Luck of the Irish Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

I took this recipe and skipped the Bailey’s Cream Cheese frosting (as divine and celebratory as it sounded) and instead used leftover Dulce de Leche frosting I had from this recipe. Because really, who doesn’t love chocolate and caramel? I thought about making green frosting, but I figured these beauties topped with gold wrapped chocolate coins would make them festive enough for St. Paddy’s Day!


Chocolate Guinness Cake
haute apple pie

1 cup butter
1 cup Guinness
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
About 1 cup of Bailey’s to drizzle on top of the cooked cake.

Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces room temperature cream cheese
2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
5-6 Tbsp Bailey’s Irish Cream

or Dulce de Leche frosting
Joy the Baker

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and allow it to cool slightly. Then, mix in the Guinness and cocoa powder. Set aside.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

In a third bowl, mix the eggs and sour cream.

Slowly mix the Guinness mixture into the egg mixture. Then, add the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Pour the batter into a well buttered spring form pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for at least 20 minutes, remove from the pan and place on a cake plate.

Poke holes all over the top of the cake with a fork. Slowly spoon 1 cup of Bailey’s over the cake.

Next, make the Irish Cream frosting by creaming the cream cheese and confectioners sugar. Add the Bailey’s a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Frost your cake.

OR, make the caramel frosting: Place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until very soft and pliable. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter and dulce de leche. Beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Stop the mixer and add the salt and powdered sugar. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and lighter in color. Generously spoon frosting on top of cupcakes, or use a large frosting tip to pipe on frosting.

For garnish, heat a few spoonfuls of dulce de leche over a low flame until just pourable. Then drizzle it over the cupcakes and top with a few sprinkles (or gold coins). Add a few sprinkles of fine sea salt if you’re feeling fancy.

*I made cupcakes instead, so I baked them for about 20 minutes at 350. I also threw a few handfuls of milk chocolate chips into the batter.

Cupcake Cuteness

When I first saw these owl cupcakes on La Bella Cook, I knew they’d be the perfect dessert for Missy’s owl themed baby shower. And since I’d never really have any other excuse to make them I was going to run with it. I love to cook and bake, but decorating has never been my forte, so even for something this simple, I figured I’d better do a test run. I ended up with lots of broken cookies, but at the end of the day they weren’t too hard to make and turned out super cute. And our friends who were over for dinner appropriately oohed and ahhed, giving me the confidence I needed to know these would pass for the shower.

For the owls, you’ll need:
• Cupcakes (black bottom cupcake recipe below)
• Double stuffed Oreos (for the eyes and ears)
• Chocolate Frosting
• Banana Runts (for the nose)
• Junior Mints (for the eyes)
• Small tube of white frosting
See how to make them on La Bella Cook


So back to the baby shower. It turned out it was giraffe themed, so Hillary found these for me and without doing a test run I made them and crossed my fingers they’d survive the car ride to the baby shower. I lost a few ears on the trip over, but other than that they made it and they were actually easier to make than the owls (because it’s challenging for me to cut Oreos in half w/o breaking them). But Curtis did inform me he liked the owls much better, so we’ll pull the owls out again when it’s time for Rachel’s baby shower.

For the giraffes, you’ll need:
• Cupcakes
• White frosting (I used cream cheese frosting)
• Chocolate frosting
• Small tube of brown or black frosting
• Nutter Butters (for the head)
• Vanilla Wafer cookies (for the neck)
• Black licorice (for the mane)
• Candy Corn (for the ears)
• Reese’s Pieces
See how to make them at Kevin Menzie

And as long we’re on the cupcake theme, my friend Megan made beach themed cupcakes a couple of weeks ago for a baby shower she was hosting.

For beach cupcakes, you’ll need:
• Cupcakes
• Blue frosting (for the water)
• Nilla Wafers (for the sand)
• Small toothpick beach umbrellas (the kind you use for cocktails)
See how to make them at Megan My Day.

With all these cute cupcakes, I think I may invest in a cupcake tower!

Black bottom Cupcakes

Make regular chocolate cupcakes either from a box or using your favorite chocolate cake recipe. If you’re going to make them from scratch, I’d recommend Hillary’s Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe.

Fill the cupcake papers 2/3 full.

Cream Cheese Filling:
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
A handful of chocolate chips

Beat the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Put a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture on top of each chocolate cupcake.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.