Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

I'm forcing my husband to have corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight.   While he may be 100% Austrian, my family has a very mixed heritage.  My grandmother on my father's side is Irish from the Blasket Islands and I remember her making corned beef and cabbage a few times a year.   And I remember that I loved it.  I know it can be done very, very badly and it gets a bad rap for that.   As a trade off, for dessert I've made these lovelies: Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.  

I've never had an Irish Car Bomb, as in the drink.   It just seems like more than I can handle.    But an Irish Car Bomb cupcake is right up my alley.    Irish stout chocolate cake filled with Irish whiskey ganache then topped with Irish Cream buttercream... what's not to love?  If a cupcake could be badass, this is it.

The cake is so smooth.  As I was coring the cupcakes last night to fill with ganache, I may or may not have sampled a few bites of cake.  This could be come my favorite chocolate cake.   It's got a very rich and velvet-y texture and a hint of nuttiness from the stout.   I think I'm going to remake this next month and see how it is without filling and buttercream.  It's the kind of cake that is well suited for just a sprinkling of powdered sugar.     The ganache has just a slight hint of whiskey to it, while the Irish cream in the buttercream adds just a subtle extra sweetness.  

I think my husband is going to love our dinner tonight.  But if he doesn't, he'll forgive me after dessert. 

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

recipe from smitten kitchen

For the stout cake:

• 1 cup Irish stout (such as Guinness)
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted 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

Preheat the overn to 350∘.  Line two cupcake pans with liners.  Bring the stout and butter to simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Allow to cool. 

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sour cream together.  Whisk the cooled stout/cocoa mixture into the egg mixture.   Turn on the stand mixer and slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry on low speed at first, then speeding up to completely combine.  

Divide the batter among the cupcake liners, filling them 3/4 full.  Bake until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes.   Cool cupcakes on a rack completely. 

For the whiskey ganache filling:

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (such as Jameson's) - optional

Chop the chocolate and put in a 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 and stir until combined.    Let it cool until it is thick but soft enough to be piped. 

To fill the cupcakes:  Using an apple corer, a small knife or cookie cutter, cut the centers out of the cupcakes.  (I used an apple corer and it worked effortlessly.  I went about 2/3 of the way down to the bottom, then scooped out what didn't slide out of the cake with a demi-tasse spoon.)  Pipe the ganache into the cupcakes to the top. 

For the Irish cream frosting:

• 3 to four cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 to 4 tablespoons Irish cream (such as bailey's)

Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Slowly add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time.  (I found three cups to be more than sufficient.)  Once you get your buttercream to your desired sweetness, add the Irish cream and beat to combine.   If it thins out, you can add more powdered sugar to tighten it.  

Frost the cupcakes using your favorite method.  I prefer to pipe my frosting since I am terrible at frosting cakes.