Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting




As with most Nigella recipes, this is a simple, chuck-everything-into-a-pan type of cake – and every time it produces a fantastic, moist, dark Guinness-y cake topped off with a smooth cream cheese topping.

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Nigella Lawson.

Makes about 20 cupcakes


Cake


Ingredients


250 ml Guinness
250g butter (sliced)
75g good quality cocoa (never use drinking cocoa such as Cadbury etc)
360g caster sugar
142ml sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda


Method 
  1. Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan and add in the butter and heat until the butter is melted. 
  2. At this point, take the saucepan off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Make sure batter is   smooth and all lumps are whisked away.
  3. Next, in a separate bowl, beat together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla extract and then pour into the stout batter. 
  4. Finally whisk in the flour and bicarbonate of soda.
  5. Fill 2/3 of the cupcake liners with the batter. As the batter is quite runny, a handy way of pouring the batter into liners would be to fill a measuring jug with the batter then filling the cupcake cups.
  6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at  180°C  for about 20-22 minutes
Frosting


Ingredients 


300g cream cheese
150g icing sugar, sieved
125ml double/whipping cream
*feel free to add food colouring, or other flavours such as Baileys or drops of whiskey.

Method

  1. Whip the cream cheese until smooth, then add the icing sugar. A little at a time, until your preferred sweetness is acquired.
  2. Add the double/whipping cream and any additional flavouring/colour and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency.
  3. Spread frosting generously on cooled cupcakes and enjoy!