My sister and I decided to get us in the Holiday spirit, earlier in December, to do some baking. On Pinterest, I found this recipe for Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. I love Guinness. I love chocolate. I love cupcakes. We both love to drink and eat cupcakes. This was right up our alley!
However, this recipe is geared towards a St. Patrick's Day theme, with it's Irish spirits and minty flavor. We baked these at Christmastime. And besides that I didn't have any Bailey's or Irish Whiskey. But I did have Eggnog (the spiked kind) and Bourbon. Seemed like a logical replacement to me. So we set to it, replacing the 2 liquors with what I had and only making one slight change in the frosting. They came out perfect. And Christmas-y!
*BTW, I meant to post this weeks ago, so sorry for missing the holiday, as it is a holiday post. You can replace the eggnog with any creamy liquor, but I assure you, these cupcakes will be yummy all winter long, eggnog or not!
Chocolate Guinness-Eggnog Cupcakes (makes 12)
Recipe adapted from wearenotmartha.com
Cupcakes:
1/2 C Guinness (or other stout)
1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 C cocoa powder
1 C flour
1 C sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/3 C sour cream (full fat)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Bring beer and butter to a simmer over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk the mixture until smooth. Remove from heat.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
Beat the egg and sour cream with a handheld or stand mixer.
Add the chocolate stout mixture to the egg mixture and beat until just combined.
Add the dry ingredients in now and mix with a spatula until just combined.
Line your muffin tin and divide the batter among them, filling each about 3/4 of the way.
Bake for 17-20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Let them sit for a minute them remove them to cool completely on a rack.
Chocolate Bourbon Filling:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/4 C heavy cream
1/4 C Eggnog (we used Old New England)
1 TB unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp Bourbon (we used Evan Williams)
Chop the chocolate into coarse pieces and heat over a double broiler. Add the heavy cream and stir until the chocolate is melted through and smooth.
Add the butter, Bourbon and Eggnog.
This is a very liquidy filling so we cooled it in the fridge for a while to thicken it up in order to make it easier to fill. You can core your cupcakes and spoon in the filling (I recommend this way). Or you can use the filling tip and a pastry bag. That's what we used and since the filling is very thin, it was a little difficult because it just ran right out of the tip. But it made us laugh and giggle and we managed to fill them all, so it was worth it!
Eggnog Frosting
*I'd like to point out now that I had never made my own buttercream before. It was not only incredibly easy but this was the best frosting I have ever tasted. Way better than anything you can buy in a store. It makes a ton too and is much cheaper than the little cans. I only wished I'd tried something like this back around Everleigh's birthday. Maybe I could have avoided any of several cake disasters.
1-2 C confectioners’ sugar
1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 TB Eggnog
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Mix butter in a stand mixer on medium speed until fluffy.
Add the confectioner's sugar a little at a time until you like the consistency and the taste. It will take a few minutes before it looks or tastes like frosting. I only used about a cup of sugar.
Add in the eggnog and nutmeg and whip it until combined. Keep adding sugar as needed.
Load it into a pastry bag with a fun tip and frost those cupcakes. (You can use a knife and frost that way too!)
The baking process was so strenuous (but mostly just so silly) that I forgot to take a lot of pictures until nearly the end. Here is my sister frosting the just filled cupcakes and then the goodness of their insides. Finally, I took some shots of the main attraction posing with the supporting cast. Enjoy and Very Belated Merry Christmas!!
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