Triple Irish Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two cupcake tins with foil liners (recipe makes roughly 18 standard size cupcakes). Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together Devil’s Food cake mix, Guinness Stout, eggs and oil until batter is smooth. Fill each cupcake liner with 1/4-1/3 cup batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the cupcake pan and let them cool on a wire rack.

For the whiskey ganache:
In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, combine chocolate chips, cream, butter and whiskey. Stir over heat until chocolate chips and butter have just melted and combined. Do not let it over heat or the chocolate will turn bad. Set aside to cool slightly.

For the Baileys frosting:
In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and shortening. Beat in heavy cream, Irish Cream and vanilla extract until incorporated. Slowly mix in 1 cup at a time of the powdered sugar until all is added in. Beat until smooth. If the frosting is too stiff, add in more cream, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it is about a medium consistency. Place it in a frosting bag with a 1M tip, or a gallon zip-and-seal plastic bag with a small cut made in the bottom corner of the bag (a mock frosting bag). Set aside.

For the final assembly:
When ganache has cooled slightly, spoon it into a pastry bag fitted with a Bismark Tip (#230). Twist bag closed. Place tip about 1/2 way down into the top of each cupcake and fill cupcake with about 1 teaspoon of ganache. Repeat with all cupcakes.

Then pipe the frosting on top in a swirled pattered from the outside inwards, creating a swirled dome. If desired, dust with cocoa powder. Devour.