Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Baileys Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Moist homemade Guinness chocolate cupcakes, topped off with creamy Baileys brown sugar cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes are a fun and festive addition to St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
This coming week is a big one here. Not only is St. Patrick’s day less than a week away. But, tomorrow is our dog Lucy’s birthday and later this week is my birthday! And of course activities and adult responsibilities…voting and renewing my license. Speaking of which, I’m already fearing how long this dmv trip might be. I’m always seeing horror stories of people sitting and waiting at their own local dmv’s for hours at a time. Granted, they may have been packed or having issues those days. But what if they’re all just as slow as the sloth in Zootopia? I’m not sure I can handle that kind of slow this week. I’ll be happily surprised if it’s a speedy and painless process. The only reason I’m even going in person, when I could renew online, is to upgrade to the newer Real ID. Kind of a pain, but I figured I’d get it over with now, while I’m already up for renewal.
Every year I fully plan on making a pie of some kind (dessert pie, pizza pie, shepherd’s pie…) for my birthday, since it’s Pi day. Kind of funny since I super duper love pie. But I always forget. My brain always goes straight to St. Patrick’s day. I’m sure more people celebrate that than Pi day anyway so it’s still hopefully a win. And lemme tell you… these cupcakes are absolutely a huge win.
I’d been dreaming up so many Guinness recipes for this year and this is the one that finally made it to my must make right this very second list. Practically quite literally even since I worked on these one morning before school. I was in the mood to bake and bake I did! You need to add these to the top of your list as well. There will be zero regrets!
Moist homemade Guinness chocolate cupcakes topped off with Baileys brown sugar cream cheese frosting! What more could you ask for? Ridiculously good and packed full of festive seasonal flavors. You need these in your life… for St. Patrick’s day or just because.
Tips tricks and questions answered…
What if I don’t like Guinness?
Confession… I’m not a fan of beer at all. I hate the smell of it and the taste of it, but I love baking and cooking with it. Guinness pairs really well with chocolate and isn’t super strong in baked goods. Give it a try! You may be happily surprised!
How strong is the frosting?
There’s less than a teaspoon of Baileys per cupcake the way I frosted my cupcakes. This has just enough flavor without being overpowering or super boozy.
What if I don’t like Baileys?
- If you’re not crazy about the flavor of Baileys or don’t want liquor in your frosting, try one of these frosting recipes instead:
- Brown sugar cream cheese frosting
- Cream cheese frosting
- Vanilla buttercream frosting
Help! I need more cupcakes than this recipe makes.
No problem! Just double or triple the ingredient quantities until you reach your desired number of cupcakes.
Can I make substitutions to the ingredients?
The short answer is yes and no. Baking is a science. This recipe works with the exact measurements listed below. Altering one or several of those can cause the recipe to fail. If you are familiar with baking substitutions, go for it! For specific substitution questions, ask in the comments below.
How do you pipe the frosting to look like that?
Using a piping bag fit with a jumbo round piping tip, hold your tip just above the center of your cupcake top. Squeeze frosting out with steady pressure, creating a large dollop. Stop piping when the desired frosting dollop has been reached.
How should I store these cupcakes?
If eating within a day or two, they can absolutely be stored at room temperature. Any longer than that and I’d suggest storing them in the refrigerator, where they can be kept for at least 4-5 days, maybe a bit longer. If you refrigerate the cupcakes, the frosting will firm up a bit. If you prefer softer frosting, bring the cupcakes to room temperature prior to eating.
Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Baileys Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1/4 C unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 C granulated sugar
- 1/4 C light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 C all purpose flour
- 1/3 C Guinness
- 1/3 C sour cream
Frosting:
- 6 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 C unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 1/2 C powdered sugar
- 1/4 C light brown sugar
- 1/4 C Baileys Irish Cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a standard cupcake pan with 10 liners.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in one egg at a time, followed by vanilla, salt and baking soda. With mixer turned off, add in cocoa powder. Mix on low until fully combined. Scrape bowl as needed. Add half of the flour. Mix on low. Add Guinness, mixing until just combined. Add in remaining flour, followed by sour cream. mix until fully combined and no streaks remain.
- Divide batter equally between prepared liners using a large cookie scoop. Liners should be roughly 2/3 full.
- Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for several minutes or until easy to handle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- When cupcakes have cooled completely, prepare frosting. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and brown sugar, mixing until fully combined. Add in half of the powdered sugar. Mix on low and gradually increase speed as needed. Reduce speed to low, slowly drizzle in half of Baileys (2 tablespoons). When Baileys is fully incorporated, mix in remaining powdered sugar and Baileys. Mix until fully combined and desired consistency is reached. Transfer frosting to a piping bag fit with a piping tip. Frost and decorate as desired.
- Enjoy immediately. If making ahead, cupcakes can be stored at room temperature or chilled in the refrigerator for up to several days.
Notes
More recipes like this:
- Guinness chocolate cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting
- Baileys chocolate pudding with Baileys whipped cream
- Mini Baileys chocolate cheesecakes with Baileys whipped cream
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Looks very delicious!
Thanks Rhonda!
Wow. You had me at Bailey’s brown sugar cream cheese frosting. Yum. Pinning to try soon.
Thanks, Scarlet!
I need to make these gluten free. Which flour should I use?
I haven’t personally used this flour or made these cupcakes gluten free but with that being said, I’ve heard great things about King Arthur Flour’s gluten free measure for measure flour.
I’m dying to try these! How does one who doesn’t like Guinness accumulate so many bottle tops? I’m in the same boat! They make perfect toppers tho!
They are definitely perfect dessert toppers! I hope you enjoy the cupcakes!
I made these for a coworker’s birthday that happens to fall on Mar 17. I doubled the recipe and made mini cupcakes and I ended up with 48 very decently sized cupcakes. I probably could have made them slightly smaller and gotten an extra 10. I topped each with a dollop of icing and had a fair amount leftover (so I froze it). Delicious! Oh I did sub Greek yogurt for the sour cream as that’s what I had on hand.
So glad you enjoyed them!