Guinness Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Tweet this!

Share this recipe! Pin It

St. Patty's Day is upon us (well.... almost!). If you've been observing Lent, your time is almost up. Were you giving up sweets? Alcohol? Guinness? Let's just say, hypothetically, that you were giving up all three things. What would you do on the day those treats were suddenly back on menu?

You'd make these cupcakes. Obviously.

I've been making cupcakes with sparkling water or diet soda for a while now... and have dabbled in the liquor infused cupcakes (like Frangelico and Kahlua)... but hadn't yet tried beer.

I have to say, the Guinness is amazing. Seriously. Even though the recipe for the cupcake batter omits eggs, oil, and butter, the cupcakes are still extremely moist. Perhaps we have the heavy, rich consistency of Guinness to thank for that, eh?

My sincere advice: Make these. Then eat them. Eat them with a pint of Guinness in front of you to wash it down. Glorious!

(From CalorieCount)

Ingredients:
for Guinness Cupcakes:

• 12 Ounces Guinness
• 1 box German Chocolate Cake (or regular Chocolate)

 for Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 ounces Cream Cheese
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Wilton gel food coloring (Kelly Green)
• Optional yellow pearls or white glitter dust

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Combine Guinness and cake mix. Mix well, then transfer to lined cupcake tins and bake for 19-22 minutes, removing when a toothpick or fork comes out clean.
3. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add Vanilla Extract and continue to mix. 
4. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix well. 
5. Use a toothpick to add coloring. Swirl toothpick in gel food coloring, then swirl into the frosting. Repeat this 2-3 times, using fresh toothpicks, and mixing well in between to test color.
6. Use a bag to pipe frosting onto cupcakes. I ended up with three designs here: (1) I used a star tip and, from the outside of the cupcake, slowly spiraled my way into the center, then added an extra squeeze to create a puff in the center. (2) I used a star tip and slowly did small, individual puffs/dots by placing the tip down, squeezing quickly, then picking it up and repeating across the top until covered. (3) I created a 3 leaf clover, using a star tip and beginning from the outside of the clover, squeezing and pulling in, creating each "leaf" individually. I then switched to a small circle tip to create a small, curved stem.
7. Add yellow pearls or white glitter dust if desired.