Guinness infused, chocolaty cupcakes, filled with Jameson Irish whiskey ganache, topped with sweet and creamy Baileys buttercream. Did I get your attention yet??
Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought to add beer to my cupcakes. Okay, I might have thought about it, but I wouldn’t expect it to taste any good. When I think beer I think… wings, sliders, football, barbecues, pretty much anything but cupcakes. But my friends, I have to tell you, combining a cup of stout beer like Guinness with this chocolate cupcake recipe resulted in a surprisingly moist, rich, chocolaty cake I would recommend to anyone.
Since St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner (March 17th to be exact) and Hoboken is celebrating with Lepre-con all day today, I figured now is a perfect time to introduce these Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with America’s staple St. Patrick’s Day cocktail, here’s what it contains: 3/4 pint of Guinness, 1/2 shot of Irish whiskey such as Jameson floated over 1/2 shot of Irish cream such as Bailey’s. The shot is dropped into the beer and chugged quickly, before the mixture begins to curdle. Some say it tastes like a chocolate milkshake. I must agree.
For those of you who are very familiar with this St. Patty’s Day drink-of-choice, are you also familiar with what an Irish car bomb is exactly? I would assume that if you’ve never looked into the meaning, you’d have no idea where the name came from. Well, it’s your lucky day (no pun intended), here’s a little history lesson!
From the 1960s to the later years of the 1990s, Northern Ireland was involved in a period called the Troubles. During the Troubles, war was declared and ongoing violence took place. On July 21, 1972, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) used 22 car bombs in the city of Belfast. These bombs took the lives of a few innocent people, while many were left severely injured. This day became known as Bloody Friday.
Many people these days find the use of the name ‘Irish Car Bomb’ to describe a popular drink to be offensive and distasteful, while some find it fairly harmless. In American culture, this is a drink we are simply accustomed to ordering on St. Patty’s Day. So next time you order one, you’ll know a bit of the history, too.
Now, I didn’t mean to be a Debbie Downer telling you the historical meaning behind an Irish car bomb, so let me lift your spirits a little. Irish car bombs as a drink are very tasty, but as a cupcake – even tastier! As I mentioned earlier, these cupcakes are alcohol infused from top to bottom (literally). Guinness is baked right into the cupcake batter, resulting in a rich, chocolate cake, Jameson is poured into warm ganache which is piped into the center of the cupcake, and they’re all topped off with creamy, rich, and decedent Baileys buttercream. Although the process to make these cupcakes many seem like a lot of work, they’re worth it, trust me. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Irish Car Bomb Cucpakes
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 24 cupcakes
For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
- 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
Ganache Filling
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 2-3 teaspoons Irish whiskey
Baileys Frosting
- 4-5 cups confections sugar
- 2 ½ stick unsalted butter, at room temperatue
- 6-7 tablespoons Baileys
Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)
Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.
Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to 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. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.
Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
The insides will look like this:
Frosting Directions: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
Enjoy, and Happy Hoboken St. Patty’s Day!
I bet these are uber good!!! Pity we just finished our Jameson today. Lovely photos.
Thank you, Tia! They are delicious and a perfect dessert for St. Patrick’s Day. Thanks for checking out my blog!
those look SO GOOD >_< I wish I could make them but I dont have all the stuff and I am a student so its not like I can spend all too much going out to get it… and now I really REALLY want a St. Patrick’s Day cocktail
These do have quite a few expensive ingredients that are difficult to purchase in small quantity, but if you plan to make a few dozen, they’re definitely worth the money spent!
I bought mini bottles!! And went to my local bar and purchased just 2 bottles of guiness instead of having to buy a 6 pack.
Good call with the ganache filling. These look perfect for St. Patty’s day! Or any day for that matter…
The ganache filling gives this cupcake a delicious little surprise! I have a feeling I’ll be making this recipe well after the holiday – they were that good! Thanks for stopping by my blog : )
Fyi – no self respecting Irish person would say ‘St. Patty’s Day’…
I was unaware. Thank you for the heads up!
Not sure if you realised that this is a BAKING blog, O’Neill. Save your “self respect” nonsense for someone that cares. Hooray for ST. PATTY’S DAY!!!
