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When Jack and I decided to bake these Boozy Guinness Cupcakes to share here on A Family Feast, we raided our liquor cabinet to find the right ‘boozy’ ingredients for this decadent, grown-ups-only cupcake recipe!
And when I say decadent and boozy – I mean decadent and boozy! Picture this: A sweet, chocolate cupcake infused with rich flavor from Guinness beer…a chocolate ganache filling that has been infused with Kahlua liquor… and finally, a Bailey’s Irish Cream cream cheese butter cream frosting!
We had a few bottles of Guinness on hand already, leftover from this earlier Beef and Guinness Casserole with Noodles recipe. We also had just enough Kahlua liquor for the filling too! But we were out of Bailey’s – so Jack drove down to our local liquor store to buy some more.
Since we don’t drink Bailey’s very often, Jack selected the smallest bottle he could find at the store. But the cashier at the liquor store convinced him to buy a bigger bottle of Bailey’s because it came with a $10 off rebate – and after the rebate, it would be less expensive to get the bigger bottle.
As they talked, Jack happened to mention that he was using the Bailey’s for baking and not drinking. The cashier asked Jack what he was baking, and as soon as he told her “Boozy Guinness Cupcakes” – all of the store employees enthusiastically swarmed the counter – asking Jack to bring them some samples of our cupcakes!
So – after we took the photos you see here – Jack brought most of the leftover Boozy Guinness Cupcakes to the liquor store staff, and they immediately devoured them!
These Boozy Guinness Cupcakes would be perfect for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, but they are so delicious, we’d eat them any time of the year!
Recipe inspired by and adapted from several sources including Flour Bakery in Boston, Brown Eyed Baker and Homemade Hoolpa.
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Boozy Guinness Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake batter
- 1 cup Guinness Draught
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened,
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup sour cream
Filling
- 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
- 4 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon Kahlua
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line two muffin tins with cupcake papers (24 total). Spray kitchen pan spray over tops of pans and muffin papers. Set aside.
- In a large microwave safe bowl heat beer and butter until hot and the butter has melted.
- Remove from microwave and whip in cocoa powder.
- Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and then stir into first bowl until combined.
- In a small bowl beat eggs with sour cream. Add this into large bowl and mix with wooden spoon until combined.
- Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter evenly between the 24 cups.
- Bake for 17-20 minutes or until they have fully risen and a tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Move to wire racks to cool completely.
- In a microwave safe bowl, place all filling ingredients and heat until the chocolate has melted, stirring a few times during heating to combine. Whip and set aside to cool. The mixture needs to cool enough to be thick but not so much that it hardens up. The consistency should be like soft peanut butter.
- Make the frosting by beating the softened cream cheese in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until creamy. Add the softened butter and beat again until combined and creamy, scraping bowl as needed.
- Alternate adding powdered sugar and Baileys mixing slowly and scraping bowl as you go.
- To assemble cupcakes, use an apple corer and core out the center of each cup cake, going about ¾ of the way down.
- Place the chocolate ganache in a piping tube with a straight round tip and squeeze into each hole, dividing the ganache evenly between the 24.
- Place the frosting in a large pastry bag with a star tip and decorate each cup cake, using up all of the frosting.
- Store in an air-tight container.
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Hi Martha! I’m very excited to try your recipe. My family, friends and I have all decided to bake cupcakes this weekend in celebration of my daughter’s 23rd birthday on March 5th. She loved to baked and had started her own little baking business while in school but she was taken away from us last year before her 22 birthday. I loved for her to make me Bailey’s and Kahlua coffee cupcakes. In my quest for a dynamic recipe I came across yours. I am a little fearful of the Guiness but reading the previous comment I think I’m just going to go for it. Just in case I “chicken out” can the Guiness be substituted for any other booze or maybe coffee? Wasn’t sure if you had tried any other ingredients.
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your daughter Tamika – but I’m sure she’s smiling down at you and all of the cupcakes you’ll be baking! Please don’t be afraid of adding the Guinness – you really can’t taste it. I would say it adds a similar flavor to the chocolate that coffee would – so the coffee could be a good substitute if you’d prefer. Best, Martha
Thank you so much, I’m going to go for it and use the Guinness! I will let you know how they turn out this weekend.
Yay – please do let us know how you like it!
Does the bitter taste of Guiness linger with the recipe? I would love to try this, but I do know that Guiness has a bit of bitterness to it, but I guess the sweetness probably overrides this. Is that so ?
Hi Janene – You can’t really tell that there is Guinness in the batter…it just tastes like a very rich chocolate cupcake.