For St. Patrick’s Day I made a few treats for work. I made Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with a chocolate Irish Cream ganache and Irish Cream Frosting and Gluten Free sugar cookies. Here are the Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes.
My brother scored on the deal, and got 5 bottles of Guinness when I was done. When I went shopping for the ingredients, it took me a good 15 minutes to see if my local grocery store had individual pints of Guinness for sale. They only had 40s of Guinness that were sold individually. Then I had to decide if it was better to get a 40, and drink the rest myself, or to get a 6 pack and give the rest to my Greg. I don’t drink Guinness too often, so I knew that the 40 would go to waste so I got the 6 pack. Lucky Greg.
- 1 Cup Guinness (or similar stout beer)
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 unsweetened cocoa
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup sour cream
Ganache
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate-finely chopped
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons Irish cream I used St. Brendan’s Irish Cream (I may have used a tad more than 2 tablespoons)
Frosting
-
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 4-8 tablespoons Irish cream (heavy cream can be substituted for less liqueur – I used a ratio of about 4 tbsp to Irish cream to about 3 tbsp heavy cream to balance out the sweetness)
- I had to double the batch since I was piping the frosting. I have some left over and may make some more cupcakes.
Cupcakes
Allow ganache to cool until thick enough for piping. If in a time crunch (not to be confused for a Time Warp) place the ganache in the refrigerator stirring every 10 minutes so the ganache cools evenly. While waiting for the ganache is cooling, and after the cupcakes have cooled, cut cores out of the center of each cupcake with a sharp paring knife. Discard cores-or snack on a few. Once the ganache has cooled and thickened slightly, place in a piping bag with a wide tip and fill each cupcake.
Frosting
Place butter in a bowl and mix, slowly adding the confectioners sugar. Add the Irish cream and heavy cream and vanilla extract. If making a double batch, I would recommend using a stand mixer. I had to divide my frosting in half because my electric hand mixer was getting over worked. I would almost recommend using a stand mixer even if making a single batch.
I frosted my cupcakes using a Wilton 2D frosting tip. My frosting technique was pretty lacking. I found this really easy to follow frosting tutorial over at The Tomkat Studio.
When done garnish how you choose. I sprinkled mine with some green colored sugar, festive.
I ended up with about a third of the frosting left so this week…maybe for my brother’s “Shipping up to Boston” going away party I’m going to make some.
Crafty Llama by Lonie 