Guinness and Bailey’s Chocolate Cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day

Wow. Oh my god. I’m going to sound cocky or conceited right now and I don’t care but this is only the second time ever making cupcakes and these babies came out simply PERFECT. Like, I was shocked. Also, I’m on a total sugar high combined with utter excitement and I am pretty much shaking as I’m typing this. This is a pretty exciting day for me. It’s beautiful outside and it’s the last day I’m at my parents’ house. It’s time to go back to the city tomorrow and that means less baking time cause Spring Break is pretty much over. St. Patrick’s Day is on Saturday already and I’ve gotta work at 10am at a bar, so I doubt I’m gonna be making anything fun other than drinking and taking pictures haha. Gotta love St. Paddy’s Day! Speaking of, these cupcakes are perfect for this day. Not only are they made with Bailey’s Irish Cream in the filling AND frosting, the cake is made with stout beer. After yesterday’s frosting failure I was determined to make this one work. It sure did. Happy early St. Patrick’s Day, loves!

The recipe was inspired from Smitten Kitchen, however I tweaked it to add a personal touch 🙂

Guinness Bailey’s Cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1/2 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cups all purpose flour
1 cups sugar (can be a little less)
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream

Bailey’s Ganache Filling 
4 oz dark chocolate chips (1/3 of a 16oz bag)
1/6 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
1/6 cup Sour Cream
1 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Baileys Frosting
1.5-2 cups confections sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1.5 to 2 tablespoons Baileys
some cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Make the cupcakes:

Line 12 cupcake cups with liners. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring stout and butter to simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat.

Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 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, about 17-20 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling:

Put the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl.

Heat the sour cream & Bailey’s mixture on medium/low heat 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.)

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). Instead of a piping bag, I used a simple ziplock bag with a hole on a corner.

Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer (I used a small thin knife to do this), 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 in a piping bag with a wide tip (or if you’re doing the ziplock bag like me, this is when you make the hole) and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

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.

[Note from Smitten Kitchen: “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 and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin, beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Frost the cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top for an extra fun taste. I thought cinnamon worked perfect with the Bailey’s frosting to even out its sweetness. Voila!