Car-bomb cupcakes, v.2

The version 1 car-bomb cupcakes were good--really good. But, I noticed after my last bakesale that they got a little gummy after sitting in the fridge all night and then sitting in the hot sun. So, I made some changes, that I felt were worth writing up into a recipe. This time, it was to sell cupcakes at the Amesbury cyclocross race, and I wanted these cupcakes to live up to their internet hype.

They definitely lived up to whatever reputation they might have had. Although the real treat is the frosting, the cakes themselves were delicious--light, slightly bitter to offset the sweet, and deeply, darkly, chocolatey. I also used Young's double chocolate stout instead of Guinness, this time, mostly because I like to drink Young's and I don't like to drink Guinness--I don't know how much this affected the cupcakes, but they seemed to be slightly less beer-y than the last batch. Which is not necessarily a good thing, when you're selling cupcakes to cyclocrossers...



Car Bomb Cupcakes, v.2
(Makes 12 regular cupcakes + 104 mini cupcakes)

2C Guinness (or other tastey stout or porter, like Young's double chocolate stout)
2 sticks (1 cup) butter
1.5C cocoa powder
2 tbs instant coffee powder (or better yet, espresso powder)
4C flour
4C sugar (I used all brown sugar, due to a lack of granulated sugar, but I don't think it matters)
1 tbs baking soda
2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1C sour cream
1/3C vanilla yogurt *
1/2C oil

*If you have more than a cup of sour cream on hand, go ahead and use sour cream instead of vanilla yogurt. I just ran out of sour cream and so had to resort to yogurt.

Preheat your oven to 350F. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not boil. Add the cocoa powder and coffee and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a different large bowl, beat the eggs with the sour cream, yogurt, and oil. Add a little of the egg mixture to the beer mixture, whisking, and then add all the beer mixture to the egg mixture, and whisk to combine. Dump the wet stuff into the dry stuff, and mix until it is combined. It should be pretty runny.

Fill lined or greased muffin tins 1/2-3/4 of the way full. This batter rises a lot in the oven (probably due to the beer), so 3/4 full will yield cupcakes that overflow the edges a little bit. Cook the regular sized cupcakes for ~15-20 min (until a tester shows they're done) and the mini ones ~8-12 minutes. Cool them completely before frosting. These cooking times are approximate, so check them regularly.



Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

2 sticks butter (1C)
8-16oz cream cheese (2 packages)
~3-6C confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
~1/4-1/2C Bailey's Irish Creme

These are pretty approximate numbers. The way I make frosting is pretty approximate and involves a lot of tasting. I use electric beaters, I don't know how to do it without them. First I beat the cream cheese and butter together. You can vary these amounts, but if anything err on the side of less cream cheese and more butter. Add about a cup of powdered sugar. Beat that in. Add the vanilla and 2 tbs of Bailey's. Beat. Add more sugar. Beat. Taste. Add more Baileys (2 tbs at a time), then more sugar, and taste. Keep adding Bailey's and sugar until the frosting tastes as liquor-y as you want, and is a good consistency. More sugar will stiffen up the frosting. You want it a little soft, for more pliable piping or spreading.

Once the cupcakes are cool, frost them however you want. When I pipe the frosting, I use disposable ziplock bags, and cut a hole in one corner. For spreading I just glob frosting on the cupcake and spread it around. If you refrigerate the cupcakes after frosting, the frosting will harden up, and then you can make pretty ganache swirls and stuff on top without worrying about smearing the frosting.

Enjoy! (responsibly?)