Guinness Cupcakes

Knowing how much our friend, Danny, likes Guinness, I knew that these would be the perfect cupcakes to make for his birthday (especially since the party would be at a bar!). They don’t exactly taste like Guinness, but it adds a background flavor that makes them not taste quite like regular chocolate cupcakes either. Everybody LOVED these! Even the people working at the bar thought they were really cool.

For fun little garnish, I made some Guinness flavored sprinkles. They were good, but next time I would start with a great amount of Guinness for even more flavor.

I also brought another kind of cupcake, which used Guinness, too. I will write about those in an upcoming post.

(Note: I needed to keep these non-dairy, so I will write my substitutions in italics. And trust me – even the non-dairy version was fantastic!)

1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness Stout

1/2 cup milk (I used soy milk)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream (I used Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Cacao Barry Extra Dark)

2 cups granulated sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Guinness, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour and baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet Guinness mixture.

4. Butter (or line with cupcake liners) 24 cupcake/muffin cups and divide the batter among them.

5 Bake for 25 minutes, until risen and set in the middle, but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out of cups.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

1 stick salted butter, room temperature (I used salted margarine)

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature (I used unsalted margarine)

1/2 cup solid shortening

1 tablespoon Nielson-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste or vanilla extract

1 1/2 pounds confectioner’s sugar, sifted

4 tablespoons very cold milk (I used soy milk)

Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla and combine well. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk, one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition (mixer on medium-high to high speed until you reach the desired consistency.

*Adapted from My Baking Addiction

Guinness Flavored Sprinkles

1/4 cup Guinness Stout

4 ounces (about 2 cups) confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon meringue powder

1 tablespoon warm water

Pinch salt

1. Cook the Guinness in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, until reduced to 1 tablespoon. Set aside to cool.

2. Sift the confectioner’s sugar into a medium-sized bowl. (It’s very important to sift the sugar in this case, because even the tiniest lump will clog you pastry tip later.)

3. Whisk 1 teaspoon meringue powder together with 1 tablespoon warm water. Whisk until smooth and foamy. Whisk in the reduced Guinness and a pinch of salt.

4. Mix the liquid mixture into the powdered sugar and stir to combine. (If mixture looks to thick, add more water as necessary. the mixture should be smooth, thick, and pipe-able.)

5. Place mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a very small round tip (I used Wilton’s #2 tip). Press out any air from the bag.

6. Pipe out long, thin lines of icing onto parchment or wax paper until the icing is used up.

7. Let the icing strips dry until completely dry, for at least one day.

8. Chop into small pieces. Store in a container until using.

*Adapted from thekitchn.com