Top o’ the morning to ya!
Living so close to so many Irish pubs here in Denver, it is hard to not already be in the spirit for this week’s upcoming excuse to drink holiday. Not being Irish (that I am aware of), I can take or leave the holiday for the most part, except for the fact that I love that everyone (and I mean EV-ER-Y-ONE) will go out to join in the festivities. It is hard for me to pass up a time to socialize with that many people. 🙂
But what sort of foodie would I be if I just cared about the Guinness? Sure, it tastes good, but let’s make it into something delicious. A quick search for Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes, led me to a couple of recipes, but I was intrigued by one that used a box of devil’s food cake mix and chocolate pudding…my knowledge of both of these products knew that they would produce a light an airy cupcake. Perhaps, even one that did not fall as soon as they came out of the oven! Should this high altitude baker dare to even dream of the day?!
You can find this recipe on The Pioneer Woman’s Community Site – Tasty Kitchen, but it wouldn’t be a day in my kitchen if I didn’t make my own modifications (I used what pudding I had, and I took them our far sooner than the time said, but the recipe below follows the way that I did it – Also, as a side note, I typically don’t care for cream cheese icing, so I used a buttercream icing from this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, and the Car Bomb Cupcake recipe was a second runner-up to what I was going to use for this.)
Without further adieu, here is my version that turned out perfectly at an altitude of a mile high:
Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey’s Buttercream Icing
Makes about 24 cupcakes
Cupcakes:
- 1 box Devils Food Chocolate Cake Mix (18 Ounce Box)
- 1 box Instant Sugar Free, Fat Free Chocolate Pudding (1.4 Ounce Box)
- 4 whole Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup Sour Cream, at room temperature
- ¾ cups Guinness Beer, at room temperature
- 1 stick Butter, melted
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (optional)
Frosting:
- 2 sticks of butter, at room temperature
- 4 cups of powdered sugar
- 6 Tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream (can substitute milk or heavy cream)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a regular sized muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, beer, and melted butter. Mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until thoroughly combined. Batter will be thick and almost look like a mousse/pudding.
4. Spoon batter into cupcake liners to about 3/4 way full. I stuffed about 5-6 chocolate chips in the center…because, come on, it needed more chocolate.
5. Bake for 16-18 minutes (or until the toothpick comes out clean). Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.
6. Make frosting by whipping the butter in the mixing bowl for several minutes until it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. When the frosting looks like the right consistency to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If it gets to thin, add powder sugar a little bit at a time.
7. Frost cupcakes when cool. And enjoy! (Store in refrigerator)
it's like you are looking at a Guinnes in cupcake form...
I deemed this a “keeper” recipe by the number of “Mmmm’s” Floyd said while picking up every single last crumb.
Sláinte!
Sweet Altitude 