Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everybody! Hopefully you have all overcome your hangovers and packed away your green shirts until next year. But if you’re not ready to let go quite yet, here’s a cupcake that you can make any day of the year that will bring a little luck o’ the Irish to you.

This, my friends, is an Irish Car Bomb Cupcake. It’s based on a drink. A drink that requires work, coordination and determination. You start with a 3/4 full pint glass of Guinness and a shot glass full of Bailey’s Irish Cream and Jameson whiskey. You drop the full shot glass in the glass of Guinness and shotgun the whole thing before it has a chance to curdle from the Bailey’s. I’ve never had one of these drinks and don’t ever plan to. For starts, the smell of Guinness is a little too close to feet for me, and the idea of chugging a full glass of beer, cream and whiskey makes my stomach turn.

But holy cow, when you combine those flavors in a cupcake, it’s amazing. Smitten Kitchen seems to have the definitive recipe out on the web, which is what I used to make these cupcakes. And they turned out great. I’ve worked with a few recipes lately where I had less than stellar results, but this recipe was just so perfect.

The cake is chocolate and Guinness. These flavors work so well together. Guinness lends the chocolate such a richness. Once the cupcakes are baked, a ganache consisting of chocolate, heavy cream, butter and two teaspoons of whiskey. You wouldn’t think two teaspoons would lend much flavor, but you get hit in the face with that whiskey as soon as you bite far enough into the cupcake to taste it. And the frosting is butter, powdered sugar and Bailey’s. Delicious.

I found those cute shamrock sprinkles at NY Cake and Baking. I’m pretty sure I’ll still be using those sprinkles on St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes in 2025.