Chocolate and Guinness Stout cupcakes for St Patrick's Day
This cake is magnificent in its damp blackness. I can't say that you can absolutely taste the stout in it, but there is certainly a resonant, ferrous tang which I happen to love. The best way of describing it is to say that it's like gingerbread without the spices. There is enough sugar a certain understatement here to counter any potential bitterness of the Guinness, and although I've eaten versions of this made up like a chocolate layer cake, stuffed and slathered in a rich chocolate frosting, I think that can take away from its dark majesty. Besides, I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting to echo the pale head that sits on top of a glass of stout. It's unconventional to add cream but it makes it frothier and lighter which I regard as aesthetically and gastronomically desirable. But it is perfectly acceptable to leave the cake un-iced: in fact, it tastes gorgeous plain.
FOR THE CUPCAKES (makes 12 regular sized cupcakes)
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125ml Guinness
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75ml sour cream
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125grams unsalted butter
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1 egg
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1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
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40g unsweetened cocoa
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140grams all-purpose flour
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200grams caster sugar
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1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
FOR THE ICING
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150g Philadelphia cream cheese
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65ml heavy cream
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75grams icing sugar
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Green coloured fondant and shamrock shaped cutter (I just printed an outline of a shamrock, placed it on top of the fondant and traced along it with a sharp, light knife)
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Green sugar crystals
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Silver cachous
Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 180°C, and butter and line a cupcake tin with papers. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter in spoons or slices and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.
Step 2 - Pour the cake batter into a measuring jug-it will make this infinitely easier to pour into the cupcake cups and pour the thick chocolate-y batter into the liners about 3/4 of the way up, it will rise up a little but not too much. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and remove to cool on a rack.
Step 3 - Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sift over the confectioners' sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsifted confectioners' sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.
Step 4 - Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cupcakes so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.
Recipe adapted from _Feast _by Nigella Lawson
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