Make Your Cupcakes Bold And Flavorful With A Guinness-Infused Twist

Cupcakes are often thought of as the item that graces the table at children's birthday parties and celebrations. But, that doesn't mean adults can't have fun with this mini version of a cake, too. Indeed, you can incorporate adult ingredients and beverages into cupcakes, including Guinness. There are two parts of the cupcake where you can add your favorite stout: The cake and the frosting.

Adding it directly into the batter will infuse the alcohol into your cake — in turn giving it a bubbly rise and imparting a subtle malty flavor (people infuse seltzer and soda into cakes all the time, so it's not far off to think that you can use Guinness instead). If you add your Guinness to the batter, you'll want to combine all the wet ingredients with it; and you may have to alter the ratio of other ingredients so your cupcake batter doesn't turn out too wet. You'll also need to work quickly, as Guinness doesn't stay fizzy forever. 

Or, you can add the stout to your frosting. We'd recommend making a cream cheese frosting and adding a little splash of the malty liquid to the mixture. The tangy cream cheese will complement the flavor of the Guinness and not make it overwhelmingly sweet.

We wouldn't recommend doubling up on the Guinness and doing a double layer of Guinness cake and Guinness frosting. Instead, find a complementary flavor pairing to go with your cake and your icing. For one, espresso and stout is an excellent pairing. You can try infusing some instant espresso powder or coffee granules into the mixture to give it a subtle coffee flavor. You could also add a drizzle of chocolate ganache on top; the deep chocolate flavor will complement the espresso frosting and the Guinness cake quite well. Another unexpected pairing? Peanut butter. Try a peanut butter frosting atop a Guinness cupcake base for a decadent duo. 

It's important to note that baking the cupcakes into your batter will only remove some — not all — of the booze. Depending on how long you bake the cupcakes, they may still retain between 25% and 40% of the alcohol content. If you want an increased boozy twist, add your stout to the frosting, since the alcohol doesn't have any chance to cook off. Or, just serve each with a cupcake pipette filled with the alcohol to up the ante.