Hear, hear for beer
With a few hours to spare last weekend, I found myself surfing the Internet and stumbled upon a recipe for Chocolate Stout Cupcakes.
Colleague Scott Beveridge mentioned he’d recently baked beer cupcakes to rave reviews simply by using a boxed mix and substituting Samuel Smith Imperial Stout for the water. Best cupcakes ever, he said.
I decided to try it for myself, but used Samuel Adams Imperial Stout instead. After achieving similar results, I set out to see how stout would perform in a scratch recipe.
I adapted Food Network chef Dave Lieberman’s recipe (I swapped Samuel Smith Imperial Stout for the Guinness), and ended up with amazingly moist results.
If you like beer, you’ll love these: The flavor of the beer comes shining through but isn’t too overwhelming. I skipped his frosting recipe and made my own from butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, which complemented the cake quite nicely. A garnish of miniature pretzels provided a nice sweet and salty touch to this beer lovers’ dream.