guinness cupcakes - embrace 'the black stuff'!

so what is a girl to do when in a country where 'the black stuff' is almost considered to be part of the staple diet!?! embrace it, of course and get creative with it! so guinness cupcakes became the mood of the moment. the recipe started off with melting the butter in the guinness (hot guinness....yeuch!) and then the rest of the ingredients were added to it. by the time the batter was ready to scoop into the cupcake cases, i was ready to just sit down somewhere quietly and lick the bowl of batter up...no need to bake! it was that good and the smell....divine! but i figured there were a family of eager testers and tasters waiting to see what guinness cupcakes would taste like so who was i to disappoint! i topped with a mascarpone vanilla icing and OH MY GOSH! these little guys tasted FANTABULOUS (that's a mixture of fantastic and fabulous for those not in the know....cos one word is just not enough!) the guinness added this smoothness and richness to the chocolate and the cupcake just seemed to melt in your mouth. these are such wonderful adult cupcakes that it really puts to rest all those critics who say that cupcakes are just for kids....these certainly are for the adult population...proof....18 made yesterday....3 left today on last check....need i say more?

Guinness Cupcakes

Cupcake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick + 1 Tb unsalted butter
¾ cup cocoa
2 cups dark brown sugar
¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 Tb vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 ½ tsp baking soda

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese
1 ¼ cups icing sugar
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tray.

Combine the Guinness and the butter (chopped into 1 inch chunks) in a double boiler and heat to melt the butter. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar.

In a bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla, then add to stout mixture.

Sift together flour and baking soda and fold into batter.

Pour into cupcake cases and bake for 25 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. Let stand 10 mins and then remove from tray and cool on a wire rack.

In a mixer, whisk together ingredients for icing and spread over cooled cupcakes.