There once was a dry stout called Guinness,
In des-per-ate need of a misses.
He searched high and low,
and what do you know,
Miss Cho-co-late yearned for his kisses!

Who doesn’t enjoy a little limerick writing now and again?

I absolutely love St. Patrick’s day. Probably because of my unhealthy obsession with green (which has died down a bit, thankfully). My typical St. Patrick’s day outfit would be: green fleece, green puffy vest, green corduroys, these weird green leprechaun-type shoes, green fingernails with the letters G-R-E-E-N written on each nail… it got pretty intense.

I wore a green shirt this year.

… and back to the ingredient.

I wanted to play up the chocolatey undertones of this dark brew, so I searched for Guinness/chocolate cake recipes.  At long last I found the perfect one: the brilliant Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen’s Car Bomb Cupcake recipe. So here it is (with a few modifications):

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Guinness
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/3 cup sour cream

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease a mini muffin pan and insert mini muffin cups.

Combine the Guinness and butter in a small saucepan. Melt the butter over low heat, then add the cocoa powder and whisk to combine.

In a seperate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the egg and sour cream. Then slowly add the Guinness/chocolate mixture.

On low speed add the dry ingredients, and mix just until incorporated.

Spoon the batter carefully into the muffin cups, so that each is about 3/4 of the way full (I overfilled mine… oh well).

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

While they are cooling, make the frosting (my favorite part)

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 “nip” Baileys (about 3-4 tbsp)

Put the butter in to an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. Mix on high speed until it is very light and fluffy. SLOWLY (about one tablespoon at a time) add the confectioners sugar until the frosting looks thick and spreadable. Then slowly add the Baileys and mix until combined.

Frost and enjoy!! Here they are surrounding their mother ship: