Irish Car Bomb pubcakes

Irish Car Bomb Pub-cakes

I originally found this cupcake recipe online and jumped at the opportunity to turn my Irish boyfriend's favorite beverage into an equally yummy cake. It was a slam dunk to say the least. I'm gonna digress for a minute and take you back to a fat kid day in the past. I could consume some sweets and cake was one of my favorites. My mom was going to school so often the Bill Cosby "cake for breakfast" thing was easy to pull off. Point is, I have had my fair share of cake. And this cake is easily the most moist and lush combination of sweet malt, smooth chocolate, and bite of hops that has graced my tongue. Yeah, that good.

There are three essential parts to this cake: Guinness cake, Jameson Irish Whiskey, and Baileys Irish Cream frosting. You can definitely take this recipe and conquer the greatest sweet tooth in the world.

Guinness cake
1 C Guinness stout
1 C butter (room temp)
3/4 C coco powder
2 C flour (all-purpose)
2 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 C sour cream

Whiskey Ganache
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 C heavy cream
2 Tbls butter (room temperature)
2 tsp Irish whiskey

For the Baileys Frosting:
2 C unsalted butter (room temperature)
5 C powdered sugar
6 Tbls Bailey's Irish Cream

Start with your cake. Now, in my picture you can clearly see that these are NOT cupcake papers, but in fact pub glasses. I really wanted to make his something cool (which probably turned out to be more for myself that him but oh well) so I figured why not toss them into glasses. Here was the trick. But we will get to that.

Guinness Cake:
Preheat your oven to 350 F and line out 24 cupcake tins with liners. If your feeling more adventurous and want to put them into glasses, then hold off on preheating. Bring your Guinness and butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk and add your coco powder until combine and smooth. Set aside and get to work on the dry ingredients.
Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl beat eggs and sour cream (or if your poor like me whisk ferociously) until they are combine. Slowly add the Guinness/chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated. SLOWLY start to add the flour mixture. Once everything looks decently incorporated, switch to a spatula and start to fold. If you are working quickly the batter should still feel warm which is awesome for the glass method. If your using cupcake liners, well then I scoff at your lack of adventure. Either way, divide the batter evenly into whichever baking vessel you prefer. TIP! If you are using glasses, remember to leave room for your cake to grow.

• Bake in paper liners like you normally would for any cupcake. Roughly 15-17 minutes. Check it out with a toothpick or knife.
• Baking in glasses: Place each glass on a cookie sheet, spaced enough that the glasses are not touching. Put them into a cool oven and allow the cake to preheat with the oven to avoid breaking the glass. This, along with the shape of your glass, will alter your bake time so go for around 12 and check out your progress. I think mine baked around 15.

After the bake, remove and cool.

Whiskey Ganache:
If you bought an 8oz bar of chocolate, chop it finely and put it in a heatproof bowl. I cheat and buy the Ghiradellia bittersweet chips (10 oz bar = left over chocolate) so no chopping here. Heat the cream to a simmer and carefully pour the white magma over the chocolate. Let it set for a minute and slowly stir until the chocolate is melted into a smooth creamy mixture. Add your room temp. butter and whiskey, stirring until combine. Let the ganache cool until thick, but not so thick it cannot be piped.
Find something tubular and hollow. You can use a piping tip to cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes (for the glasses I used a metal straw) and go down about 2/3 of the way down. Fill a piping bag (or use a Ziploc and cut a corner) with the ganache and fill the holes in each cupcake all the way to the top.

Baileys Frosting:
This is really a basic frosting recipe so it is pretty straight forward. Whip the butter until it seems airy/fluffy. Slow your mixer down and begin to add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated. Add the Baileys and whip it until the frosting is fluffy. I always buy the mini bottles if I don't have any of the booze hanging around and there is a little bit more than 6 Tbls in the bottle. Don't be scared, use it all.

Frost your cupcakes however you desire and enjoy.

Until Next Time!