"A lot of people go to college for 7 years."
"Yah. They're called doctors."
Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)
Baileys Frosting
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons Baileys (you can substitute heavy cream, if you like)
Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer (I used the open end of one of my piping tips) and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)
To Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.
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. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.
Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
For the Frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
[Note from Smitten Kitchen: "This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up." Thanks, SK!]
When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or cream) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
Ice and decorate the cupcakes.
Do ahead: 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.)
Those are a "must make"!!! I would much rather have made those for today than cake with yogurt. :)
I'm copying (stealing) the recipe now... thanks - they look absoultely fantastic, like you stayed up all night making them. :)
Posted by: mike | March 18, 2009 at 12:49 AM
Woo hoo -- party cupcakes!! Honestly, I got tired just reading about your college retrospective. It all sounds so very familiar, and I can't believe I lived through it. These cupcakes are about as wild and crazy as I'll be able to muster these days. But with as incredible as these look, that should be enough!
Posted by: Cathy | March 18, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Say it with us, short and staccato: Mm. And of course anything that tastes like liquor is right down our alley!
Posted by: The Duo Dishes | March 18, 2009 at 01:53 PM
Great way to remember the good old days:) The cupcakes look great!
Posted by: Maria | March 18, 2009 at 01:58 PM
Long live the glory days!
Sadly, my college days were NOTHING like yours, so eat another cupcake just for me!
Posted by: Megan | March 18, 2009 at 02:05 PM
I've never tried that drink. I must be too old, and it hadn't been invented way back when I was in college. The cupcakes look delicious though!
Posted by: lisaiscooking | March 18, 2009 at 02:26 PM
Those look wonderful. Although I have my fair share of stories involving alcohol from college (and even as recently as last year), I never had an Irish Car Bomb.
Posted by: pinkstripes | March 18, 2009 at 03:03 PM
Whiskey and bear, wow! The cupcakes look just heavenly!
Posted by: Natasha - 5 Star Foodie | March 18, 2009 at 04:16 PM
The whiskey is so appropriate, as all the irish car bomb's i've had include a shot of jameson in the guiness before you drop the bailey's. Special!
Posted by: a | March 18, 2009 at 08:04 PM
These look amazing! The Bailey's frosting sounds irresistible, and they definitely take me back to a few snowy Syracuse memories of my own :)
Posted by: Amber Marie | March 18, 2009 at 09:53 PM
"Cupcakes with an Edge" - that's all I need to know! The second photo of the half-cupcake is a winner! No more needs to be said.
Posted by: Tangled Noodle | March 18, 2009 at 11:39 PM
Wow, they sure look good! I'll bet they taste delicious too.
I made a chocolate stout cake and was pleasantly surprised at the depth of flavor.
Posted by: Jacque | March 19, 2009 at 08:14 AM
Holy Moly! Could these look any better? :)
Posted by: Erin | March 19, 2009 at 01:11 PM
Great way to have your drink and eat it, too. I love reading your posts.
Posted by: Lynne | March 20, 2009 at 06:57 AM
hilarious post...ahhh, those college days and inappropriately named drinks!
these look delicious!
Posted by: dharmagirl | March 20, 2009 at 05:27 PM
This is such a funny post. I feel your pain too at the ripe old age of 28. The cupcakes look great though and I have had them bookmarked since I saw them on SK. Thanks for reminding me!
Posted by: Esi | March 20, 2009 at 10:54 PM
Wow! Reading through this recipes has resurrected my interest in cupcakes. I had given up on them (ate too many cupcakes that tasted like cake) until recently when a friend persuaded me to checkout a new Cupcake shop here in town. Still needed some convincing. Seeing this recipe was all I needed. I'll give this one a try and see how it comes out. BTW, your blog looks great.
Posted by: Michael Gilmore | April 23, 2009 at 11:55 PM
Isn't that heavy with 2 kinds of alcohol?
Posted by: frabala | March 26, 2010 at 10:41 AM
This caught my eye because I also find it interesting that the most
widely-published professors and researchers are not the ones teaching
students at their universities, almost out of necessity-- if you're
spending so much time in the laboratory or the library, you can't
teach a class full of undergrads at the same time.
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