Goodbye and good luck

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

My baking craze started a couple years ago with this Chocolate Guinness Cupcake and Whisky Buttercream recipe. My cousin found it on a food blog one summer when I was visiting her and my family in Massachusetts. After that, it became my go-to cupcake recipe.

My friend Lindsey was home on leave from the Coast Guard for a couple of weeks and requested baked goods. I thought this would be the perfect time to pull out this classic recipe.

Right before I pulled the cupcakes out of the oven, I realized that I forgot an ingredient: baking soda.
Forgetting the baking soda was not a vital error. It did not change the flavor of the cake, but it did prevent them from rising. The omission of the baking soda made an already dense cake even heavier.

But that’s not all. I started to worry that these cupcakes wouldn’t happen when halfway through mixing the frosting my electric hand-held mixer started seizing. With the noises that it was making and the sputtering of the whisks, I thought for sure it was going to explode.

To avoid a kitchen disaster, I put the mixer down and finished the icing with a hand-held whisk. Talk about a workout.

Despite the minor complications, the cupcakes were a success and the perfect sweet treat to fatten my friend up before she left for her new station: Anchorage, Alaska.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes
(makes 24)

What you need:
2 cups flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 bottle Guinness
½ cup sour cream
¾ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt

What to do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add in sugars and whip until well combined.

Add one egg, beat until fully mixed and fluffy. Add second egg and vanilla, repeat. Add sour cream and beat well. Add cocoa powder, salt and baking soda, beat well. Add 1/3 of the flour, beat well. Add 1/3 of the Guinness, beat well.

Repeat step until the batter is free of streaks and well mixed. Fill cupcake liners with 3/4 of the batter. Bake for 17-20 minutes.

Whisky Buttercream Frosting
What you need:
2 sticks butter
5-7 cups powdered sugar
6-8 tablespoons whisky

What to do:
Whip butter until fluffy. Sift in powdered sugar cup by cup, whipping thoroughly in between each addition.
Add whisky near the end for flavor.