These may look like ordinary chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting… but oh my friends trust me, they are not.  They are not ordinary at all.  These cupcakes are incredibly moist.  These cupcakes are incredibly rich in chocolate flavor.  And these cupcakes made me VERY popular with my co-workers… the “belle of the work-a-day ball” one might say. Perhaps it’s because these cupcakes have a secret ingredient… something you might not even know is there…. something not typically considered standard cupcake fare.  What is this secret ingredient? Guinness Extra Stout.  Beer?  Yes, beer.  And if you’ve never made these cupcakes, well, let me just say right here for the record that you should.  I paired them with a chocolate cream cheese frosting instead of an uber-sweet buttercream… and notice that I didn’t slather on goo-gobs of it.  Why, you ask?  Because I wanted the flavor of the cake to be the star of this show and not take a back seat to anything.  N-E-thing. Ordinary chocolate cupcakes?  Oh hardly!  They’re extraordinary…. even to avowed beer-hating, non-chocolate-lover like me.  

I took this photo two different ways… focusing on the cupcakes in the foreground (above) and focusing on the beer in the background (below).  I like them both and I can’t choose which one I like best.  I’ve agonized for a ridiculously long time about which picture to put in this post.  I obsessed over it which is silly.  So the final decision is to include both of them :P

My friend Brandi is married to a great guy named Andy.  Andy loves Guinness.  Loves it.  If they lived closer, and not half way across the country, I’m betting Andy would love these cupcakes.  I’ve been wanting to make them for months now – in fact I bought the bottle of Guinness a little while back and it’s been sitting in my fridge ever since.  The other night I had planned to make something totally different and the Hubs was in the fridge and said to me “are you EVER going to make those Guinness cupcakes you’ve been talking about?”.   I figured it was time to make the Guinness cupcakes… if for no other reason that I could use that reclaimed space in the chiller ;-)   Fridge space is always at a premium around here and if you’re a baker or food blogger then you know what I’m talkin’bout! LOL

The flavor of these cupcakes is chocolate… but different.  And when they’re baking in the oven, the aroma is chocolate… but different.  I can’t describe it.  The scent is not yeasty…. and the scent is not sweet-chocolatey.  It’s something different.  Initially I had no intention of even trying these since I abhor everything, ev-REE-thing about beer and I’m not a huge fan of chocolate. But the Hubs raved about these cupcakes… raved about them. RAVED.  I saved a few at home and took the rest to work. My colleagues raved about these cupcakes… raved about them.  RAVED.  After lunch I caved in and finally tried one.  The first bite made me think “well these don’t suck as bad as I expected”… the second bite made the think “hmmm… these are pretty good”…. the third bite had me thinking “these really ARE good!”.  They are… and you should make them :)

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from RecipeZaar

Ingredients

4 ounces unsalted butter
10 ounces dark brown sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
6 ounces plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
7 fluid ounces Guinness stout 
2 ounces cocoa powder

8oz Cream Cheese
3/4 cup Powdered Sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder 

These are really good… and I bet they’ll help you have a delicious day!