Guinness Stout and Chocolate Cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day!

Greetings from Savannah, Georgia! The Bunkycooks traveled to Savannah for Go Savor this weekend. We met up with some old friends and met some new ones for a delightful culinary weekend to relax, eat, drink (and drink and eat!) and learn a few things about food photography (details to come later this week).

If you leave these with us we will eat all of them!
Of course, this weekend happened to coincide with the beginnings of the totally out of control St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Savannah celebrates St. Patrick’s Day in a big way and as few other cities do. There are parades and much boozing and drunkenness merriment (as witnessed by our inability to sleep Friday evening in our hotel).

I don't need any more temptation than this!
St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th (this Thursday), but hey, who says it has to be limited to one day? Why not make a week out of the festivities (like they do in Savannah!)?! 😉

Who needs Guinness when you can have these?
We seem to have a very timely knack for visiting towns right before the major event begins (just as we did with New Orleans and Mardi Gras). Could there be a pattern to this behavior?!

Remember this guy from New Orleans? He was celebrating early!
I prepared these totally addictive cupcakes before we headed out on our big adventure. Thank goodness I could leave them with friends, neighbors and my dog sitter…I would have consumed all of them!

These cupcakes are chocolaty, moist and have a subtle hint of the Guinness Stout. There is nuance of coffee flavor. The cream cheese frosting is the perfect accompaniment, although Mr. B says he enjoyed them just fine without since they were so moist. It’s a darn good thing we gave them away…we would have eaten them all. Shhh….we did sneak a few for the ride to the coast!

McBeamer enjoys St. Partick's Day too!
If you are looking for a Saint Patrick’s Day baked good, these are a wonderful boozy cupcake!

Cheers and drink up!
If you are in search of a dinner menu for St. Patrick’s Day, then you should look at these recipes as well. This Gaelic Steak dish was phenomenal!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Gaelic Steak Flambe and Irish Camp
Bailey’s Ice Cream with Chocolate Shavings

