Oscar Cupcakes! (pics to come)

It has been awhile since I posted but life has been a little to busy for baking.  But I'm back with some delicious cupcakes!

I was invited to a little get together for the Oscars and decided to bring some cupcakes, of course. Now, it was a hard choice on what kind to make but I decided on Stout chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream. They are rich, chocolatey, and delicious! I made this as a full sized cake for my brothers birthday and it worked out really well.

Now I ran into some bumps in the road on this one. First off, I no longer have a car (RIP Frankencar!!) so getting the ingredient was quite an ordeal. I managed to get the chocolate, butter, cream, etc. in one trip in my roommates car (thanks!) but was unable to find Guinness or the Starbucks Via, which are key ingredients. So I was freaking out, trying to figure out what cupcakes I could make now or how I was going to get the ingredients. Luck was on my side and I ended doing a liquor run for a party that night so I got the Guinness. I found the Via the next day at school so all seemed good to go.... I thought.

I made the cupcakes, no problem. Then I went to make the ganache and the cream had expired... on Valentines day... which was over a week ago. So I was stuck with a pan full of expired, chunky, smelly, cream and no car to go get more. So instead of ganache, I made a chocolate shell over the cupcake, not as good but you do what you do.

SOO enough of that heres the recipe!!!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

(adapted from smitten kitchen)

1 cup stout (I used Guinness)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and fill cupcake pan with liners.

2. In a saucepan, bring butter and stout to a a simmer at medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa powder till smooth. (resist the urge to taste the heavenly chocolatey looking mixer, it tastes terrible)

3. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt until well combined. In a separate bowl, with an electric mixture, beat together eggs and sour cream. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and mix until just combined. Add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Hand mix until completely combined.

4. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way with the batter. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan in the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Coffee Buttercream (this may be my favorite frosting I've ever made)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (slightly softened)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 Starbucks Via packet (I'm not a big fan of this stuff but it makes the BEST frosting)

A dash of milk

1. Beat butter for a minute, until soft. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, beating as you go. Stop when frosting is at the desired consistency, you may need a little more or less powdered sugar. Add in the Via packet and continue to beat for 2-3 minutes to fully incorporate the coffee flavor. In the end you may want to add a dash of milk to smooth out the frosting.