Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm back!! Finally!! Sorry it's been so long, but I'm back and with two new things! :) I have to admit, this apartment kitchen is horrible. Absolutely NO counter space and the oven is old and not what I'm used to. But I'm learning to deal with it. Anyway, I'm splitting these up into two posts to make things easier.

First up are the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes. I made these for a friend's Labor Day cookout. He loves Guinness, so Matt and I thought these would be perfect for him. For those who aren't familiar, Guinness is a type of really dark beer, also known as a "stout." It has a very malty flavor. If you're really trying to imagine this flavor in your head, go with chocolaty/coffee notes. Anyway, it's a good beer. Not some red-neck light beer. Either way, these cupcakes taste nothing like beer at all. As one blog I read explained it, they taste like chocolate... but different. That's a perfect way to put it.

From what Matt says, it's really all about the malt in the beer that helps the cupcakes stay so moist--and they are very moist!! These were soooo good! I used a chocolate cream cheese icing on them and boy were they a hit. EVERYONE loved these cupcakes!! And they were insanely easy to make, too. Even in my kitchen! I definitely recommend that you try them out. Enjoy the pictures!

Without Icing
With Icing

Sorry, I don't have the best pictures of these, but trust me-they were amazing! I used Nigella Lawson's recipe which I found here for the cupcakes and I used a simple chocolate cream cheese icing which was just 8oz cream cheese, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder all mixed together with my trusty hand mixer. Super easy!