St Patrick's Day Party 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)

Living in South Boston, we usually end up throwing a St. Patrick’s day party for the annual parade. Over the years, I’ve tried out serving different types of food for the event. I’ve never tried making corned beef and cabbage, as that sounds like a truly terrible dish to me. I like to stick with brunch ideas as the festivities usually start around 11 or 12 on a Sunday. Here are some ideas:

-Make-Your-Own Omelette Bar: This is pretty easy to put together. Gather a number of small bowls and fill them up with things that people might want to put in their omelette: mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes, spinach, ham, shredded cheese, etc. Also, in a large bowl, crack a few cartons of eggs and whisk together a large batch of egg mix. Everyone can pick exactly what they want in their omelettes and everyone is happy.

-Breakfast Sandwiches: Cook a couple packages of bacon in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Put the bacon on paper towels to soak up the grease afterwards. Cut a couple packages of English muffins in half, put on a cookie sheet, and toast under the broiler. In the meanwhile, start cooking eggs sunny-side up. About 30 seconds before they are done, put a slice of cheese on top of each egg and allow to melt. Put one egg on each English muffin bottom, top with bacon and the other half of the English muffin.

-On the side, I like to make a large fruit salad and have a couple of pitchers of beverages. While most people stick to beer on St. Patty’s day, I like to make Bloody Mary’s and a sparkling pomegranate juice for the non-drinkers. In small cups, put limes, lemons, and celery for people to add to their drinks.

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

-m