I just learned this myself and I am Irish!
[...] Sammy and recipe available at Quick Feet, Good Eats Posted by The Cupcake Connoisseur in Adult Beverage Cupcakes and tagged with Car Bomb [...]
These look SO amazing! I can’t wait to eat them when my 40 days of lent are up!
haha
I can’t wait to make them for you! xo
yeah.. “Paddys Day” would would do the job.. these look fab -cant wait to try them
Thank you for posting!
Thank you for checking out my post! Happy Baking
Just finished my first batch! Can’t wait to have them for a birthday celebration tomorrow!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear you made them. Let me know how you and the birthday girl or guy likes them!
Such a brilliant idea! I’ve been looking everywhere for a cute/fun/innovative St. Patty’s Day recipe, and your’s is my favorite yet!
Thank you, Megan! (although the idea and recipe are someone else’s) I love this recipe idea for St. Patrick’s Day as well!
Good for you to admit the idea was not yours. However you could have said your recipe was inspired by Brown Eyed Baker. I’m sure if some used your ideas in a blog you would want some type of credit for people to check your site out as well.
Hi Teresa,
The origin of the recipe is actually from Smitten Kitchen and, as always, I link back to the original recipe at the beginning of the recipe on my page. Brown Eyed Baker also adapted her recipe from Smitten Kitchen, as she states at the bottom of her post. You will always find credit given where credit is due on my blog.
[...] Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes [...]
I just made 3 batches of these for a work party tomorrow. I sampled one and they are AMAZING!
Lots o’ work, but certainly worth all the delighted faces tomorrow.
Thanks for the suggestion!
[...] Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (not for the kiddos!) [...]
I just finished making these and they are delicious! I had bourbon on hand, so I used that instead of the whiskey, and it still tastes great. (Bourbon and chocolate go great together anyway so I didnt think it would be a big deal) The Guinness makes the cake so moist! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi Ashley – Thanks for commenting and letting me know how they turned out! I’m happy you liked them – the switch to bourbon sounds yummy!
[...] can’t take credit for what you are about to witness. (That goes to Quick Feet, Good Eats and Smitten Kitchen.) But what self-respecting Irish woman would I be if I found something this [...]
Just made these today!!!! They are SO good!!!
Right?! Thanks for sharing that you enjoyed them! Happy baking : )
[...] didn’t take much Googling to find a ton of recipes out there for it including this one from Quick Feet Good Eats that looked to die for. I tweaked it here and there, so here’s my [...]
Is this like when cooking with beer, all the alcohol is evaporated, or is there still alcohol left in it? Sounds amazing either way but am curious.
Hi Crystal – The beer in the batter evaporates when cooked, so there’s a very, very little hint of Guinness (if any) left in the cupcakes. However, the beer really does enhance the chocolate flavor and makes these cupcakes super moist. Thanks for commenting, and happy baking!
I’m really excited to make these for my co-workers this weekend for St. Patrick’s Day. In my shopping for ingredients, I accidentally bought extra stout. Will that alter the flavor of the cake too much, or will it be basically the same?
Hi Beverly – The extra stout shouldn’t change the flavor of the cake. Some recipes actually call for extra stout. I’d assume your cakes will just be a little richer – but that’s never a bad thing! Enjoy!
[...] if you added dark beer to chocolate… now we’re talking. I came across this Irish Car Bomb cupcakes recipe, and despite not having ever tried a real Irish Car Bomb (Guinness, Jameson, & [...]
[...] awhile to make, but they were relatively simple considering the number of elements. Thanks goes to Quick Feets, Good Eats for posting this treat on Pinterest (recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen). [...]
Ever since I combined the words “Irish Car Bomb” and “Cupcake” in the same sentence my two Irish roommates have been begging me to make them. I made them a deal, they buy the goods, and I’ll do the baking.
Tonight is the night to finally try them out! How do you recommend to store them so they’ll still be presentable and moist for Saturday (The Big Day)? Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Lorraine – Sounds like a good deal to me! Store these cupcakes in an airtight container until ready to be eaten. Stop back to let me know how they turned out, and if they were all your roommates hoped they would be : ) Happy baking!
