Bakeover #3: Chocolate Stout & Black Bottom Cupcakes

Chocolate Stout Cake with Irish Cream Cheese Frosting

When it comes to chocolate, I'm pretty much sure 90% of us will be infatuated by this rich ingredient. From young kids to grown ups, many would indulge in the profound delight of chocolate.

I myself am a chocoholic -a rather picky one too. Dark chocolate makes me happy, and I simply detest white chocolate (which, IMHO, shouldn't even be called 'chocolate' as it doesn't contain any chocolate). Anyway, I love anything (dark) chocolate and wouldn't pass any offer of chocolatey dessert. Especially when they're spiked with alcohol.

Yes, it's no secret that chocolate goes along very very well with alcohol (chocolate martini or chocolate vodka shots, anyone?). So when I stumbled upon a chocolate cake recipe that's spiked with stout, I couldn't resist -naturally.

After browsing around for recipes, I decided the one from Closet Cooking is the one to die for: Chocolate Stout Cake with Irish Cream Cream Cheese Frosting. Guinnes paired with Bailey's, what's not to love? I immediately called out CL to arrange time for this Irish affair.

For our first trial of the recipe, we decided to just use the most available stout on the market, Guinnes. I do think that the Guinnes here is not as good as the imported one, but it will have to do. For the cream cheese, I substituted Bailey's with Whiskey Cream that my bf purchased at Vom Fass (Ion, Singapore), which is thicker and stronger than Bailey's.

The cake turned out very moist, chocolatey, and slightly malty, with no hint of alcohol at all (alcohol vaporized when baked). We slather on the cream cheese frosting and it was a very yummy kick! A real treat for adults.

To keep CL's young daughter away from these adult cupcakes, she suggested we make another batch of cupcake which was more kid-friendly. Again, we consulted The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and settled on the Black Bottom Cupcakes recipe.

These cupcakes were made with chocolate sponge base with a dollop of cheesecake filling, resulting in a rather dense and very rich texture. Chocolate chips were added to make it even more decadent. CL baked some of the batter into mini bite-sized cakes to pack into her daughter's lunchbox (the lil' princess just started school year). It's another piece-of-cake recipe for any novice baker, guaranteed to win kids' and adults' hearts alike.

Black Bottom Cupcakes