By request, here is the recipe for the Guinness-Gasm cupcakes I made for the Austin Bake Sale for Japan.

This recipe is my variation of one I found on SF Food Wars. While my version is not quite as ‘colorful’ of a read as the original (seriously, read the original commentary), I made some tweaks to the recipe that I believe make these babies even tastier. I liked the mustache decorations so much I kept them on mine, too. I mean, really, who doesn’t want a paper mustache with their cupcake?

Guinness-Gasms

Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
1 bottle of Guinness Stout (12 fl oz)
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 cups sugar (I prefer turbinado)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream (full fat, please)

For the filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons room-temperature, unsalted butter

For the frosting:
1/2 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
3 to 4 cups confectioners sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons Irish Cream liqueur
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions
First the cupcakes:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large saucepan, over medium heat, melt the the butter and Guinness and bring them to a simmer.
3. While the butter and Guinness melts, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.
4. The butter and Guinness should be simmering by now; remove them from the heat, add the cocoa and whisk together until smooth. Allow this mixture to cool for a few minutes.
5. While you wait for the butter-Guinness-chocolate mixture to cool, mix the eggs and sour cream with an electric beater until smooth. Pour in the butter-Guinness-chocolate mixture and mix until just combined.
6. Pour the thick, chocolatey awesomeness into the previously-whisked dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. (PS just b/c the butter-beer-chocolate looks and smells fantastic, don’t taste the batter until combined with everything else. Trust me on this.)
7. Put paper liners in a cupcake tray. Paper liners are a must! Fill the cups 3/4 full of batter and bake for 25 minutes. Rotate the pan half way through for even baking. Makes 2 dozen cupcakes.
8. After the cupcakes have cooled, scoop a small hole out of the center.

Next make the filling:
1. Put the bittersweet chocolate chips in a medium sized bowl.
2. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer.
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, add the butter and stir until smooth and combined. Refrigerate, stirring every 10 minutes, until it’s pourable but not too runny.
4. To fill the cupcakes, spoon the ganache into a pastry bag or a plastic ziplock with the one corner cut off (my preference). Gently squeeze the ganache into the holes in the cupcakes.

Finally the frosting:
1. Put the room temperature butter into a large bowl or your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
2. In your stand mixer or with an electric beater, whip the butter until it’s light and fluffy.
3. Slowly add 3 cups of the powdered sugar, a little bit at a time.
4. Add the 2-3 tablespoons of cream and then add 3-4 tablespoons of the Irish Cream, depending on the level of flavor and creaminess you want.
5. Add more powdered sugar if the cream and Irish Cream have made it too runny.
6. Frost the cupcakes. I prefer to pour the frosting into a giant ziplock bag with the corner cut off and swirl the frosting on that way, but frost in your preferred method. Add additional decoration to suit your fancy. I really like gold sprinkles and paper mustaches, but that’s just me.
7. Enjoy the Irish carbomb-esque cupcakes you just made. :o)