Chocolate-Guinness Mini Cupcakes
 
Yield: 24 mini cupcakes • Preparation: 20 minutes • Cook: 5 minutes • Bake: 10 minutes
Ingredients
  • ½ cup Guinness beer
  • ¼ cup salted butter
  • 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ⅓ cup sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 recipe Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)
  • Garnish: green cake sprinkles*
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Spray a 24-well mini muffin pan† with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Set aside.
  3. In a medium saucepan, combine beer and butter over low heat, stirring just until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add sugar, stirring well. Set aside.
  4. In a small bowl, combine egg, sour cream, and vanilla extract, stirring just until blended. Add to beer mixture, stirring to incorporate. Set aside.
  5. In another small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, whisking well. Add flour mixture to liquid mixture, stirring just until incorporated and fairly smooth. (Some lumps may remain.) Fill wells of prepared muffin pan three-fourths full.
  6. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean, 10 to 11 minutes.
  7. Immediately remove cupcakes from pan. Let cool completely on wire racks.
  8. Place Chocolate Buttercream Frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large open-star tip, and pipe decorative swirls onto tops of cupcakes.
  9. Garnish with cake sprinkles, if desired.
  10. Store cupcakes covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Notes
*For testing purposes, we used Wilton Green Cake Sparkles, <a href="http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E319C7D-475A-BAC0-5249F492C8C63C06&killnav=1" target="blank_">wilton.com</a>.
†We used a <a href="http://www.calphalon.com/en-US/calphalon-signature-nonstick-bakeware-24-cup-mini-muffin-pan-ca-2000633" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Calphalon Signature Nonstick Bakeware 24 Cup Mini Muffin Pan</a>. Wells have a 3-tablespoon capacity, which is a bit more than that of other brands. Using another brand may result in leftover batter.
Recipe by TeaTime Magazine at https://teatimemagazine.com/chocolate-guinness-mini-cupcakes-recipe/