Birthdays and Booze Cupcakes

So it was my honey's birthday and I wanted to make him something special. He had seen this post on Bakerella a while back so I decided to surprise him with Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcakes. The recipe was surprisingly easy and cheap. The only thing I had to go and buy was a sweet potato which was only a dollar or so.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole milk
1 cup cooked sweet potatoes
1/3 cup bourbon

I used Jack Daniels Whiskey instead of bourbon. Despite my love of booze I have a hard time remembering the differences in the whiskey family. Like, what makes Scotch, Whiskey, and Bourbon different? It either has to do with the main ingredient or where it's grown or both. Like, corn grown in Kentucky makes bourbon. I DON'T KNOW. The only thing that really matters is that whiskey is the best drink on this planet (tied with coffee and Dr. Pepper) and mixing my two loves (sweets and booze) together creates some new, incredibly amazing thing-that-I'm-crazy-about.

ANYWHOOOO

I didn't follow Bakerella's recipe for the icing. I like playing around with icing and the one I made was insane and really complimented the pumpkin pie spice and sweet potato in the cupcakes.

Buttercream Maple Frosting
2-3 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp shortening
Maple syrup

I've been making homemade icing for so long that I don't even really measure anything anymore so I sort of guessed with the amounts. All homemade icing really requires is a ton of powdered sugar and some sort of liquid.