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Adapted slightly from Dave Lieberman
Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for dusting finished cupcakes
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch fine salt
1 12 ounce bottle stout beer, at room temperature (recommended: Guinness)
1 stick butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temperature
3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.
To make the icing:
In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream. On low speed, slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Icing can be made several hours ahead and kept covered and chilled.
Top each cupcake with a heap of frosting and dust with cocoa.(
*Cooks Notes: If you make this frosting with 3/4 cups of heavy cream, you will have a very soft frosting. I needed to add another 1/2 pound confectioner's sugar to get the proper consistency to decorate the cupcakes. I would suggest you use less cream and add it until you reach the desired consistency.
Wow…these sound amazing. Any excuse to work Guinness into a recipe works for me! Great St. Patrick’s Day treat.
Karen, they are a perfect St. Patty’s Day treat. This was a great recipe.
Delish! I adore Guinness and in a cupcake – now that is brilliant! I have long wanted to visit New Orleans and the south – your posts are making me want to purchase a plane ticket soon! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you Lisa! If you head south, we will be sure to give you a tour! 🙂
These sound wonderful ! Definitely have to give these a try. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Mary,
You are welcome. I hope you enjoy the recipe. We thought the cupcakes were exceptionally good.
Gwen
OMG Gwen lucky cupcakes! Your photos are wonderful, love the McBeamer. As for those cupcakes, I’m gaining weight just looking at them but think I’ll try them anyway lol. I’m a fool for moist cakes and good beer!
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Hi there,
These are calorie worthy cupcakes…trust me! Happy St. Patty’s Day to you too!
Gwen
Nice job on these beauties Gwen – I would need to “gift” them too. Love the idea of the coffee cream on top 🙂 GoSavor sounds like it was a great event! xo
Hi Marla,
Yes, Go Savor was lots of fun and the cupcakes are really good…I may have to make more tomorrow for St. Patty’s Day! Have a fun one.
Gwen
By the way-you pup is so cute!
your cupcakes look good! Your dog is cute 🙂
Thank you. We think he’s pretty cute too.
These are gorgeous GWEN and your woof is adorable! Chocolate and stout – sweet dreams are made of these 🙂
chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Hi Devaki,
Yes, we think our pup is cute too. Thank you. I agree…one of these cupcakes and a glass of milk before bed and you will definitely have really sweet dreams! 😉
Gwen
Okay, I wanna know how you got McBeamer to wear the hat. My dog would never stand for it! Great recipe and photography, too!
Hi Ronnie,
Thanks so much for your comment. This photo was taken many years ago, so Beamer had no idea what might happen with that photo! Chances are he would not have been so agreeable! 😉
Gwen
Oh my goodness. Even I think these look fantastic. I don’t like chocolate OR dark beer. But, sometimes weird combinations come together fantastically. This looks like it would do that. I hope you’re having fun!
Yes, we are having lots of fun! You would love the cupcakes. I know you would. I hope to see you in July!! 🙂
Love the hat on the dog picture. lol The cupcakes look so delicious and fun!
Thanks so much. We have a very cooperative dog. 🙂
You’re definitely on the celebrating edge 🙂 Had no idea Savannah did up St, Patrick’s Day in such fine form! These are some cupcakes I can get behind, esp. considering I bought Guinness for my Irish Lamb Stew and the big day, but why wait?
Hi Priscilla. Yes, we appear to be party animals these days. 😉 I hope you used up all of that Guinness and made cupcakes to go with your Irish Lamb Stew!
Gwen
Now this is how I like to celebrate St. Pat’s day! I’m not a big fan of Guinness (unless in cupcake form!) I’m jealous of your time in Savannah. Ryan and I hope to visit that city soon! Thanks for sharing your sweetness with me. This was a great way to end my Monday. I hope you have a safe and happy week!
Chocolate and stout…a match made in heaven! These cupcakes look so festive. I love the contrast.
Thank you, Pamela. They would be extra festive if I made them again for St. Patrick’s Day! 😉
Now this is the way to celebrate Saint Patty’s Day;-)
I think one(or two) of these cupcakes holds the key to happiness for at least as long as it takes to eat one (or two!)
Thanks for sharing your beautiful cupcakes;-)
Thanks Patty. I agree. One cupcake made me happy…at a time!
Oh do you know how long I’ve been toying with the idea of baking something chocolate and Guinness but still wondering how I’ll like the combo? And now you put these gorgeous treats right under my nose. Yum! You have convinced me! They look out of this world fabulous! Happy Saint Pat’s Day! And did you see Debra there by any chance? Lucky!
Hi Jamie,
Yes, you definitely need to mix these flavors! These were some of the best chocolate cupcakes I have had. I did see Debra at Go Savor and it was so much fun! I wish you were closer and could come to these events!
Gwen
It was so great to hang out with you this weekend! Happy be home now, though, right? Love the cuppies. 🙂
These cupcakes are gorgeous! Love the idea of baking with stout. So perfect for St. Patty’s day!! You must’ve had a blast at Go Savor! I wish I could’ve gone. I see some friendly familiar faces in that group photo:)
Love the recipe.. and the photos, especially the Dog wearing the green! Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I love to bake with Guinness
Your photos are amazing. I would love to share with my readers.
Delicious recipe! We loved it, and he photos are beautiful. We thought that all cupcakes should be made with Guinness from now on! 😉
I agree Evi! They wer incredibly moist. Everything is better with booze. 😉 Thank you for leaving a comment to let me know you enjoyed them.
I made these for my friends attending the parade yesterday. Everyone LOVED them! I have added this as a future tradition for my parade possie. Thanks!
Hi Marjorie,
Thank you for taking the time to leave your comment. I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes. We thought they we excellent, too. They are some of the moistest cupcakes I have made.
Gwen
These are some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever made! I do have a couple of suggested revisions. First, it might be a good idea to note that by “one bottle”, you mean a 12 oz. bottle and not a 22 oz. bottle. While mixing the melted butter with the Guiness straight out of the fridge, it basically curdled my butter and I had to throw it out. The second time around, I added the Guinness to the saucepan while the butter melted and stirred it frequently. I then tempered the eggs in to the stout-butter mixture to avoid scrambled eggs in the cupcake batter and extended the bake time to about 15 minutes. I also prefer using cupcake papers in the pan. After making these revisions, my cupcakes came out perfect!
Hi Keena,
Yes, this is one of my favorite cupcake recipes. They are excellent in taste and are incredibly moist. I always bake with room temperature ingredients (unless otherwise specified, like cold butter or shortening in a crust) since adding something cold into a hot mixture can create problems. I did make a note that the recipe uses a regular size Guinness (12 ounces). This is what the originally recipe called for and I was not aware there was a larger format.
Thank you for your suggestions and I am glad that you enjoyed the cupcakes!
Gwen
Wow. Wow. Wow. These are so good! Easy to make, super moist, and just a really great flavor. I didn’t have Guinness, but I used India Pale Ale instead. Seems to have worked out just fine. Thanks!
I’m always looking for new eating options, especially vegan ones! Looks delicious!