Chocolate Guiness Cupcakes
Makes 20-24
1 cup stout (such as 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
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey
Make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout 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 to blend. Add stout-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.
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.
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, end of a large piping tip or an apple corer, 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 and circle it around until it comes out with the cake part inside. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Keep those to snack on – I did! Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top. (It helps to slightly chill the ganache after you put it inside the piping bag – that way you can control how much you squeeze out.)
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)
1. Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on high for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy.
2. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. By adding the sugar slowly, you get a smoother, less chalky taste to your frosting.
3. 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.
4. Decorate as desired
For ours we simple cut off the bottom of a large piping bag to frost the cupcakes than added green and yellow sugar sprinkles.
*Notes:
1) If you don't feel like chopping the chocolate you can use bittersweet chocolate chips, just remember these will take longer to melt.
2)If you don't have an actual double boiler don't worry they are easy to make. Using a heat resistent bowl place it on top of a sauce pan, and you have yourself a double boiler.
3) I had to make two batches of the frosting to frost all the cupcakes
4) It took about 5 tablespoons to get the frosting to the right consistancy to be able to pipe it.
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