ireland Archives - 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes filled with ganache and topped with Cream Cheese Frosting

A deep chocolate Guinness Cupcake filled with Guinness chocolate ganache topped with cream cheese frosting for a deliciously boozy St. Patrick’s Day treat. Don’t forget to dress your Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes up with green cupcake liners and sprinkles!

I know, I know, two cupcake recipes in one week. It seems that I have felt very inspired by cupcakes these last few weeks. Must be all the dieting and exercising that makes me think about delicious cupcake recipes all day long.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

Since we are a couple days away from St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would share this recipe I made last weekend. I knew there had to be plenty of Guinness chocolate cake recipes out there and I wasn’t wrong. I found some had Jameson chocolate ganache filling and Bailey’s frosting, but I didn’t want to buy two whole bottles of liquor just for cupcakes. I am not much of a hard alcohol drinker, unless it is fruity with an umbrella in it! Beer on the other hand, I will eventually drink, plus Guinness was on sale this week in the grocery stores!

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Don’t be freaked out by this recipe because it has beer in it, except if you are pregnant (sorry M!) The Guinness or any stout beer just deepens the flavor of chocolate and makes it extra delicious. I didn’t even use a whole beer for this recipe, which was nice since I got to enjoy the other half of Guinness while I made these.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes filled with Guinness Chocolate Ganache

Drinking Guinness reminds me of my family’s vacation to Ireland that we took a few years ago to celebrate my little sister’s high school graduation. It also reminds me of my brother-in-law who would probably point out that he is surprised I remember anything from that trip since I was reading Twilight the whole time. Let me explain, it wasn’t the whole time, it was a couple of drives through the country side that I pulled out the book to read. There are only so many rolling green hills and sheep you can see! Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best time to get “bit” by the Twilight saga, but I still remember the trip!

In Ireland, the Guinness and Murphy’s (the other stout) beer are so delicious. A little interesting fact about Guinness is that they actually export the powder to make Guinness and brew it here in America so it doesn’t taste the same as when you have it in Ireland. Still works for cupcakes though!

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Author: 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 12

Ingredients

Cupcakes

½ cup Guinness (or stout beer)
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
6 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup AP flour
1 cup sugar
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. + ⅛ tsp. salt
1 large eggs
⅓ cup sour cream

Ganache

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
⅓ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. butter
1-2 tbsp. Guinness

Cream Cheese Frosting

2⅓ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, cold

Instructions

For Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place cupcake liners in muffin tins.
In a small sauce pan bring ½ cup Guinness and butter to a simmer. Add in cocoa powder and stir with a whisk until smooth.
In a medium bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Then in bowl of mixer beat egg and sour cream.
Once stout chocolate mixture has cooled slightly, add into the the egg mixture until combined.
Add in dry ingredients and beat on slow then using a rubber spatula lightly fold all the ingredients together.
Divide batter among 12 cupcake tins with a ¼ cup measuring cup or a cupcake scoop.
Bake for 17-18 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool.

Ganache Filling

Chop the chocolate and place in a small glass or ceramic bowl. Microwave for 1 minutes and stir.
In a small sauce pan simmer ⅓ cup of heavy cream, then pour over chopped chocolate.
Stir until completely melted. Add it butter and stir until melted and mixed in. Add in 1-2 tablespoons of Guinness and stir until combined.
Let ganache cool in the refrigerator and make sure to stir every 10 minutes.

Frosting

In the bowl of mixer, add in sifted confectioners’ sugar, and butter and beat on medium with the paddle attachment. Scrape down sides and mix until combined. Add in cream cheese and continue to mix. Turn mixer to medium-high and beat for 4-5 minutes until frosting is light and fluffy.

To Prepare Cupcakes

Once cupcakes are cooled, use a cupcake corer or apple corer to scoop out middle. Put cooled ganache in a bag and cut the corner. Fill the hole in the cupcake with ganache. Top filled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decorate with green sprinkles.

