Guest Blogger: Food Fight! Bakes Guinness Cupcakes

Good morning Carrots N Cake!

When Tina put out the call for guest bloggers, I couldn’t help but throw my hat into the ring. The problem is my blog, Food Fight!, tends to attract a slightly different audience than Tina’s. While Tina strives to create healthy balance, I tend to tip the scales in favor of comfort food. I am not an advocate for junk food, that’s not the case. I do however, spend the majority of my time dining out and trying new things, regardless of their nutritional value. I thought for my guest blog I would share a recipe that I recently found to be easy and delicious. That recipe is for chocolate Guinness cupcakes.

I love cooking with beer, so when I came across this recipe I had to give it a shot. Now, I’m not much for baking. When I cook it more often than not involves either a grill or a stovetop. But I am a huge Guinness fan, so this seemed like a logical first step for me.

I was afraid I may burn my apartment down, but luckily this project went off without a hitch. The cupcakes were moist and chocolatey, with just a hint of Guinness. I actually would have preferred that they had a bit more Guinness taste, but they were delicious none-the-less. As for the icing, I decided against following the recipe and made Guinness icing by simply boiling a bottle of Guinness down to syrup and mixing it with regular store bought vanilla frosting. At first, I was afraid it would be too runny, but the greatest part was that the final consistency was that of the foam that sits so wonderfully atop a pint of Irish stout.

Here’s the recipe for anyone who is interested. These would be perfect for St. Patrick’s Day or any day really…

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

* 2 cups sugar

* 2 cups flour

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* Pinch fine salt

* 1 bottle stout beer (Guinness or Young’s)

* 1 stick butter, melted

* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

* 3 large eggs

* 3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender.