"Manly" Cupcakes

It's 1:00 a.m. and I have to work tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. Instead of studying for tomorrow's statistics test, I am blogging. I am currently wide awake, but the minute I start reading about Inferential Statistics my eyes are shut. I even tried walking around while reading-- but by some miraculous gravity defying maneuver, I can fall asleep while standing. What can I say, it's a gift.

If there were ever to be a "manly cupcake" these would be it. Guinness Cupcakes (or Beer Cupcakes). I promised the beer brewing boys at work that I'd make Guinness Cupcakes and they liked it! One of them I think ate 4 -- but he's one of those really skinny guys who can eat a lot. Some people just have it made.


The ingredients:

• 1 cup Guinness
• 1 stick, plus 1 tb, unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups dark brown sugar OR white (I used white)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tb vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Glaze:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• If you want the Guinness taste in the frosting, use Guinness instead of the milk. I used both milk and Guinness because I didn't want the beer taste to be too strong. Taste for your preference. I think I only used about 2 tablespoons of Guinness. 

First Step...

Melt the butter (chopped into chunks) and Guinness in a saucepan. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the sugar, then cocoa powder.

Step 2...

In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream, vanilla and eggs and whisk together.

Step 3...

Combine the chocolate Guinness mixture with the sour cream mixture and flour... VOILA! You have the batter for Guinness Cupcakes.

Bake for 25 minutes -- I would try 20 because the Guinness cooks fast. The cupcakes turn into this rich dark brown color and they have a nice shine to them as well.

Let cool before adding glaze. For the glaze, use a hand mixer to incorporate the ingredients. Make sure cream cheese is softened.  For this recipe, I found the glaze to be a bit too runny so I added more sugar. You can also not use as much milk or Guinness. The cupcakes didn't look too appetizing to me so I sprinkled some grated chocolate on top :)

 

These cupcakes were delicious. You could taste a hint of the Guinness (or at least the malt) and the cupcakes are not bitter at all. In fact, they are a perfect not too sweet chocolate cupcakes which I like a lot. The cupcakes are also extremely moist!

You can also turn these cupcakes into an Irish Car Bomb cupcake. For the frosting use a little Bailey's, butter and confectioner's sugar.

Cheers!

P.S. Don't worry no one got drunk or tipsy.. remember that the alcohol burns off when you bake the cupcakes.