Guinness and Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes
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What comes to mind when you think of St. Patrick’s Day? The color green. Clovers. Leprechauns. Irish food. Drinking. Lots and lots of drinking. Beer. Green beer even. And then there is Guinness. Can I just point out how hard Guinness in cans is to find around St. Patrick’s Day? Seriously hard. I’m not a beer drinker so I had to ask Josh what was best to get when it came to Guinness and he insisted on cans, not bottles. I went on a beer hunt with our toddler. She was even saying ‘going on a beer hunt!’ ahahaha. Seriously it was funny but mostly because if people heard it, it probably sounded like bear to them and not beer. Totally less creepy. Okay so the problem I quickly ran into was that either whatever store we were in at the moment didn’t have Guinness at all or they only had bottles. Argh. Totally frustrating.
For those who were aware of my hunting for a special ingredient. This was it. The ingredient. I already had everything else to make these special cupcakes but the Guinness was proving hard to find. I should have planned ahead of time. I thought maybe given that St. Patrick’s Day is such a huge drinking day for so many that just maybe stores would be stocking up on the special beers. Apparently not. Days later and many stores visited, we finally found some cans. Finally!
If you don’t like Guinness, worry not… these cupcakes really don’t actually taste like Guinness which was a nice surprise to me. They’re a nice chocolate flavor. Maybe there is a subtle hint of the beer that I’m just not aware of. Either way, the cupcakes turned out deliciously moist.
In the drinking, green, Irish, St. Patrick’s Day spirit… Mix up a batch and share with your friends.
**Warning: only approved for those of legal drinking age and not pregnant**
Guinness and Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 C all purpose flour
- 1 C granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp and 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 5 Tb and 1 tsp sour cream
- 1/2 C Guinness
- 1/2 C unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 C and 2 Tb cocoa powder
Ganache:
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 5 Tb and 1 tsp heavy cream
- 1 Tb unsalted butter
- 1 tsp Bailey's
Frosting:
- 1/2 C unsalted butter
- 4 C powdered sugar
- 4-7 Tb Baileys
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F° and line your cupcake pan. In a small or medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine the Guinness and butter. Toss in cocoa powder, continually stir until smooth. Remove from heat and transfer to another bowl for cooling. Doing this will help to prevent burning. Yet another reason I prefer double boilers, but sometimes it's just quicker to mix stuff directly in a pan. You can also microwave the mixture if you prefer but I'm not responsible for the outcome.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer; mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add in sour cream and egg. Mix until combined, scrape sides of bowl. Add in your beer mixture. Mix well, scraping sides as needed. When you have a nice smooth batter, fill cupcake liners evenly. I prefer to use a large cookie scoop. It proves to be the easiest method I've tried so far, so I definitely recommend it.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine were done at exactly 17 minutes but I started checking at 15, just in case. Let cool for a few minutes, then transfer carefully to a cooling rack. Set aside.
- Chop up your chocolate into nice thin slivers. You can use a food processor if you wish or do this by hand. It's not hard at all by hand if you have a good knife. Transfer chocolate to a heat safe bowl. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer. Stir every so often to make sure it isn't burning to your pan. Once your cream is ready, pour over chocolate. Toss in butter and stir until smooth. Add in Baileys and continue to mix. When you have a smooth chocolate mixture set aside to cool. In 5-10 minutes you should have a thickened piping consistency.
- While waiting, using a small sharp knife, cut cones out of the tops of your cupcakes. Then cut your cones in half and set aside. You will be using the tops shortly. Fit a piping bag with a wide tip, then add chocolate and tie off your bag. I used Wilton tip 12 round, that size or larger is perfect. If you do not have tips or bags, simply fill a plastic bag with chocolate and snip off the corner. Pipe chocolate into your cupcakes and replace tops to seal off the cupcakes.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar in one cup at a time. When you have added all of the sugar, begin adding one tbsp of Baileys at a time. Remember to scrape your bowl, it is definitely important with this frosting recipe. Decorate cupcakes as desired. Enjoy.
Notes
These look delish! I keep reading about putting Guinness or other stout in cakes and I’d really like to try it!
I love the little hidden surprise inside! These look delicious
We’ll be pulling these out for the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade! ;-)
I’m attending an Irish dinner next week in honor of St. Patrick’s day. I think these cupcakes might need to make an appearance there. I just started baking with beer. I love it.
great idea for st. patrick’s day! :) I don’t actually drink, so I’ll have to pass on this one, but they look delicious :)
Oh, delicious! I love that you filled them w/ that delicious filling too!
Does anyone know how many cupcakes this makes? It’s on my list to make next week!!!
I believe it makes 1 dozen, give or take. I didn’t make a note of that at the time but do know what you see in the pictures is how many I made at the time. I hope you enjoy them!
The ganache in the inside is a nice touch. I’ve been looking for a new St. Pat’s day treat-these look delicious.
I made these on Saturday and they were really, really yummy! I reviewed them on m blog and linked back to this post for the recipe.
Someone above asked how many it makes and I got 12 overfilled cupcakes, I think it would have done 13 or 14 normally filled.
So glad to hear you enjoyed them! Now I’m craving a cupcake ;)
Awesome recipe Im making these this weekend for my mother in laws 44th Birthday she is in love with Bailey’s. This just looks perfect for her!! Thanks for this recipe!
I hope everyone enjoys them! :)
These look sound and look delicious. What piping tip did you use?
Thank you! I believe it was a closed star tip.
I tried this….WOW it was awesome! Thank you so very much! – Suzy
So glad you enjoyed them! :)