Saturday, March 15, 2008

guinness cupcakes with bailey's irish cream frosting

Guinness Cupcakes - New Edit 01

I have long been a fan of Irish things. I think it all started with a tube of green lipstick Mom bought me for St. Patrick's Day one year, and a pair of shamrock earrings she would break out just in time for the holiday. When I went to Notre Dame, my fascination with all-things-Irish really took off. Every square inch of my dorm room that wasn't plastered with the Notre Dame logo was instead covered with shamrocks. (My favorite things, of course, were those that had BOTH.) I can't say that my love of shamrocks has diminished much since then. Though I've adopted a more adult decorating scheme, I still delight in many of my Irish-themed items. I proudly sport what might be the world's largest collection of Irish pajamas and socks all year round (because who else even has a collection?) and I smile gleefully at any opportunity to use my shamrock sprinkles.

Guinness Cupcakes - New Edit 02

Like now. Way back when I made these cupcakes, my friend Amy recommended that I try the chocolate stout cupcakes from the same book. I may just now be getting around to it, but with St. Patrick's Day practically upon us, the timing couldn't be better. And since I think there is never too much of a good Irish thing, I paired the cupcakes with a Bailey's Irish Cream frosting. Completely delicious -- as in, so delicious I ate one for breakfast. The cupcake batter is insanely good, and since it doesn't contain eggs, you eat it without catching some sort of egg-born illness. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on how many baked cupcakes you actually hope to end up with. You should probably estimate that you, like me, will eat 1/4 of the batter before any of those cupcakes hit the oven....

[Please note that while the cupcakes are vegan-friendly, the frosting is not. Also, if you want to frost your cupcakes with big swirls like I did, you'll need to triple the frosting recipe below.]

Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting
Makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes
Recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
3/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Guinness
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting
A Dulcedo original

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
2-3 cups confectioners' sugar

To make the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the soy milk and the vinegar. Add the Guinness, sugar, oil, and vanilla to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. Add the dry ingredients in two batches and beat until well incorporated.

Fill your cupcakes containers of choice 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly touched. Transfer to a wire rack and allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:
Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until creamy and smooth. Add the Bailey's and half of the confectioner's sugar and beat until smooth. Add the second half of the sugar and beat until smooth.

Guinness Cupcakes - New Edit 03

57 comments:

  1. Looks delicious! Any way to make the frosting vegan? I assume Irish Cream is a dairy product.

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  2. Yes, it is. To me, Bailey's tastes a bit like coffee, so perhaps you could replace some of the soy milk in a vegan buttercream with coffee? Or maybe play with using caramel and chocolate extracts instead of or in addition to the vanilla in a regular vegan buttercream?

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  3. Oh my god. I made these today to go along with an early St. Pattie's Day dinner (corned beef and cabbage, of course). These are some of the best cupcakes ever! The frosting was amazing...I even put in a few drops of green food coloring which sort of competed with the brown of the Irish Cream so it turned out a bit guacamole colored! Wonderful recipe...

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  4. Glad you enjoyed them! The Bailey's frosting is definitely a keeper -- and it couldn't be any easier to make!

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  5. Wow, I cannot wait to try these! I'm about to start my senior year at Notre Dame, and I'm thinking that between my roommate and I, these could get really popular next year... Thanks for posting!

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  6. Yes! Serve them to ND students! (And maybe Fr. Hesburgh!) That would make my day!

    (Hi, my name is Dana and I've been dependent on a regular ND fix for the last 8 years -- and it's an addiction I'm not interested in curing.)

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  7. just made the frosting and it's great! baileys is whiskey and heavy cream, so if you want to make it vegan whisky+soymilk might taste similar?

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  8. I suppose it would taste similar, but I've never tried to replace the Bailey's in the recipe so I won't say for certain.

    Hooray -- only 2 more months until I can use shamrock sprinkles again.

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  9. vegan bailey's is made with ( or i make it with) coconut milk, chocolate syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and whiskey

    so, mix small bits of that with EB and powdered sugar, and its good to go?

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  10. Hate to be a bummer, but Guinness is NOT vegan/vegetarian. There are others available though. I don't care, though, and plan on making these tonight!

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  11. Anon -- You'll have to take that up with the authors of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I don't believe I altered the recipe at all.

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  12. Can you make this into cake form rather than cupcake? I've told someone I'd make them a guinness birthday cake with the bailey's frosting, but I'm worried it won't yield enough batter for a whole cake =\

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  13. If you double the recipe, you should have enough for a whole cake.

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  14. I just finished baking the cake actually. I doubled the recipe and got two 9in layers. For the frosting, I used 2 sticks of butter, 5tbsp Baileys, maybe 2tbsp milk, and 6cups of confectioners sugar. Waiting for the layers to cool now so that I can frost them.

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  15. Oh! I didn't realize you responded to my previous comment! (Thank you, Notre Dame, for sucking up my life.)

    I have served these cupcakes to many, many ND students (and some faculty) and they have been universally acclaimed and nearly worshiped. Haven't made it to Father Hesburgh yet, but I've got a few years left...

    (Hi, my name is Jenny, and I'm not yet free from the clutches of Notre Dame our Mother...four years down, now a Master's degree to go.)

