THE BEST ST. PATRICK DAY CUPCAKES EVER!

So this is one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes ever, from Bon Appetit September 2002. I half the recipe to make cupcakes but you don't have to if you want a huge amount of cupcakes. Halving it will give you 24. The frosting recipe came from a fruitful Google search and showed up on several different websites. Without further ado:

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Mint Buttercream Frosting

Cupcakes-

Ingredients:

2 cups stout

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

4 cups all purpose flour

4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 large eggs

1 1/3 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Bring stout and butter to simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend.

Beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Fold batter until completely combined. Pour into cupcake pan using 1/4 cup scoop. Bake for around 20 min. of until a toothpick stuck into center of cake comes out clean.

Icing- (makes enough for 24)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

4 cups sifter powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

green food coloring to preferred green-ness

Beat butter until creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients until combined and smooth. Add more powdered sugar if needed for proper piping consistency

Pipe icing onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy!