So much for the attempt to revitalize myself from hibernation mode. I don’t know if I’m the only one who felt this way, but February sure was rough. It wasn’t because of any specific personal difficulty — I just found myself struck with a rotten case of that most Februaryish of moods: general malaise. And it seems to have taken nearly all of March to recover…which isn’t so bad, really, since that’s the month when spring officially comes to town and birthdays of friends and family start appearing on the calendar. If March ever fails to get me back on my feet again, I’ll know it’s time to think about moving South.
So I made these chocolate Guinness cupcakes, not for St. Paddy’s day, but for a tipply colleague who requested Guinness cake for her birthday. They don’t taste alcoholic at all; the Guinness just contributes a bit of maltiness and depth. You can use any stout, of course, not just Guinness, but since I don’t usually keep beer in the house, I stopped at a bar on the way home to get a can. Let me issue a warning that going up to a bar and ordering one can of Guinness to go might have some unintended consequences, such as the bartender looking at you sympathetically and asking “Just one can? To go? Are you having a good day, sweetie?” Good grief. Maybe I should have told him it was for my “secret experiment”.
Anyway, although there are several recipes for Guinness cake out there, I decided to use Nigella’s recipe. It seemed to be one of the most popular of the bunch, with the added bonus of an honest-to-goodness pastry chef endorsement: Shuna of Eggbeater wrote about it earlier this month. She’s spot on when she says that the cake is incredibly moist and sticky, not to mention having one of the easiest preparation methods ever. They were a big hit with everyone. I love these cupcakes with their tangy cream cheese frosting, but I bet they’d look pretty slick with a shiny chocolate glaze, too.