Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

I decided to branch out again this week and bake you something other than a cookie. Guinness chocolate cupcakes anyone? I think that they were a hit by how fast my classmates gobbled them up, and by how my family was eyeing them all weekend.

I chose this recipe in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, as there is nothing more Irish than Guinness Beer.  I also knew that my brothers birthday was approaching (meaning that his birthday is today… Happy Birthday Mike!) and would therefore need some sort of cake to celebrate.

I love celebrating holidays, even if they are controversial ones in the sense that Valentine's Day is a marketing scam, and that St. Patrick’s Day is just an excuse to get drunk. I love these holidays and all the cute things that you can find at the dollar store or bulk barn to theme whatever you bake.

Shamrock sprinkles from Bulk Barn!
 Only $0.79 for a whole bag!

Bulk Barn had cute cupcake liners that were green and covered in shamrocks. Wilton makes them and they usually have many different things to make any occasion great! I baked some in these cups and found that they got all faded and lost their colourfulness once they were out of the oven. It is my goal to find a way to use these without losing their colour.

Other than that, these cupcakes are delicious! I frosted them with just a vanilla buttercream that I dyed green with food colouring, just to enhance the St. Patrick’s Day theme.

I found the recipe on My Baking Addiction, which is a food blog I constantly read because it has amazing recipes that you can be sure are going to turn out great every time! I adapted it a little bit so I have typed my version out for you here. Definitely look at their version and all the other great recipes they have to offer. I just changed the measurement's for you all so you wouldn't need to do any conversions! 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Baking with Brian!

My friend Brian has always had a love for all things citrus. It is safe to say that whenever I need to bribe him, like I did this weekend, a baked good involving citrus is just the right thing to sweeten the deal for him. Brian was on the fence about coming home for the weekend, but when I said he could help me make mini lime cheesecakes it helped him make the right decision.

We do what we usually do at our exciting hang outs; Brian 'helps' me bake, he is an excellent stirrer but he mostly watches, and we watch a movie while munching on whatever we made. I know you're all jealous of how awesome we are and the baked goods we make. He assisted in me making a delicious, incredibly simple no-bake lime cheesecake with raspberry coulis. Sounds fancy right?

You may consider a no-bake cheesecake cheating but... it means no one has to wait hours for it to bake, hours for it to come to room temperature and then hours for it to chill, which is what everyone needs to do to make the traditional style cheesecake. A no-bake cheesecake is great because you can whip one up in 20 minutes, and it only take half an hour to chill before it's ready to serve. It's a great dinner party recipe for sure if you want to show off a bit.

The key to making this cheesecake is folding. You will have one bowl with delicious fresh whipped cream, which needs to be folded into the cream cheese mixture. Here is a short video from yummly explaining the technique.

Now that you know the technique and have the recipe, your creation can look as good as mine.

You can also be this happy while you eat it!

Brian enjoying his cheesecake!