I love cooking with beer and there's no exception when it comes to desserts. Of all beers, stout is the perfect one for desserts because of its distinct chocolate and coffee notes. Pairing it with actual chocolate is the obvious choice. These cupcakes are light in texture but heavy in the chocolate department. The white cream cheese icing reminds me of the creamy white head that Guinness is famous for.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for dusting finished cupcakes
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all-purposeflour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch fine salt
- 1 bottle stout beer (recommended: Guinness)
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temperature
- 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.
To make the icing:
In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream. On low speed, slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Icing can be made several hours ahead and kept covered and chilled.
Top each cupcake with a heap of frosting and dust with cocoa.
Photo: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes Recipe

















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By potluckposse
on May 03, 2013
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I did not let the stout go flat and then found out that if the batter has too much air in it before its in the oven, the air escapes, resulting in a batch of collapsed cupcakes. Either that or the sugar/fat to starch ratio was imbalanced... It tasted great though. Surprisingly light for a concave cupcake & the stout favor was definitely prominent. My boyfriend enjoyed them and he hates sweets.
I'm going to try again, maybe with less sour cream.
By eregnier
on April 27, 2013
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I let the stout go flat before i added it to the butter. I suppose you could simmer out the alcohol too
By melanie1227
San Francisco, CA
on April 21, 2013
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These were awesome....but I was surprised to see that not many of the reviews mentioned how difficult it was to blend the beer and butter. Mine completely curdled the first time. I had tried to bring both the melted butter and beer close to room temp but it did not work. The next round I almost "tempered" the butter, adding tablespoons of beer to it at a time. I still saw some bits of solidified butter by the end as mentioned in the review below but just keep on mixing once you add the other ingredients and it all blends together...I bake quite a bit so I was surprised I struggled with this but if anyone has the correct technique for this step please share! In the end they were delicious!
Read all 108 reviews