Chocolate Stout Mini Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients

Frosting:
2 cups stout or dark beer, such as Guinness or Choklat Stout
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups Dutch-process cocoa
4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
4 cups sugar
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation

Step 1

Place the stout and butter in a large, heavy saucepan, and heat until the butter melts.

Remove the pan from the heat, and add the cocoa powder. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or line two mini cupcake pans.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, beat together the eggs and sour cream.

Add the stout-cocoa mixture, mixing to combine.

Add the flour mixture and mix together at low speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and mix again for 1 minute.

Fill each mini cupcake cup with about 1 heaping tablespoon of batter.
Bake one pan at a time for 12-14 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes from the pans and let them cool completely on the rack. You can continue to use the remaining batter to make more cupcakes, or you can make a cake. See the original recipe on the KAF site for directions on making a cake.

For the filling and frosting: Place the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, and whisk until the mixture is completely smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Refrigerate until the ganache thickens slightly, about 30 minutes.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a small round tip with some of the ganache. Then return the remaining ganache to the refrigerator to chill until it is spreadable, about 2 hours. Stir it occasionally to check the consistency. You can always microwave it if it gets too solid.

Gently insert the piping tip into the center of each cupcake and squeeze until you feel pressure. Don’t worry about leaving holes in the tops of the cupcakes; you’ll cover those when you frost them.

At this point the person who submitted this recipe wrapped the cupcakes and put them in the fridge overnight because she wasn’t bringing them to the party until the next day. The cupcakes can be frosted the same day though. She filled a piping bag fitted with a small star tip with the thickened ganache. She piped a swirl pattern on some of the cupcakes and just did a small squeeze in the centers of others. She then decorated with green shamrocks and sugars. Another way to frost the cupcakes is to use the ganache when it is first made and still “runny”. Carefully plunge just the tops of the cupcakes into the thin ganache and twist your hand slightly as you pull the cupcake up from the ganache, so the ganache stays on top and doesn’t drip down the sides. Sprinkle with green sugar before the ganache sets completely.