Defiance and Irish Whiskey

It's another snow day here in paradise. Apparently Mother Nature has decided we will get the entire winter's allotment of snow in two weeks. I'm at home, watching the roads drift shut. Joy.

Got up this morning, did my treadmill workout and put three-bean chicken chili in the crockpot for tonight's supper. Then, in total and complete defiance of my vow to cut back on the "non-healthy" aspects of my diet, I made Chocolate Beer Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Filling and Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting. Take that, Dr. L.

How can you go wrong when the ingredient list includes whipping cream, sour cream, butter, two different kinds of chocolate, two different kinds of sugar and three different kinds of alcohol?

Blend all the dry ingredients together.

Blend the sour cream and eggs, then beat the tar out of them.

Combine the beer and the butter. Bring to a boil.
This seemed like a very odd thing to do with beer.

Then you combine the whole works, bake and you get this: 

One tray of baked cupcakes (the recipe yielded 28). Note the vintage Silver Beauty baking pan.
I think my mom baked my kindergarten birthday cupcakes in this pan.

Ahh . . . the finished product.
Make no mistake.
It's an intense chocolate religious experience.

Okay, here's the recipe, complete with editorial comment.

CHOCOLATE BEER CUPCAKES 

WITH IRISH WHISKEY FILLING 

AND BAILEY'S IRISH CREAM FROSTING

Cupcakes:
1 C. Irish stout beer (I used Guinness)
1 C. butter
3/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 C. flour
2 C. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 C. sour cream

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Bring Irish stout beer and 1 C. butter to a boil in a saucepan, then set aside until butter has melted, stirring occasionally. Mix in cocoa powder until smooth. (Good luck with that, mine never got smooth. Not a problem.)

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

Beat eggs and sour cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined. Slowly beat in beer mixture, then flour mixture. Beat until batter is smooth. (Smoothness was easily achieved this time.)

Divide batter in prepared cupcake pans, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake 17 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool cupcakes completely.

Filling:

2/3 C. heavy whipping cream
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 T. butter
1 tsp. Irish whiskey, or more to taste

Bring cream to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in the bittersweet chocolate until melted. Mix in 2 T. butter and whiskey until butter is melted. Let mixture cool to room temp. Will thicken as it cools.

With a sharp paring knife, cut core out of center of each cupcake. Discard. (Are you kidding? Discard? NO! Eat!)

Spoon cooled filling into cupcakes. (Major editorial comment: I really didn't care for the filling. I thought it was too bitter and didn't add anything beneficial to the whole experience. I would skip this step next time. If you use the filling, cut out generous cores. I must have cut my cores too small because I had a lot of filling left.)

Frosting:
1/2 C. butter, softened
3 C. powdered sugar
3 T. Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur, or more to taste

Mix all frosting ingredients until smooth and spread on filled cupcakes.

The next time I make this recipe, I'll probably reincarnate it as a frosted sheetcake - much faster and less fussy, with the same great taste.

I was able to buy a single bottle of Guinness and tiny bottles of whiskey and Bailey's at a liquor store, so no major investment in buying big bottles of stuff I'd probably never drink. In spite of Scottish and Irish heritage, I'm not a fan of whiskey. The Guinness was intriguing though. Never had it before. May have to go back for another bottle.

It was a fun project for a snowy day. I don't know whether my kitchen smells like a bakery or a pub.