Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

I had seen these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes on several blogs last year for St. Patrick's Day but never got around to making them.  I figured that after thinking about them for roughly a year it was about time I whipped up a batch.  These cupcakes are based on the Irish Car Bomb drink......a shot glass of 1/2 Irish whiskey and 1/2 Baileys Irish Cream are dropped (like a bomb) into a 3/4 pint glass of Guinness.  The drink must be quickly chugged before it begins to curdle.  Beer does nothing for me, so I was a bit wary of this confection.  Really, Guinness in chocolate cake?  But I figured I'd give it a shot.

These cupcakes consist of a rich chocolate base containing Guinness stout, an Irish whiskey ganache filling and a rich Bailey's Irish Cream infused buttercream frosting.  Sounds yummy, huh?

While these definitely aren't cupcakes you want to take to a preschool birthday party or whip up just because you're bored (the ingredients get pretty darn pricey), they are sure to be a hit!  I gave up sweets for lent (please remind me why I did this to myself again?), so I couldn't eat a full cupcake.  I did, however, take one bite just to be sure I wasn't taking something nasty to share with my office friends.  No worries though, I spit it out so that I would ACTUALLY be eating it....I just had to get a taste :)  YUM!!! 

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

For the Cupcakes:
1 C Guinness stout
1 C Unsalted butter, at room temp
3/4 C Dutch process cocoa powder (*If you can't find any just use Hershey's dark chocolate)
2 C All purpose flour, sifted
2 C Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp Salt
2 eggs
2/3 C Sour cream

For the Whiskey Ganache Filling:
8 ounces Bittersweet chocolate
2/3 C Heavy cream
2 tbsp butter, at room temp
2 tsp Irish whiskey

For the Baileys Frosting:
2 C Unsalted butter, at room temp
5 C Powdered sugar
5 tbsp Baileys Irish cream

To make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 24 cup tin with liners.  Bring Guinness and butter to simmer in saucepan over medium heat.  Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth.  Cool slightly
*I did notice that the mixture seemed to begin to separate if I didn't keep whisking it

Tip:  To bring the butter to room temp faster, cut it into slices.

Beer and Butter

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl to combine.  Using an electric mixture, beat eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined.  Add Guinness mixture to egg mixture and beat to just combine.  Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture slowly and beat briefly.  Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.  Divide batter among cupcake liners.  Bake until knife inserted into center comes out clean, 15-17 minutes.  Be careful to not over bake!  Cool cupcakes on rack.

Don't panic if the batter is super runny.  Mine was...it looked like I had tried to splatter 

paint trying to get the batter in the liners....

But alas, the batter fluffs right up!

To make whiskey ganache filling:  Finely chop chocolate and transfer to heatproof bowl.  Heat cream until simmering and pour over chocolate.  Let sit one minute.  Using rubber spatula, stir from the center outward until smooth.  Add butter and whiskey and stir until combined.  Let ganache cool until thick, but still soft enough to be piped.

To fill the cupcakes: Fit disposable piping bag with small open tip and coupler.  Fill bag with ganache.  Stick piping tip completely into cupcake and fill with ganache.  Pull piping bag gradually out of cupcake as you fill.
*The filling can be done a variety of ways.  You can also use the cone method or simply cut a hole in each cupcake.

The filling peaking out

To make Baileys frosting:  Using whisk attachment of stand mixer, whip butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Reduce speed to medium-low and gradually add powdered sugar until it is all incorporated.  Add Baileys, increase speed to medium-high and whip for additional 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Use favorite decorating tip to frost cupcakes.  Store in air tight container.

And just so you get an idea of what that gooey ganache filling looks like...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!