Day 17: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

In honor of my obscure Irish roots and St Patricks Day, a few weeks ago I started searching for Guinness cake.  A friend had sent me a recipe for Guinness cupcakes a some time ago, which looked like a really interesting recipe (flour in the frosting? crazytalk!), but I lost it.  I'm going to keep seeking and hopefully I'll be able to contrast it someday with this recipe.

I went searching into the wide world of google and I came upon a recipe for using the holy trifecta of Guiness, Jameson, and Baileys.  It was so amazing I began to salivate as I was reading it.  Side Note: There are such great blogs on food out there.  Every time I go recipe exploring I am consistently humbled, and a little intimidated, by the amazingly passionate food blogs around the web.   I can only hope that someday this blog will be so well rounded.  I just have to remember the goals: learn to bake (better), learn to run a business, put them together into a job that makes me happy, or at least happier.  Everyone must start somewhere, and I'm starting here.

Back to the point, things I learned in this recipe: the apple corer, as suggested, would be much better way to make room for the ganache than the 'cut a shallow divot off the top' method that I employed.  My cupcakes are not structurally sound.  Also, don't let your husband's phone be your timer if he's about the leave the house.  I ended with slightly singed cupcakes.  Despite these handicaps, these tiny imitation drinks are mind blowing.  I am thoroughly impressed with the soft fluffy cake, luscious whiskey ganache, and the strong flavor of the Bailey's Buttercream frosting.  I'm currently restraining myself from getting up and having another: Mouth! Stop watering!

Recipe taken from this post with Confessions of a Tart, but it was originally posted here with Smitten Kitchen.  Please view those blogs for great commentary and much better pictures than I was able to come up with.

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes (aka. The Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes)
Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate 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

Jameson 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.

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 went about half to 2/3 of the way down and used a small knife to help me extract the centers. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

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.

Deb of Smitten Kitchen says that you can make these in advance: "You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)"