Irish Carbomb Cupcakes - ☺♥

My thanks go to Lisa Swanson, Janet’s niece, for this wonderful recipe. Lisa made these cupcakes and brought them as our dessert for our St. Patrick’s Day dinner. They are really yummy!

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 cup of stout (e.g. Guinness®)
• 1 cup of butter
• 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup of sour cream

For the Whiskey Ganache Filling:

• 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons of Irish whiskey (Bush Mills®)

For the Irish Cream Frosting:

• 3 to 4 cups of confections sugar
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of Baileys Irish Cream®

Directions:

Make the Cupcakes:

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line 24 cupcake cups with foil and paper liners.
• Bring the stout and butter to a simmer in a heavy, large saucepan over medium heat.
• Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
• Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl to blend.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add the stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine.
• Add the flour mixture and beat briefly on low speed. Use a rubber spatula and fold the batter until it is completely combined.
• Divide the batter among the cupcake liners, filling them two-thirds to three-quarters of the way.
• Bake the cupcakes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 16-18 minutes.
• Cool the cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the Whiskey Ganache:

• Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl.
• Heat the cream until it simmers and pour it over the chocolate.
• Let the mixture sit for one minute and then whisk it until it is smooth (if there are still pieces of unmelted chocolate after whisking for a couple of minutes, you can heat it over a double boiler, whisking constantly until it's completely smooth).
• Add the butter and the whiskey and stir until they are combined.

Fill the Cupcakes:

• Let the ganache cool until it has a thick consistency but is still soft enough to be piped (you can put it in the refrigerator to speed up this process, but make sure to stir it every 10 minutes).
• Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter, an apple corer, or a small sharp knife, and cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way.
• Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip (or a plastic bag with a corner snipped off) and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top. Technically, you're only supposed to fill the ganache to the top of the cupcake, but I allowed mine to peak, so it looked like a little hershey's kiss on top. I figured a little extra whiskey ganache didn't hurt.

Make the Irish Cream Frosting:

• Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer for several minutes until very light and fluffy.
• Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time while continuing to mix.
• When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys Irish Cream® and whip the frosting until all ingredients are well blended.
• If the frosting is too thin, add another spoonful or two of powdered sugar and mix.
• Ice and decorate the cupcakes. Use green sprinkles to make it festive for St. Patrick's Day.
• Enjoy!