Car Bomb Cupcakes

In the spirit of St. Patrick's day, I made a sugar-laden baked version of the delicious Irish beer cocktail. It was a little extra work than typical cupcakes, but the creamy Bailey's ganache oozing out from the first chocolaty bite makes it completely worth it.

Car Bomb Cupcakes
Makes approximately 24 cupcakes

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness (or any stout)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon chocolate flavoring/extract

Make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.

Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Beat eggs, flavoring and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.

Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake about 17 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a rack.

Ganache Filling
1 cup of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 to 2 teaspoons whiskey (or 1 to 2 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream)

Make the filling:
Put the chocolate chips in heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey/Baileys and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes:
Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be spooned into the cupcakes. Meanwhile, take a little scoop out of the center of the cupcakes, about 2/3 of the way. Spoon ganache into the holes filling to the top.

Baileys Frosting
3 to 4 cups confections sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

4-8 tablespoons Baileys

Make the frosting:
Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and Baileys and whip it until combined. Put in a piping bag with your favorite frosting tip and pipe away! For the swirl effect I used some leftover ganache and lined the sides of the piping bag before putting in the rest of the frosting. It's so pretty!