The Second Best Use for Guinness
So Saint Patrick's Day is over. You're probably pretty tired of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and soda bread - and you're likely also tired of seeing recipes containing them.
But you know, there's one Saint Patrick's Day staple no one ever seems to get tired of. Guinness. And if you've already had your fill of Guinness for a while, but still have a couple bottles left in the fridge, there's only one thing left to do with them.
Bake.
That's probably not what you were thinking, but that's okay. We've got you covered.
Double Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes, anyone?
Ingredients:
1 ~15 ounce box chocolate cake mix (every brand is a little different; just try to stay in the 15 ounce ballpark)
1 4 ounce package chocolate pudding mix
1 11.25 ounce bottle Guinness Stout
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Tools:
Mixing bowl, mixer or whisk, measuring cups, sauce pan, spoon, cupcake pan, cupcake liners
Instructions:
Grab a bottle opener and crack open that bottle Guinness. Take a taste. No, seriously, you really should taste it. You do not want to ruin an entire batch of chocolate cupcakes with skunked beer. That's just disappointing.
Pour your Guinness into a sauce pan. We know, it seems like a bunch of extra work and an extra pan to clean. But the result is worth it. Turn the burner on medium-low and let the Guinness simmer. It will smell strongly like a brewery in the kitchen; you might consider opening a window to keep the family from complaining. It will also foam and threaten to make a great big mess, but this is normal. Give it a gentle stir to break up the foam and keep it from boiling over. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes or so - your goal here is to reduce the Guinness down to about 1 cup. You started with not quite 12 ounces, so you have only a little ways to go here. Don't worry too much about the measurement until you can see a visible difference from your starting point in the pan.
Once you can see a difference between the amount of beer you started with and the amount of (reduced) beer you now have, remove it from the heat and allow it to come back to something around room temperature. Please do not immediately pour boiling hot beer into a measuring cup - it may crack or shatter the cup, and it will likely waste the Guinness. Both of these are terrible things.
While you're waiting for your Guinness to cool back down, start the oven preheating to 350 degrees.
Pour your cake mix and your pudding mix into your mixing bowl. Add in your vanilla extract, oil or melted butter and your eggs. (If you're using butter and you've just melted it, please also allow it to come back up a little closer to room temperature before pouring it in with the eggs. Otherwise the butter will scramble the eggs and you’ll have to start over.) You can give it a little stir at this point, but don't expect it to combine neatly or fully. There isn't near enough liquid, and we've added extra dry ingredients with the pudding mix.
Take your cupcake pan and place a liner in each of the wells. You'll make a little over a dozen large cupcakes with the amount of batter you'll have. We ended up with 14 and a half (because we lost some batter in transfer from the bowl to the pan) generous sized cupcakes - plan on 15 or 16.
By now, your Guinness should be back down to a more workable temperature. Measure out one cup of your reduced beer. If you have extra, that's okay - just set it aside and use it later to braise or baste some meats. If you've reduced it down further than needed and don't quite have a full cup, that's okay too - you can add a little water back.
Add your cup of Guinness to the other cake ingredients and stir well for about two minutes. If you're using an electric mixer, be aware that the batter will climb up the beaters while you mix. It's a very heavy batter for a cake, and it's also rather sticky - both of these are results of adding in that box of pudding mix. If you're worried about the batter hitting the body of the mixer, just pause and scrape it back down once in a while.
Be attentive and be careful not to over mix the batter - if you mix too long, it will go from thick and fluffy to dense and flat and chewy - and no one wants cupcakes that bounce. Mix until everything is combined, but quit when you stop seeing lumps or variations in color.
Transfer your batter from the mixing bowl to your cupcake liners. Again, this is some sticky stuff. You will likely find yourself needing an extra spoon to make it let go of the first one, and you might want to recruit someone else as extra hands if possible. Those cupcake liners, despite the blob of batter that should hold them down, will attempt to follow the spoon at least once. That's how we lost a cupcake worth of batter - the liner decided gravity wasn't going to hold it back, and suddenly the batter was on the counter and not in the cupcake pan. It was a mournful moment for all - especially the family dogs, who usually get the things that escape pans and plates, but were denied this time.
Once you have your cupcakes liners about 2/3rds full, pop them in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Toothpick test after 20 minutes to make sure they're done (sometimes they need an extra minute or two), and assuming they're fully baked, allow them to cool.
The beer flavor doesn't take over the cupcake, so expect a mostly chocolate flavor with some malty tones to back it up. Frost with whatever you'd like (we like just some simple whipped cream on top) and enjoy!
If you do decide to make this, or something similar, let us know over on our Facebook! We’d love to see what you get up to!
And if you’re in Dallas, and any of your appliances are acting a little... tipsy... don't blame the Guinness. Or the fumes. You cooked most of the alcohol out of it. Instead, give us a call - we'll shape them back up for you. You can reach us at our website or via ((214) 599-0055).