Beer Fudge Cupcakes

Truth be told.  I’ve never enjoyed chocolate cake.  Maybe I’ve never had great ones.  They are always too dry and not fudgy enough for my liking.  When I stumbled on this recipe years ago, I felt like I discovered gold.  Enter the most delicious, moist, cupcakes ever imagined.  And then gasp when you discover the secret ingredient: beer!Yes, this recipe calls for an entire bottle of beer.  You can always vary what kind of beer you use, however I found that a nice dark stout works the best.  You simply stir together all of the ingredients and then pour the beer over it.

If you are worried about the alcohol content in these, indulge me with a little math.  If you want to skip the math, skip the italicized section.  The beer I used was 6% alcohol by volume.  The bottle contained 12 ounces which means that (.06 x 12) 0.72 ounces is alcohol.  This recipe makes 30 cupcakes so that is approximately (0.72 / 30) 0.024 oz in each cupcake unbaked.  However, a recent study done by the US Department of Agriculture  says only 40% of the alcohol remains in this recipe after baking.  That means there is only (0.4 x 0.024) 0.0096 oz of alcohol remaining in each cupcake after baking.

But that’s actually incorrect, because I use vanilla extract in my cream cheese frosting.  Pure vanilla extract is always 35% alcohol.  I use 1 tablespoon in the cream cheese frosting. 1 tablespoon is equal to 1/2 ounce.  So I know there is (0.35 x 0.5) 0.175 ounces of alcohol in the frosting.  Divided between 30 cupcakes means there is 0.0058 oz of alcohol in just the frosting – about the same amount in the cake. 

If you are not worried about the frosting and using vanilla extract, I wouldn’t worry about the beer in the cake.

Back to the beer.  Once you pour in the beer, mix to make sure all the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated  The resulting batter will seem a little runny.  But, that means you have it right.I then use a ladle to fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way through.  Pop these in the oven for the recommended time and test with a toothpick for done-ness.  If you stick in your toothpick and any cake appears on it, put the cupcakes back in the oven for another minute or so and then test again until the toothpick comes out clean.Once baked, slather with homemade cream cheese frosting.

And enjoy!