Well Fed Network

This recipe started, like all good recipes, as something else. That something else is Nigella Lawson’s Guinness Chocolate Cake, which comes from her cookbook Feast. We have two birthdays in the month of March in our house, and St. Patrick’s Day falls smack in the middle of them, so this cake turned into my husband’s official birthday cake. It’s made with cocoa, a cup of Guinness, with a sweet, frothy frosting of cream cheese that resembles the foamy head on the top of a pint of Guinness. Deep, dark, moist, and delicious, the cake seemed destined to live a life, at some point, as cupcakes.

Once I started to think about it, adding a touch of Irish cream to the frosting was a natural pairing. But saying “Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting” was too much. I remembered the drink, the Irish Car Bomb (apologies if you find this offensive, but many drink names are), and settled on that, tongue firmly planted in cheek. I had my work cut out for me.

Ingredients

Cake:
1 cup Guinness
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups superfine sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 tsp. baking soda
A splash of Irish whiskey of your choice

Frosting
8 ounces of cream cheese
1-2 Tbsp. Bailey’s Irish cream (I used the one with a hint of caramel)
2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar, added slowly, 2-3 Tbsp. at a time, to taste

Directions

1. Grease and line with parchment a 9-inch round pan or fill two cupcake pans with liners; preheat oven to 350.
2. Pour the Guinness into a wide saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the butter, in slices, and stir until it melts.
3. Whisk in the sugar and cocoa, slowly and turn off the heat.
4. Add your splash of whiskey.
5. Meanwhile, mix together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla (I used a stand mixer).
6. Add that to the beery-chocolate mix and stir to combine.
7. Whisk in the flour and baking soda until no white streaks remain.
8. If you’re making the cake, pour the batter into the pan and smooth out the top. Tap the sides of the pan gently to pop any remaining air bubbles. Bake for about 50 minutes. If you’re making cupcakes, use an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup cookie scoop to fill the liners and bake for about 20 minutes. They should be cracking slightly across the top and a tester should come out clean.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, and then turn out completely to cool on a wire rack. Frost once it’s cool.

Yield: Approximately 24 cupcakes. I got 18 cupcakes and a dozen mini-cupcakes.