For St. Patricks Day I wanted to do something fun, but a bit off the wall, so I chose an Irish Car Bomb cupcake. Have I ever had an Irish Car Bomb, myself? Haha...nope! I've had Guinness before, and I've accidently had whiskey before. As for the Bailey's Irish Cream....I'm not exactly sure if I've had that before in a beverage. Why would I chose a cupcake that included all 3 of these? I dunno....but I'm sure glad I did it! The Guinness initially made for a thin batter, but after letting it sit for a few minutes it started to thicken and set, which made the chocolate batter so much easier to scoop into the pans. I may have overdone it with the whiskey in the ganache, but I received no complaints! As for the Irish Cream icing....oh my GOODNESS, it was so good!
All in all, this was a big hit, and a cupcake that will be prepared again!
Irish Car Bomb Cupcake (This recipe made approx 30 cupcakes for me)
Adapted from See Dani Bake
For the Cupcake:
1 C Guinness Beer
1 C unsalted butter
1/2 C cark cocoa powder (I used Hershey Special Dark)
1/4 C semisweet chocolate chips
2 C All Purpose flour
2 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp Kosher salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 c sour cream, room temperature
For the Whiskey Ganache Filling:
1 C semisweet chocolae chips (I used mini's)
2 oz semisweet baking chocolate, coursly chopped
2/3 c heavy cream
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1-2 Tbsp Whiskey (I used Makers's Mark because I didn't have anything Irish around)
1 tsp vanilla
For the Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
5-6 c confectioners sugar
45 Tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream
3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
Prepare your cupcake pans by popping in some liners. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan bring Guinness and butter to a simmer. Once butter is completely melted, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa and chocolate chips. Set aside to cool, or pop in the fridge for a few minutes.
While chocolate mixture cools, combine flour, sugar, soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. In your mixer bowl, beat eggs for about 30 seconds, then add sour cream. Mix well, scraping down sides of bowl. Pour slightly cooled chocolate mixture into mixer bowl, and mix thoroughly. Setting mixer at low speed, slowly add flour mixture. Mix only until just combined. Remove mixer bowl from mixer and continue to mix flour into wet's, until there are no more flour streaks in batter. Set aside for about 5 minutes, to allow batter to set up a bit.
Scoop batter into cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes, or until tops bounce back when touched. Remove from oven, and allow to cool in tins for about 7 minutes. Finish cooling them on wire racks. While cupcakes cool, prepare ganache.
In a butter warmer (or very small saucepan) heat cream to simmering. While this heats through, combine chocolate chips and chopped cocoa together in a medium bowl. Have your whiskey and vanilla on standby, ready to add to ganche. Once cream is warm, pour over chocolate chips and cocoa. Whisk quickly, adding vanilla and desired amount of whiskey (I used about 1 1/2 Tbsp) Once smooth, set aside, or pop in the fridge for about 10 minutes to cool down. If you don't already own a cupcake corer, you should get one (especially if you follow my blog!) You can get them at Sur La Table for less than 5 bucks. It's a good buy, trust me. Anyway, core your completely cooled cupcakes, and nibble on the nubs while you prepare your frosting.
For frosting, mix cream cheese and butter together, until smooth. Add about 3 Tbsp Irish Cream to butter/cream mixture and incorproate. Making sure mixer is set to low, begin adding confectioners' sugar to bowl. Add additional Irish Cream until you reach desired consistency and flavor. Once your frosting is just how you want it, add your whipping cream and mix on high for 2 minutes. This will lighten your potentially heavy frosting, making it easier to eat.
Once your frosting is prepped, assemble your boozy cakes! You can use a piping bag to fill your cupcakes with ganache, then your favorite tip to frost the tops. These beauties are yumtastic, so they will go fast! Make sure you keep them away from little hands, because the whiskey filling and Bailey's frosting have a bit of a kick!!
Hope you enjoy as much as we all did!! Happy St. Patrick's Day!
