I'm a little cupcake, short and stout

I've been wanting to try making chocolate stout cake for quite some time and I've had my eye on this recipe from Epicurious. And I figured that St Patrick's Day would be a perfect occasion to break out the Guinness. And I could add some Bailey's Irish Cream in there somewhere! Totally appropriate, right? And potentially delicious! I was going to bake up a big batch and send them to work with Ben on Tuesday.

I was totally planning on baking Monday. I had the Guinness in the fridge and some mini bottles of Bailey's. And chocolate, I always have a few pounds of chocolate in my kitchen. (I'm serious. If you ever are having a chocolate crisis, you know where to find me.) Ben thwarted my cupcake plans, though. The guy offers me a last minute weekend trip to Paris. How is a girl supposed to turn that down? So instead of spending Monday in the kitchen I woke up, got some croissants, strolled through Montmartre, enjoyed some pastries made by people much more talented than me. Rough life, I know.

The cupcakes were not forgotten, though. I just made them a couple days later than intended. And who are we kidding? Ben's colleagues couldn't care less when delicious treats arrive, just as long as we keep them coming.



I made the chocolate stout cupcakes, but halved the original recipe because the reviews all said that the recipe made an insane amount. With the halved recipe I got 24 cupcakes, so unless you really want to make a huge cake, I wouldn't make the full recipe.

I then filled it with a Bailey's and white chocolate whipped cream. Yum. And then frosted the cupcakes with a simple dark chocolate ganache. Because, you know, I wouldn't want to overdo it. Ha.


These were really delicious. Really. Really. Really. I want to eat this cake every day. Ben and I agreed that it was a practically perfect chocolate cake. Deeply chocolatey, but not too rich. Dense, but not heavy. Moist, light, but holds together well. I'm in love. And no, we couldn't taste the Guiness in the finished cupcakes. Just chocolatey wonder. And the cream filling was really good too. In the picture, you can tell it's soaked into the cupcake a bit. This is because I'm impatient and can't wait for cupcakes to cool completely. If you prefer your filling to hold its own better, sit on your hands, go for a walk, resist the urge to play with the cupcakes until they are completely cool.

Another note on the filling. White chocolate can be fussy to work with sometimes. Be sure you use really high quality chocolate, and if you wanted to just make a Bailey's whipped cream, that would be perfectly wonderful in these cupcakes too.

Cupcakes

• 1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cups 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

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tin with paper liners. Bring stout and 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 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. Fill cupcake tins about half to two thirds full. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Turn cupcakes out onto rack and cool completely before filling and frosting.

Bailey's White Chocolate Cream

• 4 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker's), chopped
• 4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
  
• 1 cup chilled whipping cream

Combine chopped white chocolate and Bailey's in small metal bowl. Set over small saucepan of simmering water and stir until white chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove bowl from over water. Cool white chocolate mixture about 10 minutes. Beat chilled whipping cream in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Whisk in white chocolate mixture.

Chocolate Ganache

• 6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
  
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Stir chocolate and cream until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Let chocolate cool until it reaches desired thickness.

Cupcake assembly

Using a small knife, cut a cone shape out of the top of each cupcake. Set aside. Spoon a bit of whipped cream into the hole and replace the top of the cupcake. Spoon a bit of ganache over the cupcake. Eat 5 cupcakes and pass out on the kitchen floor. Repeat.