St. Paddy’s Day Cupcakes

Posts Tagged ‘St. Paddy’s Day Cupcakes’

Guinness Cupcakes

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Guinness Cupcakes

“Laughter is brightest where food is best.” – Irish Proverb

I believe that cooking (or baking) really is the most basic form of a do-it-yourself and if you’re anything like me then you too truly enjoy being in the kitchen creating something delicious to share. I have been a baking fool lately. Part of that reason is because I discovered Smitten Kitchen. Deb, of Smitten Kitchen (I just love that name), drew me in with all her photographs of mouth-watering made from scratch comfort food and kept me coming back with her straight forward and easy to follow recipes. These Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes (I call them Guinness Cupcakes for short) are the third recipe from her site I’ve made (the first being the Best Birthday Cake and the second the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, yum!!), and I have yet to be disappointed.

Guinness, a hint of Irish whiskey and a splash of Irish cream, what better time to make these than for St. Patrick’s Day! Julie and I will be making these again this week to bring to a St. Patty’s Day celebration on Saturday and I can’t wait to share them with everyone! Don’t let the recipe intimidate you- they are a lot of fun to make (especially when in good company, right Julie?!) and so worth the time it takes. They really are fantastic! Want to see the mess we’re making while we bake… follow us here on twitter to see all the antics as they go down!

Ingredients

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup Guinness
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate morsels)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

**You will need a 1-inch round cookie cutter, apple corer or cupcake plunger to remove center of cupcakes for filling.**

Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup Guinness and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add Guinness-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Cupcake Mix

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Chocolate Filling

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter, apple corer, or cupcake plunger, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip (I used a Ziploc bag with the corner cut) and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

make holes in the center of the cupcakes

Ganache Filling

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

**Deb suggests adding the sugar slowly because doing this to quick buttercream frostings leaves them less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.**

Cupcake Frosting

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar. (I actually found the frosting to be a bit thick, so I alternated between adding about a tablespoon of heavy cream and a splash of Irish cream until I got the taste and consistency I was happy with.)

Deb also suggests that you can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)