Guinness Cupcakes

I wanted something to satisfy my beau's sweet tooth this Valentine's Day, So I rifled through Martha Stewart's Cupcake Cookbook and found a fantastic recipe combining two of Birdy's favorite things: sweets and beer. I tweaked the topping a little.... ok, alot... and made these beautiful confections for the object of my affection!

 

taken from my mobile phone

Recipe From: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat

 

Cupcake Batter

makes 28 cupcakes

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups unsulfured molasses

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar

2 large whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest(about 2 oranges)

1 1/4 cups stout beer (such as Guinness) Poured and Settled

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg
2. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat oil, molasses, brown sugar, whole eggs, yolk, zest, and stout until combined. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined.
3. Divide batter among lined cups, filling each one 3/4 full. Bake, rotating halfway through, about 20 minutes. Turn out cupcakes onto wire racks to cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Martha suggests to glaze the cupcakes in a stout glaze which is 2 cups confectioners sugar, 1/4 cup stout whisked together into a glaze. I made this, tested it and it tasted like Elmer's glue so i nixed that and made up my own frosting out of stuff I already had in house.

Stout Butter Frosting
I made my own adaptation of a butter frosting I found on Allrecipes.com which can be found here. 


1/3 cup butter (5 1/3 tablespoons)
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 teaspoon Guinness

1. In an electric mixer use metal whisk to beat butter until fluffy
2. add first 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat with butter
3. Add half and half, vanilla, and stout, followed by remaining sugar

add a tiny splash of either half and half or stout if mixture is too dry. Don't overdo it, or it will become soupy very quickly

I spooned the frosting into a Ziploc bag and cut the bottom corner to form a makeshift pastry bag and piped frosting in swirls ontop of each cupcake. (See picture).