This recipe has been sitting in my “to try” folder for quite some time now, and with St. Patrick’s day right around the corner I figured that now was a perfect time to try it. These cupcakes are incredibly moist with a slight hint of Guinness. I made them for some company last week, then again for a PTA meeting on Thursday. I made mini cupcakes for the PTA meeting and they all disappeared, which is always a good sign.

I love the frosting. It’s a perfect complement for these cupcakes. It’s not as sweet as a traditional buttercream frosting, which is nice.

This recipe calls for all of the ingredients to be at room temperature. Please take the time to do this. I have made this recipe twice, once with the ingredients at room temperature and next with some of the ingredients cold. When I made the recipe with cold ingredients, it became all lumpy and it was difficult to get rid of the lumps.

These won’t sit around for long…

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Recipe by Dave Lieberman

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for dusting finished cupcakes
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch fine salt
1 bottle stout beer (recommended: Guinness)
1 stick butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temperature
3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar

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, one at a 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. Cool before turning out. If you decide to make mini-cupcakes, they only need to cook for ~15 minutes.

To make the icing:

In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream. On low speed, slowly mix in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.  Icing can be made several hours ahead and kept covered and chilled.

Top each cupcake with a heap of frosting and dust with cocoa or decorative sugar.

Yield: 12 cupcakes or 24 mini-cupcakes