#10DaysofTailgate: Boston Lager Cupcakes

Today is the last day of #10DaysofTailgate hosted by Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. I wanted to end this event with a dessert, and what tailgating event is complete without beer?!

I chose my husband’s favorite beer to use in a chocolate cupcake.

While I am not a beer drinker, even I enjoyed these cupcakes. The texture of the cake is lighter than your average cupcake. The flavor of the beer comes though, but not in an over powering way. The beer mellows the sugary flavor of a traditional chocolate cupcake and lends an earthiness to the cake.

The suggested frosting for these cupcakes was for a beer buttercream but I wanted to make these a little more family friendly so chose to omit the beer. I also wasn’t convinced that a traditional buttercream was the way to go with these cupcakes. I decided instead to make both vanilla and chocolate buttercream frostings to swirl together and create the look of a glass of foamy beer. At least, that was my intention. Whether or not that image came through to you or not, I’m proud of how these look. (If you’re new to Sew You Think You Can Cook, decorating cakes is one of my weakest skills in the kitchen and would always rely on my creative friend Kate to come rescue me. Now that I am living 750 miles away I’m going to have to learn how to do these things myself!)

Boston Lager Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
1 1/4 C sugar
1/4 C cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 C Boston Lager beer
1/2 C water
1 3/4 C flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Steps:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Mix in the beer and water until smooth.
Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until combined.
Fill lined cupcake trays 3/4 of the way full. Bake 15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cupcakes.
Allow cupcakes to cool before frosting. In a piping bag, place both vanilla buttercream on one side and chocolate buttercream on the other. Pipe over cooled cupcakes, creating a two-toned swirl. (Frosting recipes can be found here.)

*This recipe is modified from David at http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/2010/04/beer_cupcakes_and_beer_milksha.php *