Source– Cupcakes and ganache adapted from Smitten Kitchen, frosting adapted from Joy the Baker

Need other St. Patrick’s Day desserts?
Check out M’s Chocolate Chip Soda Bread

st_patricks_day_chocolate_chip_soda_bread

Or make these with green food coloring and green sprinkles!

Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting (use a shamrock cookie cutter!)
Soft Sugar Cookie with Buttercream Frosting
Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting
Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

…umm, can you tell I love buttercream frosting??

Also, make sure you enter our KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway! You can get a Kelly Green one and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day all year round.

sisterk (2)

Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner

Well believe it or not, it is already mid-March and this upcoming weekend is St. Patrick’s Day. Not only is St. Patrick’s day a day to have fun and drink green beer, but also a day for those of you that are Irish (like M and I) to pay homage to our heritage and our ancestors. Our family actually came over to America during the potato famine like so many Irish families did. They had to work really hard to prove themselves in America and helped with building many things like the canals and railroad systems we have today. St. Patrick’s Day is a way to honor them.

Corned Beef Dinner

Every St. Patrick’s Day growing up ,our mom would make corned beef and cabbage for dinner. She would also boil some potatoes, carrots, and onions with the meal.

Our local milk brand, Byrne Dairy, would sell green milk. Similar to the shamrock shake, this was mint-flavored milk, except it tasted a thousand times better!! {They stopped selling this green milk like 10 years ago so if you are reading this now, Byrne Dairy, bring back the green milk! } Although it wouldn’t do me much good out here in Cali so maybe I should be asking this of Berkeley Farms or Clover Farms. Along with the green milk and traditional corned beef and cabbage, my mom also made us these cut-out sugar cookies in shamrock shapes with green frosting and green sugar sprinkles for when we came home from school.

St. Patrick's Day Traditional Corned Beef Dinner

For the last three years, I happened to visit my parents in Syracuse with my boyfriend on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. My mom made us the corned beef dinner when we visited so my boyfriend also has an appreciation for the meal. Armed with my mom’s recipe, I attempted to make my first corned beef and cabbage meal over the weekend. I made it a weekend early just so I could share it with all of you.

I was worried at first that my grocery store wouldn’t carry the corned beef brisket or round. I guess I never looked for it before because every store had this including Target, Costco and Safeway. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner with Guinness

Does anyone else have something traditional they do on St. Patrick’s Day?

If not, why not start one this year by making this meal. It is really easy to make and delicious. Did I mention leftover corned beef is perfect to make reuben sandwiches?

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Author: 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

2 lbs. corned beef brisket or round
1 bay leaf
1 cooking onion
1 crushed clove of garlic
7-10 peppercorns
6 carrots
5-6 white or gold potatoes (small to medium sized)
1 head of cabbage
2-3 small onions

Instructions

Take corned beef out of package and dry with a paper towel. If there is fat on the back of corned beef, you can cut it down with a sharp knife. Leave a small amount on there to add flavor to the cooking broth (Be careful with your hands!)
In a large pot or Dutch oven, place brisket. Fill pot with cold water so that the brisket is covered with water, plus an extra inch of water.
Cut cooking onion in fourths and add to water along with bay leaf, peppercorns, and garlic.
Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer (covered) for one hour and forty minutes.
Fifteen minutes before the timer end, start to prepare the vegetables. Peel carrots and cut them in halves or thirds. Wash the potatoes and cut them in half. Peel onion and cut in fourths. Rinse cabbage and peel off first layer. Cut into eight slices with part of the core divided in each to hold the cabbage together while it cooks.
Skim fat off the top of the corned beef water and add carrots, potatoes, and onion. Cook for twenty minutes with lid closed.
Pull out corned beef and place on a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Skim additional fat off the top.
Add cabbage to water with vegetables and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Slice the corned beef in thin slices, and drain vegetables (or pull vegetables out with a slotted spoon or tongs). Serve on a a platter and enjoy!

Source– Adapted from our Mom!
sisterk (2)