Dark Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes
250 g (1 C. and 2 tbsp) unsalted butter
250 ml (1 C.) Guinness
75 g Dutch process cocoa ( 3/4 C.), sifted
275 g (2 + 1/4 C.) all purpose flour, sifted
2 tsp. baking soda
400 g (2 C.) sugar
2 medium eggs
150 ml (2/3 C.) sour cream
1 tbsp. good quality vanilla extract
Frosting Ingredients
600 g (2 + 2/3 C.) cream cheese
300 g (3 C.) powdered sugar, sifted
300 ml (1 1/3 C.) cream, whipped - it will double in size once whipped
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 24 cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
Add butter, cocoa and Guinness to a saucepan. Warm over a medium heat and stir until melted. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes to cool slightly.
Add flour, baking soda and sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix together well. Pour in the Guinness/cocoa/butter mixture, lightly combine, add the vanilla, eggs and sour cream and beat everything together until well combined. The batter should be thick and dark chocolate in color.
Fill cupcake liners ⅔’s full. Cook in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean from the center of the cake.*Note: These cupcakes are very moist inside, so use your judgment regarding the skewer test. Do not leave in the oven until the cupcakes have totally dried out — cook long enough so there is no uncooked cake on the skewer but there may be a few moist crumbs sticking to it after cooking.
Leave to cool for 5 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting Instructions
Place the cream cheese into the bowl of a mixer and beat on a low-medium speed using a whisk attachment (I find a paddle attachment tends to over-beat the cheese). Whisk until the cheese is smooth and there are no big lumps remaining.
Gradually, using a large spoon, add in the sifted powdered sugar and beat gently to combine. After 2 to 3 minutes, stop the machine, scrape any excess frosting from the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed until lump free.
Remove bowl from mixer and gently fold in the whipped cream, mixing to fully combine. Place half the icing in a piping bag with a round tip. Or alternatively you can spread the icing on the cupcake with a spoon, knife or small spatula.
I like to create a hole in the center of each cupcake. (one way to do this is to invert a piping tip and press the inverted tip into the center of the cupcake to form a hole, you can save the scraps and make cake pops or sprinkle the crumbs on top of the finished cupcake). This is completely optional however. If you decided to create a hole be sure to pipe icing into that hole before piping the top of the cupcake.
Yields 24 cupcakes