I’m not sure what inspired me to make car bomb cupcakes in the first place, but I’ve been making them for years now. They are named after the drink thought to have been invented in 1979 at Wilson’s Saloon in Norwich, Connecticut and feature Irish stout, Irish cream and Irish whiskey. How could you go wrong with that?
My one reservation the first time I made car bomb cupcakes was the chocolate and stout cupcake batter. I’m not a huge fan of Irish stout so I wasn’t sure it was going to be a good mix but, let me tell you, I was wrong. So wrong. I could eat these cupcakes (without ganache or frosting) all day long – and have.
The original recipe I used was from Smitten Kitchen, but I’ve changed it up a tiny bit over time – mostly because I hate filling the cupcakes so I ended up piping the ganache out on a cookie sheet, cooling it, and dropping it into the un-baked cupcakes like lava cakes. It’s even better that way, in my opinion. And there’s no wasting that chunk out of each precious chocolate stout cupcake.
Want to try them? Here’s my version of the original recipe.
Ingredients
- 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp butter, room temperature
- 2 tsp Irish whiskey
- 1 cup Irish stout
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 6-8 cups powdered sugar
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 6-8 tbsp Irish cream
Instructions
- Heat cream until simmering.
- Add chocolate chips and stir until melted/mixed.
- Add butter and whiskey, combine well.
- Allow to cool then spoon into a piping bag.
- Place in refrigerator until slightly firm.
- Pipe into quarter-sized dollops on a lined cookie sheet.
- Return to refrigerator until firm.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Melt butter in medium saucepan.
- Add stout and cocoa powder.
- Set aside.
- Sift remaining dry ingredients together.
- Beat eggs and sour cream.
- Add chocolate and stout mixture.
- Add dry ingredients about a cup at a time until just mixed.
- Fill lined cupcake tins about 2/3 of the way with batter.
- Add one piped dollop of ganache to each.
- Bake about 17 minutes or until toothpick inserted in outer edge of cake comes out clean.
- Cool completely before frosting.
- Beat butter in stand mixer until just fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar a few tablespoons at a time, beating well each time.
- Add Irish cream at the very end to finish.
- Pipe frosting onto cupcake liberally.
This car bomb cupcakes recipe, by the way, is a lot less scary than it looks so definitely don’t be afraid to try it. I promise they’re worth it!!
Jessica Ferrara
On Facebook
Powered by Facebook Comments
I’ve never had Irish Whiskey…. Is there something that I could substitute?
Jackie recently posted…Beyond the Pasta ~ A book review
You could just leave it out probably. If you don’t want to buy a giant bottle, you can always get those tiny ones from the liquor store. That’s what I use.