Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make these cupcakes.  An adult campfire with hobo pies and full coolers was exactly the event I'd been waiting for.

 Rachel told me about them back in March (they make great St. Patrick's party food).  The original recipe comes from Brown Eyed Baker.

Any recipe that starts out like this is a keeper in my book:

A cup of Guinness and a cup of butter simmer on the stove.  Feel free to drink the rest of the Guinness while baking, just to really get into the spirit of things.

While that's heating up, mix up the dry ingredients.

Also mix up the wet ingredients (eggs and yogurt).

Add cocoa powder to the saucepan on the stove.

Let that cool, then mix it with the other wet ingredients (if it doesn't cool, it will cook the egg).  Then slowly mix in the dry ingredients.

Pour into cupcake pans and bake on 350* for 17 minutes.

Whilst those are cooling, whip up the ganache (cupcake filling).  Heat up heavy cream on the stove, then pour it over 8 oz of bittersweet dark chocolate chips.  The bag I bought was 10 oz, so someone had to eat those extra 2 oz...darn.  I tell ya, the sacrifices I make to stay true to my recipes...

Let the cream sit for one minute (it melts the chocolate), then stir it slowly with a spatula.  Stir in a shot of Jameson Irish whiskey.  It should smooth out into a velvety chocolate ganache.

Make indentations in the cool cupcakes.

Add a couple teaspoons of ganache to each.

 Whip up the frosting!  Whip 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with 1 cup of powdered sugar until peaks start to form.  Add a shot of Baileys Irish Cream...or in my case, Irish creamer.  Frost each cupcake.  Since I'm not great with icing things, I added a mint leaf for garnish so they looked halfway decent.  Sprinkles would also be a great distraction from poor icing jobs.

BEB uses a buttercream frosting, but that sounded way too rich for me, so I used a whipped cream frosting.  It had a cup of powdered sugar in it, which I think was too sweet.  Try 3/4 cup.  Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker:

Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 cups sifted whole wheat flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
6 oz plain yogurt - if you buy a single serving cup, vanilla works okay.

Ganache:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Whipped Frosting:
2 cups heaving whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 oz Baileys Irish Cream
Green food coloring (optional)

Directions for cupcakes:
1.  Preheat the oven to 350*.  Put the Guinness and butter in a saucepan on medium heat and simmer.  Mix in the cocoa powder until smooth.  Let it cool.
2.  In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.  In a medium bowl, mix the yogurt and eggs until smooth.
3.   Pour the Guinness mixture into the yogurt/egg bowl and mix.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix well.
4.  Pour batter into muffin tin lined with cupcake papers.  I made 27 cupcakes out of this batter, the original recipe says 24.  Bake for 17 minutes.

Ganache:
Heat up the cream on the stove until it barely simmers.  Put the chocolate chips in a glass bowl and pour the cream over them.  Let sit for one minute, then slowly fold with a rubber spatula until smooth.  Add 2 oz whiskey.  Let cool until thick enough to spoon.

Frosting:
Whip the cream until peaks begin to form, then slowly add in powdered sugar.  Then add in the Irish cream and food coloring.

Make indentations in the cupcakes (I used a clean finger).  Add two tsp of ganache to each cupcake.  Frost with whipped frosting.  The alcohol in the Guinness cooks out, but the whiskey and Baileys are still potent, so do not serve to kids!