Bailey's Mint Chocolate Chip Cuppy Cakes

Nothing quite welcomes a person to town like desserts and drinks, right?  So, why not combine both (and like it hasn't been done in every other one of my cuppy cakes..)?  Imagine end of winter when the cold still has you in its grips, and you fight it off with a delicious cup of hot cocoa with Bailey's.  Num :)

Bailey's Mint Chocolate Chip Cuppy Cakes
Cuppy Cake Ingredients:
1 1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C butter, softened (Crisco)
1 C sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C Bailey's with 1/2 tsp Peppermint Schnapps
1/4 C milk
2/3 C mini chocolate chips

How To:
1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin tin with liners or grease it up.
2. In small bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. 
3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Add vanilla, then Bailey's and Schnapps.
5. Mix in the flour.
6. Don't forget to add those chocolate chips!
7. Fill muffin tins about 2/3 ful and bake 18 min or until toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:
4 Tbsp butter, softened
2 C powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk or cream
1 tsp Peppermint Schnapps

How To:
1. Mix all together until smooth.
2. Spread a layer on top of each cooled cupcake.

Bitter Chocolate Glaze Ingredients:
2oz unsweetened chocolate
2 Tbsp butter

How To:
1. Melt together chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl in the, who-da-thunk-it, microwave.  Stir every 30 seconds until smooth.
2.  Let cool a few minutes, then transfer to ziplock baggie.
3.  Cut a hole in the corner of the baggie and drizzle over cuppy cakes.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

I found this cake on pinterest.  I had Rumchata frosting in the freezer from a previous cake and decided to use that for the frosting!  The Cake is delicious!  Heavy and tasty!  The frosting adds a ton of flavor!

Chocolate Guinness Cake
The icing on the top of the cake resembles the famously frothy head that sits on top of a pint of stout!

for the cake:
1 cup Guinness
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed or sliced (I used salted)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

for the topping:
11 oz  Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar (icing sugar)
1/2 cup heavy cream (double or whipping cream)

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9 inch springform tin.

Pour the Guinness into a large pot. Add the butter cubes or slices and heat until the butter melts, then whisk in the cocoa and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then pour into the beer and butter mixture. Lastly, whisk in the flour and baking soda. Pour the cake batter into the greased tin and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it’s quite a damp cake.

When the cake is completely cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand to ice it. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the confectioners’ (icing) sugar and then beat them both together. (Alternatively, you can do this in a food processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first, and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.) Add the cream and beat again until it’s a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.