    One addition to your recipe: I mixed Bailey's into chocolate frosting, and it was AMAZING. Also sprinkled the cupcakes with white, orange, and green frosting...very cute! Let me know if you're in the area, we'll have to bake together! =)

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  17. Please note that the cupcakes are not vegan if you use Guinness. Guinness uses isinglass during the clarification process. Isinglass is obtained from the swimbladders of fish.

    This isn't to be political....or endorse one diet over another....it's purely for informational purposes.

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  18. Thanks for this recipe! I know I'm a little late posting here, but for St. Patty's Day 2010 I'm doing this and wondering if anybody has ever made the cupcakes the day ahead of time (but frosting the day of). Do they keep well?

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  19. Hi Lindsay -- The cupcakes will keep just fine in an airtight container overnight. I bake most of my cupcakes the day before and frost the day of. Some of them are very moist after being in an airtight container, so I'll actually let them sit uncovered for a while before I frost them.

    I'm making 6 dozen of these tomorrow morning. Always fun for St. Patrick's Day!

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  20. Thanks Dana! Do you refridgerate them in the airtight container?

    Wow--six dozen?! I'm sure word got out on how great they were ;)

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  21. Nope, no need to refrigerate them.

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  22. Thanks! Last question, sorry. Can you make the frosting a day ahead of time and apply the day if?

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  23. You can make the frosting a day ahead and store it in an airtight container (not in the fridge). However, you might want to mix it up again with an hand or stand mixer before you apply it to the cupcakes. Buttercream gets a little heavy when it sits, in my opinion, so remixing it briefly will bring back the fluff.

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  24. I've been waiting all week to make these today! After sampling this first batch between me and the missus to see how far the frosting recipe goes, the plan is to make these 'carbomb cuppin cakes' for my mates at our weekly nerdfest gathering. Board games + Irish themed cupcakes = awesome. Thanks for this!

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  25. Regular Guinness is not vegan but if you can find their Extra Stout in a bottle, I understand it doesn't go through the same isinglass process. Or check with your local micro brew for their stout!

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  26. I was so happy to find this recipe through a search engine, and I'm planning to take these in to work for Saint Patty's Day this year. I had a question regarding "tripling" the frosting recipe to make the big swirls. Would you triple the Bailys as well, making it 6 Tablespoons? Thanks for your help!!

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  27. Yes, if you triple the frosting recipe, you would need to triple all of the ingredients, including the Bailey's. Keep in mind that the cupcakes pictured are regular size cupcakes with BIG swirls of frosting -- I used a jumbo piping tip. If you use a regular piping tip, a double batch of frosting should suffice, and if you only want to cover the tops of the cupcakes with frosting, then you only need a single batch of frosting.

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  28. I'm almost out of my last batch of cupcakes (for my son's 1st b-day) and wanted to make some Guinness ccakes for SPD. I'm so excited about the Bailey's frosting, I could cry! Thanks so much!

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  29. what tip was used? start in center or outside?

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  30. I used a Wilton large star tip (I don't recall the number offhand), and for the cupcake shown above, I started on the outside and worked toward the center.

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  31. If you don't have decorating tips, I've also done this using the ziploc baggie method. Just snip a small hole in the corner and then make a small cut crossways so the hole is cross-shaped. To get the icing to swirl so nicely, hold the bag with the tip pointing straight down and as you squeeze move it in a plane parallel to the cupcake/tabletop--no need to tilt at all. (This is really simple but for some reason it took me like seven batches to figure out how to do it properly...)

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  32. dana....is it necessary to use dutch process cocoa? I cannot find it in our town....I want to make these the best that I can. What is the difference between DP and perhaps Hershey Cocoa powder? Thank you....sue

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  33. That is a good question, and yes, it will make a big difference if you substitute regular (natural) cocoa powder for Dutch-process cocoa. I've listed two good links below that explain the difference between the two varieties. Some of the Dutch-processed cocoas can be pricey (though usually worth it if you can splurge), but Hershey also makes an inexpensive Dutch-processed cocoa now.

    http://www.cooksillustrated.com/tastetests/overview.asp?docid=9942

    http://www.joyofbaking.com/cocoa.html

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  34. instead of soy milk can you used almond milk unsweetend?

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  35. Anon -- I've never tried this recipe with almond milk, and I've not used almond milk enough to feel comfortable making a guess as to whether it will work. If you try it, please post back and let me know.

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  36. Sure can....I'll keep in touch...I'm excited to try this recipe this weekend!

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  37. The almond milk definately works I used the silk unsweetened brand....there soo goodd! thanks for the recipeee

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  38. the cupcakes are not vegan-friendly, Guinness uses fish oils in their brewing process. Substitute in another stout and your in the clear.

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  39. To keep things Vegan, I made my own version of Bailey's Irish Cream and used Vegan butter sticks instead of butter. It's delicious!! Thanks for the recipe!!
    Best,
    Bell

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  40. bbelld, can I ask what you used for your "Bailey's?"

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  41. FYI I believe the Guinness Extra Stout is vegan. It's the only one, but it is. - http://www.barnivore.com/beer/26/Guinness#

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  42. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  43. BTW: Guinness is now vegan as they have removed isinglass from their process, and Bailey's has made a vegan alternative: Bailey's Almande, which is made from almond milk

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