HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!!!

I have been wanting to make Guinness cupcakes FOREVER!  Last year for St. Patrick's day I was pregnant and felt too miserable to go to great lengths to make a dessert.  But this year....GUINNESS CUPCAKES, BABY!

These are Irish Car Bomb's in a PERFECTLY packaged cupcake!  They are a little labor intensive, but SO worth it!  I will find a way to put Guinness in EVERY chocolate cupcake I ever make from now until I die. 

I have a NEATO tool to share that I stumbled upon while making these cupcakes.  Because I don't follow directions well, I realized half way through that I didn't have enough muffin tins to make all the cupcakes.  I had pulled out some new cupcake papers I had just bought and showed them to Alex.  He pointed out to me that I could cook the cupcakes in these papers...Yeah...WHATEVER...But NO...I REALLY COULD!!!  Reynolds Backing Cups ROCK!!!

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
Thank you to Confessions of a Tart for linking me to the recipe.
Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

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

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

Baileys Frosting (see Recipe Notes)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
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.

Put the butter with the beer in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a mixer bowl, beat the eggas and the sour cream together. Add the beer/butter/cocoa mixture and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat briefly just to combine. Using a rubbet spatula, fold the batter until completely combined, making sure to incorporate little pockets of flour on the bottom so that the batter is of equal consistency everywhere.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way if you want flatter cupcakes and 3/4 if you want domed. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until a toothpick or a slim knife inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely to room temperature.

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. Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

NOTE: Just in case you are impatient, like me, and think it would be better and faster to do this step by putting the chocolate in the cream on the stove...DON'T...if the temperature gets too high, the oils in the chocolate will separate and make chocolate chunky floating in its oils, rather than smooth and tasty!  I had to redo this part to get the beautiful ganache you see below.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped. Using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes.

I didn't actually wait for the ganache to be cool before I piped it.  I didnt even using a piping bag.  I poured it into the hole in the cupcake I made.

Make the frosting: In a large mixer bowl, whip the butter for several minutes until very light and fluffly. Slowly add the powdered sugar, letting it incorporate, utnil the butter becomes thicker and stiff (you will know when this happens). Slowly drizzle the Bailey's (or milk or cream or a combination thereof) and whip until combined. Ice and decorate the cupcakes.
 

Just in case you are wondering why the recipe says 3-4 cups of powdered sugar...they bank on you shooting powdered sugar all over your kitchen.  :)
 
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!