Car Bomb Cupcakes

For those not in the know, a car bomb is an alcoholic drink, where you take a glass of Guinness, and drop a shot-glass full of Jameson and Bailey's into the glass, and then drink it really fast before it curdles. Aside from the whole curdling thing, carbombs taste really good. I had recently stumbled across a recipe for a Guinness chocolate cake, and Bailey's frosting seemed like the perfect companion. After a brief google search, it turns out that many people have made car bomb cupcakes. And here I'm thinking that I was all original. Anyway, Patrice, a friend from highschool, was visiting, and I told her about my plans to make these cupcakes, and she got more excited than even I had been. Since we both had to bring cupcakes to various events later in the weekend (she'd forgotten a birthday, I had a bike team party), we decided to make two batches. One of car bomb cupcakes, and one of mojito cupcakes, with some twists on a recipe I'd used before. I'll post the mojito cupcakes later.

Car-bomb Cupcakes

2C Guinness Extra Stout
2 sticks butter
1-1/2C unsweetened cocoa powder
4C flour
3C sugar
1 tbs baking soda
1-1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1-1/3C 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 whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl to blend. In another large bowl, beat the eggs and yogurt to blend. Add the stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add the flour mixture to the wet stuff, and fold the batter until it is combined.

Bake the cupcakes in liners, for 17-22 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. We stuck ours in the freezer...

Bailey's cream cheese frosting

1 stick of butter
4oz cream cheese (1/2 a big block)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp milk
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbs Bailey's Irish Creme
3-5C powdered sugar

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and salt for about 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese and beat, and then add about a cup of powdered sugar and the milk and beat until combined. Scrape down the bowl. Add the vanilla and lemon, and another cup of powdered sugar. Add the Bailey's. Then, as you continue to beat, add more powdered sugar until the frosting is as stiff as you'd like it, and fluffy. Be sure to taste...

The frosting can stay in the fridge for up to 4 days if tightly wrapped. Stir the frosting well before using ot get the air bubbled out of it, then put some in a plastic bag and snip off the corner to pipe it onto your completely cooled cupcakes. We found that refrigerating the cupcakes after frosting kept it looking nice.

We had enough batter for 36 cupcakes, and enough frosting for 32 cupcakes, so you might want to add more butter and cream cheese to the frosting to stretch it. Or, bake half the recipe of cupcakes and put on more frosting! These cupcakes got rave reviews from everyone who tried one. Including me.


Patrice packing up her cupcakes to take home in a nifty cupcake carrier. Later that night, I biked over to Somerville balancing a cooler full of cupcakes on my handlebars... genius.

Edit 9/14/08: Check out my version 2 of the car bomb cupcakes here!