Guinness Cupcakes and Bailey's Frosting

Oh St. Patrick's Day, the only day of the year where we are all Irish and encouraged to drink. I found a recipe for this cupcakes over a year ago, and I've wanted to make them for awhile, and I decided that I was going to make them for the holiday.

I'm super glad I did. Not only were they SUPER easy to throw together, but the taste is out of this world. Seriously, there is no substitute for this cupcake. All I can say, is that this is just another Irish thing for me to love.

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Cupcake Ingredients:

From We Are Not Martha

1 1/2 cups Guinness (or stout beer)

1 stick of butter, plus 1 Tbsp.

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups dark brown sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. Vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1) Preheat oven to 350 F.

2) Cut butter into cubes and melt on stove-top with beer until the butter has melted. Once melted, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa powder and brown sugar.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Add to beer mixture.

4) In another bowl, mix together flour and baking soda. Slowly fold into the wet mixture until just mixed.

5) In a lined cupcake pan, pour batter into cups. Bake at 350 F. for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

MAKES 24 CUPCAKES

So about the cupcakes, I could have eaten them without the frosting. They are so rich and chocolatey with just a hint of the Guinness. And as a bonus, getting to drink the remainder of the pint while you bake was pretty awesome. Anyway, I came out 29 cupcakes because I didn't  fill up my first dozen enough. Still, they're just amazingly good.

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Frosting Ingredients

From: The Co-Exist Cafe

 2-3 cups powdered sugar

1 stick of butter, room temp.

2-3 Tbsp. Bailey's

1 tsp. heavy cream

1) Combine powdered sugar and butter with a fork until a smooth consistency.

2) Add Bailey's, a Tbsp. at a time until smooth.

3) Add heavy cream to even out taste if the Bailey's is too strong.

So this frosting, it's been awhile since I made a buttercream frosting. And I had to add a bit of milk (I had no cream) to take a bit of the edge off. I used 2 1/2 cups of P.S. and I had only a tiny bit leftover. I also added about 3 drops of green food coloring to give it a nice green tint. Totally festive, totally delicious.

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