Paint the Town Black! Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes!! #ToArthur

This Thursday is Arthur Guinness Day and pubs across Ireland have invited massive music names and local artists to come celebrate the man behind the pint and Paint the Town Black. 

Wish I lived in Ireland! ;0) 

I have had my eye on these cupcakes for a while, but whenever I look through Tea With Bea I always decide on a cheesecake! Not sure why that is? There are so many other delicious looking cakes in this book!

My frosting was very liquid-y I am sure I did something wrong…. like put my butter in the microwave to soften it and even though it wasn't melted it was probably too soft!

But it still tastes delicious and I kind like how the cupcakes looked like mini Guinness pints with the foam ya know? I also sorta wish I had made it as a cake instead…ah well there’s always tomorrow!

So here they are Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes!! Enjoy!

Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes:
250 ml/1 cup Guinness stout

250 g/3⁄4 cup black treacle/molasses

11⁄2 teaspoons bicarbonate of/baking soda

280 g/2 cups plain/all-purpose flour

11⁄2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1⁄4 teaspoon ground allspice

1⁄4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1⁄4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves

3 eggs

100 g/1⁄2 cup caster/superfine sugar

100 g/1⁄2 cup dark brown soft sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger

200 ml/3⁄4 cup sunflower oil

chopped crystallized ginger, to decorate
muffin trays, lined with about 24 large cupcake cases

makes 24

Preheat the oven to 170˚C (340˚F) Gas 5.

Put the Guinness and treacle in a tall saucepan (the next step will cause the mixture to bubble up violently and potentially overflow, so choose a very tall pan) and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of/baking soda. Let stand until completely cool.

Put the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves in a bowl and stir until well blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, both sugars and the grated fresh ginger. Gradually add the oil. Add the stout syrup and stir thoroughly.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cupcake cases, filling them four-fifths of the way up (the mixture will not rise that much).

Bake in the preheated oven for 25–35 minutes until they feel springy to the touch. Remove the cupcakes from the muffin tray and let cool on a wire rack.

golden cream cheese icing

225 g/1 cup cream cheese

60 g/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

175 g/11⁄2 cups icing/confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons golden syrup

piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle/tip

To make the golden cream cheese icing, put the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and beat until combined and glossy. Add the icing/confectioners’ sugar and beat until fluffy. Fold in the vanilla extract and golden syrup.

Fill the prepared piping bag with the icing and pipe onto the cupcakes. Top with a couple of pieces of crystallized ginger, to decorate.

Variation: to make into a layer cake instead of cupcakes, spoon the mixture into 2 x 20-cm/8-inch pans or 1 x 25-cm/10-inch pan and bake at 160˚C (315˚F) Gas 4 for 45–55 minutes (for the small pans) or 1 hour 15 minutes (for the large pan).

I’m sharing these on Cupcake Tuesday with Hoosier Homemade! 

You can also find this recipe here.