Guinness Cupcakes

I always look for interesting recipes for Colby to take to work on his "treat days." Last time he took bacon cupcakes. This time I made Guinness cupcakes. The recipe I found required baking the basic cake in layers, making a filling, and then making a frosting. Who has time for that? I dumped the cake batter into muffin pans and frosted them with ganache.

First, pour 1 cup of Guinness beer into a small saucepan. Add 1 cup of cut up butter to the beer and heat on low heat until the butter melts. It looks like this:


Once the butter is melted, remove the mixture from heat and whisk in 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. It looks like this:



Set the beer mixture aside to cool while you move on to the next steps.

In a large bowl combine 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt.

In a separate smaller bowl, beat 2 large eggs with 2/3 cup of sour cream until smooth with an electric mixer. Pour in the beer mixture and whisk to make a smooth, thick liquid.

Pour the beer/chocolate into the flour mixture and gently combine with a spatula. Pour the batter into muffin cups lined with papers.

Bake in the oven preheated to 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. The amount of time will depend greatly on the type of muffin pan you use. Cool completely before frosting.

Now, I have no photos of the finished product because I had bowling league last night and was in a hurry to get out the door. Colby took the cakes to work this morning, so my photo opportunity is gone. Instead of photos, I will share with you the chocolate ganache recipe I used as frosting. It's so easy.

Chop 9 oz. of bittersweet chocolate into small pieces and put it in a mixing bowl. In a small saucepan over low heat, gently bring 1 cup heavy cream to a simmer. If it boils it will froth out of the pan and all over the place. Or so I'm told.

Pour the warm cream into the chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. Allow to cool before pouring/spreading onto your cake. Really, if you make cupcakes you only need to make a half batch of the ganache. Or make a whole batch and just eat the rest with ice cream or animal crackers.