chocolate guinness cupcakes

March 14, 2011

My friend Liz sent me a recipe a few months back with a note attached that said (I’m paraphrasing) “Oh my god, you should make this immediately, it’s amazing!”

I bookmarked it and had kind of forgotten about it until last week when I remembered St. Patrick’s Day was right around the corner. Instead of making the full cake recipe, I decided to adapt it to make cupcakes.

If you’re adapting a cake recipe into cupcakes, here are a few tips, from The Kitchn.

These little cupcakes are glorious with a rich, cream cheese-based frosting. They’re soft and spongy cakes, due to all that lovely Guinness-y moisture. Next time I make them I think I’ll add some Baileys to the frosting in place of some of the cream – that, my friends, would be pure perfection.

If you’re going out boozing on St. Paddy’s Day, I think you should probably line your stomach with several of these before you go. Okay, maybe that’s a bad idea. Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. And do make these cupcakes. Kapeesh?

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Guinness Cake

FOR THE CUPCAKES

  • 8.5 fl oz Guinness
  • 9oz  unsalted butter (2 sticks plus 2 tbsp)
  • 3 oz cocoa (6 tbsp)
  • 14 oz sugar (2 cups)
  • 5 fl oz sour cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
  • 9 oz  all purpose flour, sifted (2 cups)
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

FOR THE TOPPING:

  • 10 oz cream cheese
  • 5 oz confectioner’s sugar (1 cup)
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, and butter and put cupcake liners into molds.
  2. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.
  3. Pour the cake batter into the cupcake holders and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
  4. When the cupcakes have cooled completely make the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the confectioner’s sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved confectioner’s sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.
  5. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cupcakes so that they resemble the frothy top of the famous pint.

Serves: Makes 36 cupcakes

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