do something a little special.  I made dark chocolate ganache with a little crème de cacao.  With Jeff’s help, I topped off each with rainbow sprinkles and a candle in each.

I decided to torture the group a little.  Jeff and I had shown up to the beach house early and prepped everything before everyone else arrived, but the air conditioning hadn’t caught up, so the ganache hadn’t set as much as I’d hoped.  I made the group all wait until the next night to serve the shots (though birthday boy Brad snuck a few throughout the day.) 

We lit the candles, sung the song, and the guys blew them out.   The Birthday Shots were a resounding success.    

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Glass:

·         2 pkgs (12-cupcake size) yellow box cake mix

·         6 tbsp vegetable oil

·         1 cup water

·         4 eggs

Filling:

·         2 (7 oz) bars of dark chocolate

·         2 tbsp butter

·         1/2 cup whipping cream

·         2 tbsp dark crème de cacao

Topping:

·         Rainbow sprinkles

·         Birthday candles

Directions:

Glass:

·         Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

·         Combine cake mix, oil, water and eggs in a large mixing bowl.

·         Spray silicone molds with cooking spray.

·         Fill molds 2/3rds with mixture.

·         Bake for 21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.

·         Allow to cool.

Filling:

·         Break chocolate bars into smaller pieces.

·         Melt butter in a medium sauce pan.

·         Add cream and chocolate.

·         Stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

·         Remove from heat.

·         Stir in crème de cacao.

·         Remove glass tops and core using a small serrated knife.

·         Pour ganache into each glass.

Topping:

·         Top each shot with sprinkles.

·         Allow to cool at room temperature.

·         Insert candles.