Christine and the Big Scary Kitchen

I love my friends’ birthdays. Something about the excuse to spoil the crap out of my friends in embarrassing public displays of affection fills me with a joy I can’t explain. Now, it doesn’t stop me from being outwardly loud and obnoxiously loving on a regular basis, which most of my friends avoid me during these times, but then there’s one who reciprocates my affection. Meet Jay.

Jay is one of my roommates and he is my lovely lady killer.  Yesterday, he turned 25, and I knew I wanted to make him something extra special.  Step in Car Bomb Cupcakes.  Now, I’ve never had an Irish car bomb, but they are traditionally a half a pint of Guinness, then a half an ounce of whiskey with half an ounce of Bailey’s, dropped in and then chugged.  I’m not sure why someone would want to drink this, but the flavors sounded like a delicious combination for a cupcake!

I used Double Chocolate Stout instead of Guinness.  The alcohol is burned off in one of the beginning steps of this, also, you can opt out of the whiskey in the middle and replace the Bailey’s with cream or half and half.  Also, instead of doubling the recipe, i just made two batches but only one and a half times the filling and frosting.

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes
from smitten kitchen.  (I’m not one to directly take from the site, but Deb puts the instructions in such a precise way I found it hard to reword, so not all the words are mine, but I followed them and all the pictures and fat calories from eating a dozen cupcakes ARE mine.)

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes (but I got 30!?)

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temp
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)
1/4 tsp of mint extract
1 tsp of the ganache

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan.

In a medium sauce pan, bring butter and stout to a simmer over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Set aside to cool.  Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until blended well.

Beat eggs and sour cream together in an electric mixer until lighter in color, add chocolate mix, and beat slowly until mixed.  Gently fold in dry ingredient mix until combined.  Fill cupcakes about 3/4 of the way.  Bake for about 17-18 minutes until tester comes out clean– rotate once.  Cool completely before removing the centers.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake only about 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.  Ice and decorate the cupcakes.

Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)