St. Patrick’s Day Guinness Cupcakes

I can remember when I was little making sure that the night before St. Patrick’s Day that I had green on my pajamas because I knew that if I didn’t that my dad would be in my room bright and early looking to get in a pinch. I love that St. Patty’s Day is a day where people who are Irish pull out all the stops and people who aren’t Irish pull out the “Kiss Me, anyways!” t-shirts.

Now, I have always been more of a green beer than Guinness girl. I know, there’s some cussing Irishman rolling his eyes as I type these words, but the beer is just too, um, stout? So, when cupcake bloggers started posting their Guinness cupcake creations, I knew I had to join in.

A few baking notes on the recipe from Fabulous Foods.  The batter was very runny. So much so that I was nervous and wanted to do a test batch. They turned out perfect and you can fill the cups 3/4 full and not worry about them baking over the edges of the tin.

Guinness Cupcakes
Makes 30-ish cupcakes

1 bottle (12 ounces) Guinness stout
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for garnish
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the Frosting
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 pound confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

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.

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

Butter 24 muffin tins and divide the batter among the muffin tins.

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

Make the frosting:
Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream. Slowly mix in the confectioner’s sugar.