Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

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It's St. Patrick's day!  Even though I'm not Irish (I've dated one, though, so that kind of counts), I can still party with the best of them.  Especially when it comes to turning tasty drinks into tasty sweets!  I hope you enjoy this super dark, no-too-sweet stout-y chocolate cakes and the delicious Irish Cream flavored cream cheese frosting.  Give one to someone Irish, and then use it as an excuse to either kiss them....or to not kiss them.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Super Dark Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

• Sugar, Granulated: 2 1/3C
• Salt: 3/4t
• Cocoa Powder: 3/4 C
• Baking Soda: 1 t
• Stout Beer: 1 C
• Canola Oil: 3/4 C
• Vanilla Extract: 2 t
• Flour, All Purpose: 1 3/4 C
• Egg, yolks: 4
• Egg, whole: 2
• Buttermilk: 1/4 C

Pour your beer into a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil.  In a slightly larger sauce pan, whisk together your cocoa powder, baking soda, sugar and salt, thoroughly.  When your beer has started to boil, remove it from the heat and start to whisk into your cocoa powder/sugar mixture slowly.  When everything is completely combined, turn the heat back on your range and bring that mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally (remember to get into the corners!).  After your mixture has started to boil, remove from the heat and let it sit for at least ten minutes.  This is important, because if it's too hot, it will cook your eggs before they get cooking into the cake and that's not fun to eat.

Pour your beer/chocolate/sugar mixture into your mixture, turn mixture onto low, and then drizzle in your oil and vanilla.  Mix on low for 30 seconds to a minute to completely combine.  Sift in your AP flour and mix on low for 30 seconds, or less, just until most of the flour is moistened.  Take the bowl off the mixer and fold in the rest of the flour with a spatula.  Add your buttermilk and eggs and fold them in gently, but thoroughly.

Your batter should be VERY shiny and a little more sticky than normal cake batter.

Fill your cupcake liners about 3/4 full, and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Flip them around once during baking (be gently so they don't collapse).  To make sure they're done, press lightly on top.  When they are no longer wet and spring back after your touch, they are done.  Let them cool completely on a cooling rack before icing them.

Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream Cheese: 1 lbs
• At room temperature
• Butter, Unsalted: 1/ lbs
• At room temperature
• Powdered Sugar: 1 1/2 C 
• Sifted, twice
• Vanilla Extract: 1t
• Irish Cream Liqeur: 1/2 C

Combine your cream cheese and butter in your mixing bowl with a paddle attachment.  Turn on medium speed for two minutes.  Scrape down the sides to make sure everything is getting incorporated.

Place half of your powdered sugar into your mixing bowl and turn on low speed until it's generally moistened.  Place the rest of the powdered sugar and, again, turn on low speed until completely incorporated.  Do not, I repeated, DO NOT, put all of your powdered sugar in at once.  It will come flying out of that mixer and it will cover you.  You will not be happy.  Trust me.  When you have all of your powdered sugar in your mixing bowl, and it's all moistened, turn your mixer onto medium-high and beat for around three minutes.  About halfway through your mixing, add your vanilla extract and your Irish Cream.  Taste your buttercream and adjust the Irish Cream amount as you see fit.  You may want a little more, as the cream cheese has a tendency to make other flavors fall by the wayside.

Decorate as you see fit.  In all seriousness, I used a 4oz ice cream scooper and a baby food spoon with Dora the Explorer on it to do this.  You can turn anything into a decorating tool.  Enjoy, everyone!

Now try this!

Dust your cupcakes with a little cocoa powder, or a coffee or stout beer based caramel sauce!

Recipes have been adapted from Bakewise by Shirley Corriher and Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller.