Guinness and Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 C all purpose flour
1 C sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp and 1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
5 tbsp and 1 tsp sour cream
1/2 C Guinness
1 stick butter (8 tbsp)
1/4 C and 2 tbsp cocoa powder

(Ingredients for filling and Buttercream Frosting are below) 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and line your cupcake pan. In a small or medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine the Guinness and butter. Toss in cocoa powder, continually stir until smooth. Remove from heat and transfer to another bowl for cooling. Doing this will help to prevent burning. Yet another reason I prefer double boilers, but sometimes it’s just quicker to mix stuff directly in a pan. You can also microwave the mixture if you prefer but I’m not responsible for the outcome.

 In a large bowl or stand mixer; mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add in sour cream and egg. Mix until combined, scrape sides of bowl. Add in your beer mixture. Mix well, scraping sides as needed. When you have a nice smooth batter, fill cupcake liners evenly. I prefer to use a large cookie scoop. It proves to be the easiest method I’ve tried so far, so I definitely recommend it.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine were done at exactly 17 minutes but I started checking at 15, just in case. Let cool for a few minutes, then transfer carefully to a cooling rack. Set aside.

Baileys Ganash Filling Ingredients:

4 oz bittersweet chocolate
5 tbsp 1 tsp heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp Bailey’s

Chop up your chocolate into nice thin slivers. You can use a food processor if you wish or do this by hand. It’s not hard at all by hand if you have a good knife. Transfer chocolate to a heat safe bowl. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer. Stir every so often to make sure it isn’t burning to your pan. Once your cream is ready, pour over chocolate. Toss in butter and stir until smooth. Add in Baileys and continue to mix. When you have a smooth chocolate mixture set aside to cool. In 5-10 minutes you should have a thickened piping consistency.

While waiting, using a small sharp knife, cut cones out of the tops of your cupcakes. Then cut your cones in half and set aside. You will be using the tops shortly. Fit a piping bag with a wide tip, then add chocolate and tie off your bag. I used Wilton tip 12 round, that size or larger is perfect. If you do not have tips or bags, simply fill a plastic bag with chocolate and snip off the corner. Pipe chocolate into your cupcakes and replace tops to seal off the cupcakes.

Baileys Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

1 stick butter
4 C powdered sugar
7 tbsp Baileys

In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar in one cup at a time. When you have added all of the sugar, begin adding one tbsp of Baileys at a time. Remember to scrape your bowl, it is definitely important with this frosting recipe. Decorate cupcakes as desired. Enjoy.