In honor of the upcoming St Patrick's Day, we bring you our Guinness Extra Stout Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Buttercream & Bailey's Chocolate Ganache. This cupcake is tasty, moist, and not too sweet, but paired with a creamy & flavorful ganache & buttercream, it makes a most excellent treat.
Yields: 12 cupcakes
Prep Time: 35 min
Cook Time: 25 min
Ingredients
Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
¾ cup Guinness Extra Stout
½ cup unsalted butter, cubed
½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
⅝ teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1 egg, room temperature
¼ cup sour cream or yogurt
Whiskey-Spiked Coffee Buttercream
1 ⅓ cup unsalted butter, softened
2 ¾ cup confectioners sugar, sifted
4 teaspoons strongly brewed coffee
4 teaspoons Irish Whiskey
A pinch of salt
Green sprinkles, for garnish
Bailey’s Chocolate Ganache
3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons Bailey’s
Process
Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.
Stir the Guinness, butter, brown sugar, and cocoa powder together in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking often. Remove from saucepan from the heat, whisk in vanilla, and set aside to cool.
In a standing mixer, or using an electric mixer with a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and espresso powder. Gradually add in the chocolate mixture and stir until incorporated.
Add in the egg and sour cream, and continue to beat for another two minutes on medium; mixture should be smooth and batter will be very runny. Divide the batter evenly between the liners, filling each about 3/4 full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, using a toothpick to test the center of the cupcake to make sure it’s not still batter-y.
Let the cupcakes cool for about 15-20 minutes before adding the frosting and ganache.
Whiskey-Spiked Coffee Buttercream
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk the butter until light and fluffy. Add in powdered sugar until the frosting is fluffy and creamy. Then add the coffee, Irish whiskey, and salt. Mix until it is all incorporated.
Transfer buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe onto cupcakes. Ensure that your buttercream isn’t too warm or it will not hold in shape. Garnish with green sprinkles.
Bailey’s Chocolate Ganache
Place chocolate in a bowl.
In another bowl, microwave cream for about 30 seconds, or until it begins to boil. Pour it over the chocolate and let sit about 5 minutes, stirring it until smooth in texture.
You may need to microwave the bowl for additional time if the sure is not melted, but make sure to only use 10 second intervals, as not to burn the chocolate. Then stir in the Irish Cream.
Let the ganache cool briefly until it reaches a good consistency for drizzling. Spoon ganache over frosted cupcakes, allowing to drizzle slightly down sides.
Notes:
We only used ½ of the buttercream recipe to frost our cupcakes.
Since our buttercream needed to be cooled down, we added our layer of ganache on top of the cupcake, and the buttercream spread on top.