Brew Eats – Guinness Cupcakes

Yes, I wore an apron. Yes, I liked it.

My wife isn’t much of a brew fan, but she loves to help me enjoy the things I love. I give her much credit in helping to prod Yum, Beer! and I down the path we are on today. Given the amount of enjoyment I have found in this venture through brew, I wanted to find a way to include her in some of the fun. It was almost too perfect when she stumbled upon a recipe for Guinness Cupcakes. I knew the mountains of recipes she had been stockpiling would come to fruition at some point.

We can’t take all the credit. Mark Juhnke, chef and catering extraordinaire (Blue Pot Catering), posted the recipe on his blog for St. Patrick’s Day. I was worried that prep time would be forever and a day, but we were able to make them from scratch in about 20 minutes, and no more than 5 minutes for the icing. Obviously, it took some time to bake, but that granted the opportunity to finish the leftover Guinness and set the palate for some cupcake tasting.

I’m a bit of a batter freak, grabbing whatever kitchen instrument I can to get a taste of the deliciousness in the mixing bowl. The Guinness batter was amazing, not losing any flavor of the historic stout throughout. It was hard to stop and put the scrumptious sauce into the muffin pan, but, mind over matter, and a swat from my wife’s hand, the cakes went into the oven unscathed. The house (all 800 sq ft) was quickly filled with aromatic sweetness of malt and chocolate. 20 minutes of baking, 20 minutes to cool, a quick icing job and a dash of cocoa for looks, we were ready to try. The chocolate/coffee tones of the Guinness expressed well in the light cupcake. I was expecting something very heavy, but was pleased with a light and airy cake with just the right amount of chocolate to pay complement to the cream cheese icing. Very easy with an even tempered flavor, the recipe would complement a brew tasting session very well…something I will be considering with Yum, Beer! in the very near future.

Recipe: sugar, eggs, Guinness, a few more + some baking… see Blue Pot catering recipe blog for further instruction.

Serving Type: 1 cake

Color (hue and head): Airy chocolate cake w/ sweet ivory icing "head" and sprinkle cocoa on top. 

Aroma: Chocolate and Guinness

Taste: Chocolate with a stout brew background. Cream cheese icing a nice pairing in both color and sugary sweetness.

Grade: 90/100 (A-)

Music Pairing: Irish group, delicious title. Snow Patrol - Chocolate

Surroundings: Preparing to enjoy steaks, drinks and dessert w/ friends.