Irish Car Bomb Cupcake

Happy New Year everyone! I'm so thankful for 2012 and everything that it brought, and am looking forward to what this new year will bring. 
Today I bring you a cupcake recipe that was made for a very special occasion: I'm partner! After lots of planning, talking, tweaking, talking, planning, and a sea of e-mails, it's finally done! These last three years have been great, working in an amazing office, with amazing people. I just can't be more blessed than that! But it seems that they also like me, so they have permanently adopted me, ha! It's such a great accomplishment and I just couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity.
After all the help from everyone who participated in making this happen, I wanted to make a booze-filled cupcake to celebrate together (kinda of like a baked celebratory shot!). I had seen these cupcakes before, and it just seemed to fit the bill. And fit they did!
Where to begin with this cupcake's description? Oh man, so many good things... First, the cupcake: the stout in the batter boosts the chocolate flavor to the cupcake, and you really can't tell that it truly has beer. The ganache: oh my the ganache... the way I made it (which was an oops because I read Tbsp instead of tsp) was actually very perfect for me and my husband taste tester. Even though it was more than the amount in the original recipe, the added whiskey was great. And the buttercream was a just concoction full of win.
So hope you get to try this recipe soon!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, aka Chocolate Stout and Whiskey Cupcakes
Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:
Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
-1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-2 cups AP flour
-2 cups sugar
-1.5 tsp baking soda
-3/4 tsp salt
-2 large eggs
-2/3 cup sour cream

Whiskey Ganache
-8oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
-2/3 cup heavy cream
-2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 Tbsp Irish whiskey

Bailey's Frosting
-3 to 4 cups confectioner's sugar
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 to 3 Tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

Directions:
For cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners.
2. In medium saucepan over medium heat, bring stout and butter to a simmer. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Sift and whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Set aside.
4. Using electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment on medium-high speed, beat eggs and sour cream until well blended. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Lower speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture in increments and beat until just combined.
5. Divide batter into cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 of the way full. Bake cupcakes until toothpick test comes out clean, about 15-17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

For ganache:
1. Chop chocolate very finely, and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. 
2. Heat heavy cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. 
3. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

For frosting:
1. Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter until it is light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
2. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Bailey's and whip it until well combined. 

Assembling cupcakes:
1. Use either of these items: 1-inch round cookie cutter, apple corer, or bottom of a large decorating tip (I used the decorating tip) and cut the center out of the cooled cupcakes.
2. Put ganache into a piping bag and fill the holes of each cupcake to the top. Let it cool completely (ganache will harden).
3. Using the frosting and your favorite decorating tip, pipe frosting on cupcakes.

Recipe adapted from Bake at 350 and Smitten Kitchen