Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes

It's spring in November and what that also means is the that the races are on too. And I got an invite to a friend's Melbourne Cup day party, which by the way is a public holiday only in Melbourne, we take our racing very seriously. So putting on my thinking cap I started to wonder what to bring, to make things easier she has all the food taken care of except for dessert. So I browse the website and found this one and thought how appropriate to bring cupcakes meant only for adults. That had beer, whiskey and liqueur all in the one place.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Plain looking cupcakes

 DIRECTIONS:

1. To Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

 For the Whiskey Ganache Filling:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Whiskey ganache in the centre

3. To Make the Whiskey Ganache Filling: Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

4. To Fill the Cupcakes: Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large decorating tip), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down. Transfer the ganache to a piping back with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

For the Baileys Frosting:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Pretty bailey's frosting

5. To Make the Baileys Frosting: Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

6. Using your favorite decorating tip (I use the wilton 1M), or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container.

X-section of the cupcake

Again this was a bit of a process to make, not difficult at all just cumbersome, but they turn out really good. My daughter mention that they smell really good too which was from the bailey's. I actually got high on the cupcakes as they had a pretty good alcohol content or maybe my measurement which was left much to be desired was not that accurate a splash more here and there won't hurt hey....

I've use stout in cooking but not in baking so I was surprise that there was'nt a strong hint of it in the cupcakes but it did make the cupcakes moist and sponge like. And the ganache just added a depth to the whole cupcake hidden in innocent only to be revealed when you take a bite out of it.