Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Once upon a time, there was a cupcake. Now, this was no ordinary cupcake, mind you. This cupcake was rich. This cupcake was chocolatey. This cupcake oozed goodness from every pore of its being.

What sets this cupcake apart from its other frosted friends? Two words: booze and ganache.

I'm still sighing just thinking about them. Of course, you'll notice there are very few pictures. There's a simple reason for that. A simple, full-tummied, chocolate-smeared-face reason for that. Whoops.

So here's how this cupcake works:
1. You open a Guinness. You pour a little bit of that Guinness into your cupcake batter. You drink the rest. You're already happier, right?
2. You cut out little holes in the middle of the cupcakes. Now you have a pile of cupcake bits that surely cannot go to waste. Taste them, you will. Better than medication, I'm telling you.
3. You fill those cupcake wells up with a chocolate ganache that's been infused with Irish whiskey. You also pour yourself a little Jameson on the rocks. Yep, you're already in heaven. And you're not even done!
4. You whip up a buttercream frosting that skips the milk and instead uses Baileys Irish Cream to give the frosting its smooth, boozy goodness. (I think it goes without saying that here is when you also make yourself an Irish coffee to satisfy your already smiling palette). 
5. Bite into the ooziest, booziest cupcake and thank the Irish people for giving us the opportunity for this treat.

*Kevin and Guida, thanks for having us over and for my first cabbage and corned beef experience. Yum!

Photo by: Smitten Kitchen

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen 
 Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

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

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 (I recommend doubling this recipe unless your frosting habits are VERY sparse)
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)


Directions:
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 ganache 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.

Fill the cupcakes: 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 a knife 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. A ziploc bag will work just as well as a fancy piping bag.

Make 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.

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) 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. With this frosting, a little goes a long way.