With St. Patrick's Day coming up and my frisbee tournament this weekend, I have beer on the brain. However, as much fun as it is to drink it, beer also makes for awesome flavor in food. From Cheddar Pumpkin Beer Soup, to chili, to dessert, beer makes most things better. This time it's in cupcakes.
A Black and Tan is a favorite in my group of friends, so I figured I'd attempt to make the stratified look while also using the Guinness' and pale ale's signature flavors. This makes them a little more labor intensive than most cupcakes, but trust me, the flavors and the look will have your friends and tastebuds talking about as much as I do when I drink one too many.
Black and Tan Cupcakes
Makes about 48 cupcakes.
Ingredients:
For the "Tan" part:
3/4 cups of butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups of sugar
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of pale ale like Bass
1/4 cup of milk
For the "Black" part:
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled (must be cooled so as not to solidify in Guiness)
1 Tblsp of vanilla extract
1 bottle (12 oz) of Guinness stout beer, room temperature (must be room temp, see above)
3 large eggs
3/4 cups of sour cream
For the topping:
2-3 containers of vanilla frosting
1 jar of caramel topping
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Start with "Tan" part:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.
In yet another bowl, combine the milk and beer. Add this to the butter and sugar mixture alternating with the flour mixture. End with last part of flour mixture.
Place two to three dollops of batter into cupcake liners. This batter will rise much more than the Guinness batter, so only fill it about 1/4 of the way.
Bake until just set. About 8-10 minutes. You don't want to fully cook these because they will finish cooking with the Guinness batter.
Once baked enough, place in freezer for about 30 minutes. This will help to make sure the batter doesn't get dried out when baked again and is what makes the stratified look of the Black and Tan.
In the meantime, for the "Black" part:
In a medium bowl, mix together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and vanilla. Slowly add in the Guinness while stirring. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add in the sour cream and combine fully.
Slowly add in the flour mixture. Stir just enough to combine.
Once the "Tan" part is done freezing, remove from freezer and fill the cupcake liners with the Guinness batter. Fill to the top since this batter won't rise as much.
Drop the oven temp to 360 degrees.
Bake for 16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate halfway through bake time.
Let cupcakes cool then top with vanilla frosting and drizzle on the caramel.
Special thanks:
Jess from Inquiring Chef for the Guinness recipe and to Erica at Sweet Tooth for her recipe that was adapted slightly for the pale ale cupcake.
