Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

This Nigella Lawson recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes has long been a favorite! Deep dark chocolate cake is infused with Guinness stout and topped with a tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting. Perfect for Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

There is so much to love about this recipe, from the “damp” cake (as described by Nigella Lawson herself) to the frothy cap of cream cheese icing. You can bake the cake in a 9-inch springform pan or do as I did here and make the recipe into cupcakes. If you do so, know that it makes a lot – which is great when you want to serve a crowd perhaps at a St. Pat’s Day party!

There’s a nice undertone of Guinness here but it’s not at all overpowering. Nor does the cake taste too sweet, despite the two cups of sugar (gulp) called for. This one is a keeper – unique, hard to resist, yet unfussy enough to serve any day of the week as well as at a celebratory event.

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

Nicole Spiridakis

I dearly love this recipe and have been making it for years, sometimes as a cake and sometimes as cupcakes (be warned: this makes a lot of cupcakes). The cake is chocolatey and rich, with a lovely note of Guinness that is there but not overpowering. It is never dry and keeps quite well. And the frosting! Let's just say that cream cheese in frosting is mostly always a good thing.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Irish

Servings 20 cupcakes

Calories 228 kcal

Ingredients

  

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For the Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup Guinness
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ⅔ cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

For the Topping

• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ¼ cup heavy cream

Instructions

 

Make the Cake

• Preheat oven to 350℉. Line two cupcake tins with liners.
• Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, slice up the butter, and add to the beer. Heat over medium heat until the butter melts. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar, then set aside to cool briefly.
• In a large bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla. Pour in the beer, then stir in the flour and baking sodauntil incorporated.
• Divide the batter equally between the cupcake tins (I got about 20 cupcakes), place in the oven, and bake until risen and firm, about 25 minutes, and a tester inserted in a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Make Frosting

• In a large bowl, whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer. Sift the powdered sugar over and beat to incorporate. Then beat in the heavy cream.
• Frost each cupcake. Nigella says: "Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint."

Nutrition

Serving: 1 sliceCalories: 228kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 3gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 149mgPotassium: 85mgFiber: 2gSugar: 26gVitamin A: 260IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 20mgIron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?Let me know in the comments how it went!