What a great recipe! My roommates were hovering in the kitchen the entire time I was baking, and they smelled absolutely delicious while in the oven.
My roommates flipped on these cupcakes, they were amazingly delicious! They even invited some friends over at 10pm to try them out because they loved them so much!
5 Stars, 2 Thumbs Up, 10 out of 10!
I just made these for a wedding reception, but with a twist. I left out the ganache and turned the cupcakes into cake pops, dipped in white (vanilla) and drizzled in green! They are really good!
They sound adorable! I bet these are delicious as cake pops.
These cupcakes are baking as we speak! I was just wondering if you could answer a question… Will the frosting hold overnight, or should I wait to frost until tomorrow… Shamrock Party at 1pm!
And FYI, I already know these will be a hit! Thanks so much for sharing this amazing recipe!
Hi Julie- I emailed you last night with the answer to your question, but if you didn’t receive it, I just advised that if you had time to frost today, that would be ideal – if not frosting them last night wouldn’t be a problem. Just store them in an air tight container. I hope everyone at the party enjoys them! Thanks for stopping by : )
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made them and they were a huge hit at my office! A lot of people said they were the best cupcakes they’ve ever had and I should be in Cupcake Wars!
I’m so happy everyone enjoyed these! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know how they turned out!
[...] The Sweet [...]
These were amazing! I will definitely be making these for many months to come!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this recipe ! I made these cupcakes on Saturday and they were a huge hit. They have even have stayed moist a few days down the line.
[...] looking forward to making these grown-up cupcakes for about a month. I came across the recipe for Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes during one of my regular “foodgawking” sessions and was instantly excited. Not because I am the [...]
[...] the Irish Carbomb Cupcake, I followed the recipe except for two things. For the ganache, I added twice the whiskey called for [...]
THESE WERE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I decided to try these for St. Patrick’s Day and I was a little nervous because I am that person who buys the premade mix that you just have to add water and maybe some eggs. These were SO easy and SO MUCH FUN to make (and of course delicious!)
I love this recipe! The cupcakes come out perfect every time.
I was wondering if there was a way to keep the ganache center creamy. After the first day (or possibly few hours), it gets hard and fudgy. Any suggestions?
Dont’ get me wrong, they are great even when the middle is fudgy, but if I could keep it creamy, that would be awesome as well!
Thanks for any advice.
Hi Michelle- I experienced the same issue, but I think adding a bit more heavy cream would help keep the ganache creamier for longer. If you try this, please let me know how it turns out! Happy baking!
Hi Sammy!
These look amazing! I wanted to see if there would be enough ganache to dip the cut out portion of the cupcakes to make cake bites?
BRILLIANT!! <3
hehe
but its Paddy's day not Patty's
One of my friends requested I make these haha
Love from a Dublin girl
[...] quickfeetgoodeats.com via Rita on Pinterest Filed Under: Cake Tuesday Tagged With: Cake [...]
[...] Cupcakes Filled with Jameson Irish Whiskey Ganache created by Sammy and recipe available at Quick Feet, Good Eats google_ad_client = "ca-pub-1193322005297403"; /* cupcakesfans – Banner */ google_ad_slot = [...]
Made these today for a St Paddy’s party tomorrow. Of course I had to try the ‘scraps ” with the ganache, and the frosting-OMG! Was so good ,my husband and I split one of the cupcakes. Must leave the rest for tomorrow! I have tried other stout cupcake recipes before, but this is by far the best. Thank you!!
I just made these today for a St. Patrick’s Day Party we are going to later. They are delicious!!!
Thanks so much! I made these for my co-workers tonight and they LOVED THEM! Thank you, thank you!
[...] *Adapted from Quick Feet Good Eats [...]
I made these for the first time for st party’s day. Absolutely delish. Even better is I used the centers with the leftover ganache and frosting to make cake balls which were also a huge hit. There was not a morsel left.
I making more tonight.
[...] the recipe at : quickfeetgoodeats.com var addthis_config = [...]