Taya Starling

I don’t know about your family but my family takes St. Patrick’s Day very seriously. We wear green, shamrocks everywhere, we cook corned beef, cabbage, & potatoes, drink a lot of whiskey & beer, and we listen to actual Irish jigs. At every family event whether we’re celebrating a holiday or simply getting together for a home-cooked meal, yours truly is in charge of dessert. For this St. Patty’s Day I decided to whip out an old favorite- Guinness Cupcakes with a Bailey’s creamcheese frosting. Typically I’d make a chocolate Jameson ganache as well but this year I figured we’d already get enough Jameson in our diet the day of so I kept it simple.
Here’s what you’ll need:
For the cupcakes…
– 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
– 1/2 cup cocoa powder
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1 & 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
– 1/2 cup unsalted softened butter
– 2 tsp vanilla extract
– 2 egg
– 1/2 cup sour cream
– 1 bottle Guinness or stout beer

Preheat your oven to 350degrees and line two cupcake pans with liners (i picked green ones out of my pantry to keep with the theme).
In a large bowl, sift together all the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder.
In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugars using either an electric mixer or by hand with a paddle- personally I couldn’t live properly without my kitchenaid mixer. Next slowly incorporate one egg and mix until smooth. Then mix in the second egg followed by the sour cream and vanilla. Once you’ve got a nice smooth batter, slowly pour in the bottle of Guinness while continuously mixing. The batter may clot up a bit, don’t worry that all gets smoothed out in the next step.
Sift your dry ingredients into your now creamy batter and mix until well combined and smooth.
By now your oven should be hot and your cupcake pans ready to be filled. Scoop about 1/4cup of batter into each cupcake liner so they’re about 2/3 or 3/4 full.
Bake your cupcakes on the center rack for around 20-25 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.
Once they are bakes, carefully take them out of the pan and place them to the side to cool while you make the frosting.

For the frosting…
– 1 (8oz) bar of cream cheese, softened
– 1 (4oz) stick of unsalted butter, softened
– 2 to 3cups confectioner’s sugar
– 4 -6 tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream

In a large bowl, mix the butter and creamcheese together until smooth. Add in the sugar half a cup at a time. Once you’ve mixed in 2 cups of sugar, slowly add in 4 tablespoons of Bailey’s. Do a taste and consistency check. If you want more Bailey’s flavor, add more, but remember to add a bit more sugar as well to keep up the consistency of the frosting. The frosting should be smooth but still hold and form peaks.
Once you’ve got the frosting made and the cupcakes are cooled, spread or pipe the frosting on and decorate as desired.
I piped mine on flat as an homage to the nice thick layer of froth you get on a fresh poured Guinness beer then added a dash of gold sprinkles for the Leprechauns.

These cupcakes are always a hit at our St Patty’s Day party and I promise you won’t have any leftovers for your hangover the next day (sorry!). HAPPY ST. PATTY’S DAY! Enjoy the festivities and celebrate responsibly. As my Uncle MacNamara always said,
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back
May you be in heaven half an hour
Before the Devil knows you’re dead.