Daily Dose: Guinness Cupcakes

For the beer lover in your life!  This recipe combines Guinness Stout with chocolate (YUM!).  Don't worry about the beer overwhelming the taste.  In fact, if you didn't tell me there was beer in the cupcake, I would never have guessed.  But, even though the beer flavor isn't strong, it does add complexity to the flavor and results in a cupcake that has just the right amount of sweetness.  Enjoy!


Cupcakes
(from BigCityLittleKitchen)
***NOTE: this recipe makes about 60 mini-cupcakes.  Next time I'll half the recipe so I have a more manageable number of cupcakes***

Ingredients: 
1 cup Guinness
1 stick, plus 1 tb, unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tb vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Combine the Guinness and the butter, chopped into 1-inch chunks, in a large sauce pan, and heat to melt the butter.

While the butter is melting, combine the brown sugar and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl.  Once the butter is melted, add the beer and butter to the mixing bowl and combine.

In a bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then add to the beer mixture.

Sift together the flour and baking soda, and add to the batter.

Scoop into mini-muffin molds and bake for 11-14 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
I had about 2 cups of frosting left over from the caramel cupcakes, so I used that as a base for this frosting.  If you are starting from scratch, you can try this Guinness, chocolate and cream cheese frosting, which I used to modify my caramel frosting.  I've never tried the recipe as it is intended, but it looks like it would be good!

Ingredients:
2 cups of caramel frosting
1/2 block cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup Guinness
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

 
First, combine the sugar and Guinness and reduce over medium heat until you have about 1/4-1/2 cups.  Add the cocoa powder, cream cheese and Guinness reduction to the caramel frosting.  Beat until well incorporated.  Frost the cupcakes with a knife or piping bag.