Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

So what's better than an Irish Car Bomb (the ones with booze, not explosives)...? Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes! All the Guinness, Jameson's, and Bailey's of our favorite shot, but in a delicious, chocolatey cupcake form!

Alright kids, this one is a doozy. Actually, the first time I tasted these, I SWORE that I would never let anyone else have the recipe. It was my plan to force people to be my friend so that I would make the cupcakes for them...they are THAT GOOD! But I love you guys, so I'll share...just this once (but don't tell anybody!) Fair warning, though...these things are pretty hard to get right (my friend who is an avid baker still can't figure out how she keeps screwing them up), they are MESSY to make, the liquor makes them pretty pricey, and it's a time-consuming/labor-intensive process. That being said, I hope you all have a happy St. Patrick's Day with these (just be sure to keep them away from the young'uns, since these things can pack a pretty decent punch.)

Skill Level: Very Difficult
Budget: Expensive
Makes:20-24 Cupcakes

Equipment:
Cupcake Pan
Cupcake Liners
*Piping Bag (a plastic baggy with the corner cut may be used instead)
*1" Cookie Cutter or Apple Corer (a butter-knife and small spoon may be used instead)
Large Saucepan
Several Large Mixing Bowls
Electric Mixer
Spatula

*If you have a cupcake decorating plunger/gun, it will work in place of these and make it MUCH easier.

Total Time: 4+ Hours (Plus a LOT of cleanup time)



Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes (step 1)

Ingredients:
1 cup stout (I used Guinness Extra Stout)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Technique:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend (may be mixed by hand with a whisk). Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.



Ganache Filling (step 2)

Ingredients:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Godiva Bittersweet Chocolate Chips)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (I used Jamesons...technically, this is optional, but what fun is that?)

Technique:
Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

Let the ganache cool (you can speed this up in the fridge, but you MUST stir it every ten minutes or so to keep the consistency...it took 30-40 mins for me) until thick, but soft enough to be piped.



Baileys Frosting (step 3)

Ingredients:
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys Original Irish Cream (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof if your gonna be a wuss)

Technique:
Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

TIP: If you add the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings get less grainy, and tend to require less sugar to thicken them up.

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

TIP: I added the Bailey's as I went, using it to thin out the mixture when it got too thick to whisk (I didn't have an electric mixer, so it took me about 45 minutes to make the frosting with a hand whisk, plus I got a couple of nice blisters...and that was with my roommate taking turns whisking with me).


Fill the Cupcakes (step 4)

THERE ARE 2 WAYS TO DO THIS.

EITHER:

Use your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer to cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top. (Again, you can use a butter knife to gut the cupcakes and a plastic ziplock bag with the corner cut off to fill.) It's then up to you whether you want to put the part you cut out back in to fill the hole...doesn't really matter.

OR:

Put the ganache filling into a cupcake decorating plunger/gun. Using the small tip, insert halfway into the cupcake and plunge away! This option works great if your cupcakes have collapsed in the center since it fills them back up. It is also MUCH easier and quicker than the first option. (I learned this after buying the gun for 8 dollars for my second batch.)



Ice the Cupcakes (step 5)

Ice and decorate the cupcakes. ( You can use a flexible clean paint pallet knife and dip it in hot water to clean when it gets all gooey. If your frosting looks fucked up, you can use a hot water knife to smooth it out. Dry the knife first.) Obviously, if you have the cupcake decorating gun, it can be used to decorate the cupcakes...whoda thunk? Have fun with food coloring, colored sugar sprinkles, etc. I generally like a touch of green and/or orange for a more Irish feel.


Notes:
I ended up using more liquor than the recipe requires (like, a LOT more)...it's really up to you. I just wanted to get all of my friends drunk (plus I like it when you can actually taste the whiskey).

Special thanks to Kim at smallBar and her sister for sharing this recipe with me. It has quickly become one of my favorites, as smallBar quickly became one of my favorite bars.