If you are reading this blog, there is a very good chance you are open minded about trying anything that has Guinness as an ingredient.
One Guinness recipe is for a drink. In some places is not necessarily well accepted because of its name, “The Irish Car Bomb”.
In case you are not familiar with it, you start by filling a shot glass with a ½ shot each of Jamison’s Irish whiskey and Bailey’s Irish Cream. The filled shot glass is then dropped into a ¾ filled pint glass of Guinness ale.
The object is to drink it straight away. I have tried it and must say while the flavors do work well together, it’s not exactly an experience to savor.
This brings us to the point of this post, which is a Guinness dessert recipe for cupcakes that include all three ingredients in the drink: whiskey, Bailey’s and Guinness. The addition of chocolate to this trilogy is a match made in heaven.
Give this one a try and I am sure you will not be disappointed! Come back and let us know in the comments what you think of these tasty cakes.
Guinness Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes ~ Makes 24 cupcakes
Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
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
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
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 together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream together in another large bowl. Add the stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just enough to combine. Add the 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, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes completely on a rack.
Make the ganache 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 place the bowl over boiling water in a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. Alternately, you can also microwave it for 20 seconds in the microwave.) Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.
Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped. If you want to speed up the cooling process, you can place the bowl in the refrigerator, stirring it every 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, using a 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. Cut about 2/3 of the way down – do not cut through to the bottom. Use a slim spoon or grapefruit knife to get the center out.
Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until it is light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys and whip it until combined.
Ice the cupcakes. You may also decorate them with shaved dark and white chocolates.
Tip: 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.
