Bonfire Cupcakes Recipes
Bonfire Cupcakes Recipes
My husband loves sweet things but isn’t HUGE on cake. Like, he can take it or leave it most of the time preferring a lemon slice or just a bar of chocolate so I expect him to have a cupcake or two when I bake them but know that he won’t devour them. Usually. Until these Bonfire Cupcakes. I think he loved them so much for two reasons; one the icing isn’t overly sweet because it’s a marshmallow meringue and two the cupcakes are INCREDIBLY moist from the strangest ingredient I’ve ever baked with which was Guinness Stout. I know, right? I thought wow that’s going to make them taste awfully strong. And alcoholic. But it didn’t. They were incredibly rich and a really, really dark batter – almost black. And this recipe makes 30 cupcakes so you can have some and share some!
The piping was super easy – lay out your three colours on some cling wrap side by side first, THEN pop them into a bag and they swirl together to create this fire effect. Super cool.
Cupcakes
250ml Guinness stout
250g unsalted butter
70g cocoa powder
400g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
140ml sour cream
225g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
Meringue Icing
3 large egg whites
260g caster sugar
7 tbsp. golden syrup
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract
red, yellow & red food colouring paste or gel
Cupcakes: Pre-heat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced/350F. Line 2 x 12 hole muffin trays with paper cases.
Melt the butter with the Guinness in a medium saucepan over low heat (don’t let it boil).
Add the cocoa powder and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Beat the eggs, vanilla and sour cream together until smooth, then add the flour and baking soda and stir to combine. Gradually pour in the stout mixture while whisking (or use an electric mixer on low speed) until thoroughly combined. Use an ice cream scoop or pour from a jug dividing amongst the cases (you will have enough left over for another 6).
Bake for 20 minutes or until they spring back when gently touched.
Cool in the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Icing: Mix the egg whites, sugar, golden syrup, cream of tartar and vanilla together in a large heat-proof bowl and place over a simmering pan of water without letting the bottom of the bowl touch the water and use an electric hand whisk (or ordinary whisk) and beat until the sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form.
My arms got bloody tired after about 8 minutes of this so I transferred the whole bowl to my stand mixer and beat the hell out of it for about another 5-6 minutes. It should be super stiff and sticky.
Divide the icing into 3 separate bowls and add enough food colour to get the desired shades of flames; yellow, orange and red.
I actually had to use a fair bit and I would not recommend the watery stuff from the supermarket or you will make your icing lose its’ stiffness and won’t get the colour you’re after.
Lay a piece of cling film out on the bench and spoon about half the mixture in rows alongside each other.
Roll up tightly and twist the ends tight.
Cut one end off and put into a piping bag with a 1cm star nozzle and pipe flames all over the cooled cupcakes.
Ingredients
- Cupcakes
- 250ml Guinness stout
- 250g unsalted butter
- 70g cocoa powder
- 400g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 140ml sour cream
- 225g plain flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
- Meringue Icing
- 3 large egg whites
- 260g caster sugar
- 7 tbsp. golden syrup
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- red, yellow & red food colouring paste or gel
Instructions
- Cupcakes: Pre-heat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced/350F. Line 2 x 12 hole muffin trays with paper cases.
- Melt the butter with the Guinness in a medium saucepan over low heat (don't let it boil). Add the cocoa powder and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Beat the eggs, vanilla and sour cream together until smooth, then add the flour and baking soda and stir to combine. Gradually pour in the stout mixture while whisking (or use an electric mixer on low speed) until thoroughly combined. Use an ice cream scoop or pour from a jug dividing amongst the cases (you will have enough left over for another 6). Bake for 20 minutes or until they spring back when gently touched.
- Cool in the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Icing: Mix the egg whites sugar, golden syrup, cream of tartar and vanilla together in a large heat-proof bowl and place over a simmering pan of water without letting the bottom of the bowl touch the water and use an electric hand whisk (or ordinary whisk) and beat until the sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. My arms got bloody tired after about 8 minutes of this so I transferred the whole bowl to my stand mixer and beat the hell out of it for about another 5-6 minutes. It should be super stiff and sticky.
- Divide the icing into 3 separate bowls and add enough food colour to get the desired shades of flames; yellow, orange and red. I actually had to use a fair bit and I would not recommend the watery stuff from the supermarket or you will make your icing lose its' stiffness and won't get the colour you're after.
- Lay a piece of cling film out on the bench and spoon about half the mixture in rows alongside each other. Roll up tightly and twist the ends tight. Cut one end off and put into a piping bag with a 1cm star nozzle and pipe flames all over the cooled cupcakes.
Carolyn Murphy
Carolyn Murphy is a married mother of three and regularly provides us with recipes and strange but true stories about her life. When she’s not here, she can also be found on her website pinkpostitnote.com where all her other recipes are located!
