Last week I read an article on how much sleep you really need. I mean, I know that we all need a good nights rest; eight being that magic number, but this article gave me renewed inspiration. There were lots of great points in the article, and I vowed I was really going to try to get to bed early.
It always starts with good intentions. Night one, I was in bed by 10:30pm.
Next night, a little later.
By the third night, I was going to bed LATER than I normally do. Still tired from the night before, that next night I decided to make these beauties.
They sounded SO GOOD, I just couldn’t pass it up! Beer cake, and boosey accompaniments… It’s been awhile (okay, two months) since I made cupcakes, and since St. Patty’s day is such a beloved American drinking holiday, I had to go for it.
They turned out pretty darn fantastic! If I could do anything differently, I would have hollowed them out a little more to allow more of that beautiful filling to nestle down in that spectacular cake. I’ve had disasters with filling cupcakes in the past, but the cake really stands up to the ganache in this application. The Bailey’s frosting is the most noticeable flavor, and you can recognize hints of the smoky porter in the cake. Had I filled the cakes with more of the ganache, there’s no doubt that whiskey would come through too. St. Patrick’s day is tomorrow! You still have time to make these delicious SHOT CAKES!
For St. Patrick’s Day this year, some friends of mine and Kerrygold teamed up to bring you a gift basket of EPIC proportions! Use the rafflecopter widget below to gain multiple entries! The winner will be announced St. Patrick’s Day 2015. Good Luck!!!
- For the Cake
- 1 cup Rogue Mocha Porter
- 1 cup (8 ounces) Kerrygold Unsalted Butter, melted
- 3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 2 cups Cake Flour, sifted
- 2 cups Sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 3/4 teaspoons Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 2/3 cup Sour Cream
- For The Filling
- 8 ounces Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Chocolate Bar, roughly chopped
- 2/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 Tablespoons Kerrygold Unsalted Butter, softened
- 3 Tablespoons Jameson’s Irish Whiskey
- For The Frosting
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 cup Kerrygold Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
- 7 Drops Green Food Coloring (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350ºF, and line 48 mini muffin tins with mini muffin liners. Combine the porter, melted butter, and cocoa powder in a mixer bowl, and set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in another bowl, whisking to combine and remove any lumps. Add flour mixture in with the cocoa mixture, and mix until combined. Add the eggs and sour cream together in a small bowl, then combine with the other ingredients, mixing until well incorporated. Fill the mini muffin tins ¾ from the top, and place in the oven. Once in the oven, reduce the temperature to 325ºF, and bake for 12 minutes, turning once halfway through the cooking process. Once out, let cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If doing multiple trays, bring the temperature back up before starting the cooking process of the next batch.
- For the ganache filling, place the chopped chocolate bar in a bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a small pot until just simmering, and pour over chocolate. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and all the chocolate is melted, then add in the Jameson’s Irish Whiskey. Let sit for about 10 minutes to cool.
- While the ganache is cooling, hollow out the center of the mini cakes with a sharp knife. Fill the hollowed out cakes with the ganache.
- For the frosting, combine the powdered sugar and softened butter in a stand mixture, and beat until well combined, about 1 minute. Slowly add in the baileys until you reach your desired frosting consistency. Add green food coloring if desired, and pipe onto the tops of the mini cakes.
For even more inspiration, check out all of my homie’s dishes that they brought to our Potluck Party!
by The Culinary Diva
Buffalo Blue Cheese Stuffed Eggsby Decadently Fit
Dubliner Cottage Pie Puffsby My Imperfect Kitchen
by Within My Means
Dubliner Cream Sconesby It’s Okay To Eat The Cupcake
Irish Stuffed Datesby It’s Okay To Eat The Cupcake
by My Imperfect Kitchen
Shepherds Pieby Decadently Fit
Irish Rarebitby The Culinary Diva
*Kerrygold sent me cheese and butter, but I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions are my own.
Love you, Natty! I’m ALL over this.
I love mix of booze in this cupcake treats…My friends will love these too!
These look so awesome! I particularly love how all of them have a SLIGHTLY different color variation. Our mutual friend Deanna told me about your site,,and i am so glad i stopped by!