Guinness Cupcakes

It's March, and you know what that means - hellloooo St. Patrick's Day. That means that pretty soon we all get to be Irish for a day. It's a magical thing that happens once every year, a day when we all enjoy green eggs for breakfast, Irish soda bread for snack and green beer for dinner, errr well you know. And to get this party kick started I've whipped up some beer cupcakes for you. They're not green, but they're made with Guinness, which is of course the best selling alcoholic drink of all time in Ireland...so that counts.

My husband said 'I don't know Hun'. My sister (hugs) said 'I don't know Ree'. But that sweet little voice inside my head said 'Do it, do it - beer. cupcakes. do it'. How can I say no to the sweet little voices? So of course I did it, and I'm glad I did, mmmm.

The original plan was to top these with a cream cheese frosting but that made these so sweet it ruined them (gasp) I said it - the frosting ruined the cupcake. The thing is, these gorgeous little suckers turned out so rich and decadent and not overly sweet that I didn't want to mast that with a mound of sugar. So instead I dusted the top with powdered sugar - perfect.

Guinness Beer Cupcakes
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa2 C sugar
1 C all purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 bottle beer *at room temp* (I used an 11.2 oz bottle of Guinness Draught)
1 stick butter, melted
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 24 muffin cups with liners (I got 18 full size cupcakes plus 24 mini cupcakes).
In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flours & baking soda.

In another large bowl, combine the beer *at room temp*, melted butter & vanilla. Beat in eggs until well combined. Mix in sour cream until smooth and incorporated. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake about 24 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool before turning out.

You may frost as desired but I found these perfect with a dusting of powdered sugar.