Irish Carbomb Cupcakes (Guinness&Baileys)

What if I told you that you could have your cake and get drunk off it, too?
BONUS: it's delicious and time efficient. 

Yuh-huh, I'm talking about alcoholic cupcakes. Now, let's all hold hands and thank the powers that be for this wonderful gift that has been bestowed upon us.


In honor of St. Patty's day, my boyfriend (who is gradually becoming an essential cog in my baking innovations) suggested I make Guinness cupcakes with Baileys icing. "Disgusting!", I said.

Just kidding, it sounded amazing.

I knew in the back of my head that I had seen this idea thrown around the interwebz before. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I decided to poke around and find a recipe.  I stumbled upon one that was just what i was looking for from the Smitten Kitchen, an amazing blog by a woman who bakes up a storm in a tiny NYC kitchen. Woman after my own heart.

There was Guinness and butter.

There was chocolate and whiskey...

...inside the cupcakes.

There was Baileys and buttercream.

be.
still.
my.
heart.

What more could you ask for, honestly? Ok, maybe perfectly trained rolly-polly little puppy to deliver it to you. But then you really couldn't ask for more. Don't be greedy.

 I made the cupcakes late one night after work and was too exhausted to finish so I put them in the fridge overnight. The second day I did the ganache and buttercream and was ready to bring in to my co-worker guinea pigs. I was a bit worried that the cake wouldn't taste as fresh, but they were fantastic! I was meeting up with a friend the following day so I saved a couple. And wouldn't ya know, still delicious.

Now let's get down to what you're all probably wondering. Does the booze actually have any affect? The short answer: yes.

Unless you're the lightest lightweight in the history of drinking, you're certainly not going to get takeoffyourpantsinpublic wasted, or even get the liquid courage to tell the bartender "excuse me, I actually ordered a light beer". However, I did get that delicious warming sensation you get after your first sip of night. So, that's fun. The Guinness does cook out while it bakes, but that Baileys absolutely keeps its kick.

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes
by: Smitten Kitchen

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 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

My notes: I used Hershey's unsweetened cocoa and it worked like a charm.

Ganache Filling:

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

My notes: I didn't use whiskey, but only because I didn't have any. While this filling is undoubtedly delicious, after it cooled completely inside the cupcake it was more like a really dense truffle filling that would come out in one bite. If I include the ganache next time I will just dip the top, similar to my cream-filled cupcakes, and then top with the buttercream.

Baileys Frosting:

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

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 in another large bowl 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 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. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

My notes: I used a #12 tip to fill the cupcakes.

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.

This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]
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.


Do ahead:

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.)



My final thought: These were absolutely amazing and I whole-heartedly urge you to try them!! They are very rich (which is never a bad thing), which in my opinion would make them the perfect mini-cupcakes. One little bite of awesome.. or two.. or three...

Happy St. Patty's Day!