Last year for St. Patrick’s Day, all that I wanted to do was go to a local pub and enjoy an authentic Irish Coffee, and that I did.  While sitting at the bar with HUBS, who was trying one of the many Irish stouts, we noticed a lady at the end of the bar being served a pint and a shot.  The first thought that came to mind was, “Boilermaker”, but it looked different.  Inquiring minds needed to know, so we got nosey with the bartender.

Now, as I’ve stated in several other posts, I’m Irish.  While I don’t know everything about my heritage, I thought that I had a pretty decent handle on the beverage department; however, I was wrong.  What at first I thought to be a Boilermaker, turned out to be an Irish Car Bomb!!!!!  Wow!  With a name like that I felt deeply inclined to stay at least 500 feet back!  Not being as adventurous as I use to be, I remained content with my Irish Coffee, all-the-while wondering about the “bomb”.

St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching, and this means that I have to prepare something festive for the big day!  I had given some serious thought to just fixing the standard dinner of corned-beef, cabbage and Irish soda bread, but something seemed to be missing.  A quick rewind and there I had it ~ the Irish Car Bomb!  Should I give it a whirl, or am I too skittish now that I have more common-sense in my mature years?

While reviewing recipes for the ICB beverage, I caught myself being intrigued with the combination of the ingredients ~

• 3/4 pint Guinness stout (YUM)
• 1/2 shot Bailey’s Irish Cream (Double YUM)
• 1/2 shot Jameson Irish Whiskey (YUM… since it’s mixed with Bailey’s)

Now, if you’re a newbie to the ICB, such as I am, here’s what you do:

First ~ pour the Guinness stout into a pint glass 3/4’s of the way full, and let it settle.

Second ~ prepare the shot glass by layering the bottom with 1/2 shot of Bailey’s and the remaining top half with the Jameson Irish Whiskey.

Now that your stout is settled, drop the shot glass into the Guinness and CHUG!

It’s been said that it tastes like chocolate milk, so for me (who gave up chocolate for Lent) this should be a no-brainer!  It’s not chocolate, but its combination could meet my need!  However, there are several reasons that cause me hesitation~

First off, I have this visual of a quick-moving shot glass careening towards my front teeth, as I down the Guinness.  Cracked teeth and dental work come to mind; this seriously makes me pause.

Secondly, while reading the recipe and watching a youtube video that suggests how to make and drink this concoction, several phrases alarm me:  “when the Bailey’s interacts with the Guinness, it will curdle” and “if not chugged fast enough, it will taste worse“.  Hmmm ~ it will curdle and it will taste worse!?  Alrightee… I get curdling, but the will taste worse…… worse than what???????  There you have it, the vision of cracked teeth and these questionable phrases have me looking further~ for a safer and longer lasting combination of these three fantastic Irish ingredients.

With the luck-of-the-Irish on my side, I found it!  There it was ~ a recipe for cupcakes that includes all three of the Irish ingredients used in the Irish Car Bomb drink.

You see, there are some real perks to this blogging gig, and stumbling upon Deb and her wonderful recipes at Smitten Kitchen is one HUGE perk to me!  It looks as though Deb received some negative comments regarding the name of the cupcake, so she altered it to be more PC, calling it ~ Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes, rather than that of the drink that they were originally named after.  So, whether you call them “Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes”, “Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes”, or “Irish Perfection”…. bottom line…. you will be calling them delicious~

Irish Cupcakes ~ recipe yields 24 cupcakes

The Guinness Cupcakes ~

• 1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into slices
• 3/4  cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-processed preferred)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

Step one:  Preheat your oven to 35o°F.  Place cupcake liners in baking tins; you should prepare 24.  Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to a simmer in a large heavy saucepan over a medium heat, while stirring gently.  Add cocoa powder and gently whisk until the mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and cool gently.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.  Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl, until blended.  Add the stout/chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat until blended thoroughly.  Add the flour mixture gradually, while beating at a slow speed.  With a rubber spatula, fold the batter until it is completely blended.

Divide the batter evenly into the cupcake liners, filling them 2/3’s of the way full.  Bake cupcakes until wooden toothpick or cake tester comes out clean, about 17-18 minutes.  Cool cupcakes in baking pans for about 5 minutes, then gently remove from baking pans and allow to cool completely on cooling rack.  While they are cooling, move onto the ganache.

Ganache Filling ~

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1 – 2 teaspoons Irish Whiskey (optional) I used 2 1/2 and was told it was great!

Step two:  Chop the 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate and place into a heat-proof bowl – set aside. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan until simmering, and then pour it over the chocolate.  Let the mixture sit for one minute and then stir until it becomes smooth.  Add the butter and (whiskey – if you are using it), and stir until blended.

Set aside the ganache so that it may cool.  It will need to cool until thick, yet the texture will need to be soft enough to be piped into the center of the cupcake.  I placed the bowl of ganache in the fridge for 10 minutes, stirred well, and then returned to fridge for further cooling.  Repeat the stirring every 10 minutes, until you are ready to pipe into the cupcake.

Meanwhile, use an apple corer to core the center (about 1 inch in diameter and 2/3’s way down) of the cooled cupcakes.  You will be making a well, but DO NOT cut through to the bottom.  Remove the center of the cupcake.  Now take your cooled ganache and place it into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake up to the top.  I used a cookie press, with the filling tip, to fill the cupcakes and it worked very well.

Upon completing the piping, I covered the cupcakes with wax paper and placed them in the fridge so they would firm up, becoming more dense.  This makes the ganache filling more like a fudge consistency!!!   There’s really no set time, and it doesn’t HAVE to be done, but it was several hours before I got around to the finishing touch, and it worked very well.

Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting ~ the following has been doubled from the original recipe. I like to pipe the frosting high, therefore using these amounts.  If you don’t prefer much frosting, halving the amounts below would be sufficient.

• 6-8 cups confectioners sugar (I used a little less than 2 normal size boxes)
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into slices
• 6-8 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream or (milk, heavy cream, or a combination)  I used 8 TBSP of Bailey’s (very very GOOD)!! 🙂

 

Step three:  You are about done!  Next you will need to whip the butter with an electric mixer; use a stand mixer if you have one, as this process can take awhile.  The butter will need time to become very fluffy, before adding the sugar.  Upon reaching the “fluffy” stage, add the confectioners sugar a few tablespoons at a time.  By adding the sugar slowly, the finished product will be of a smoother consistency.  Gradually add half of your Bailey’s, as this will allow the frosting to continue to blend well.

Continue adding the sugar and the Bailey’s.  When using the amounts that I chose, it worked best to alternate the sugar and the Bailey’s – less time was spent scraping the beater.

Now it’s time to decorate!  Again, I used my cookie press – this time with the fluted-tip.  Due to it being a St. Patricks’s Day treat, I decided to sprinkle a modest amount of green sanding sugar onto each cupcake.

Can’t eat them now, you say?  These cupcakes can be stored in the freezer (extremely well-wrapped) for up to two weeks.  They can also be filled before freezing.  Frost them closest to the time you will be serving them.  ENJOY!

Source of recipe: Smitten Kitchen

If you follow my post, you know that I gave up chocolate for Lent…. really, really bad timing on my part.  I had found this recipe months ago, and had promised/planned to make it, before I made the entire chocolate debacle.  HUBS agreed to be the taste-tester, and he gave a huge thumbs-up!  I will be making these again, very near Easter I presume!

May your St. Patrick’s Day be filled with much love, laughter, life and luck, as well as many moments that allow you to Pause and Smile! 🙂