November is a big month around here. On November 11th, my husband and I celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary. The next day, we celebrated his 31st birthday. And on November 15th, this blog turns one.
I think celebratory cupcakes are in order, don’t you?
My husband and I are huge craft beer nerds, so it only seemed right to make a cupcake inspired by one of our favorite styles — the imperial stout. For this particular recipe, I used Ballast Point Brewing Company’s Sea Monster Imperial Stout — a seasonal brew with 10% ABV. I chose to top it with a salted caramel frosting because…well…who doesn’t like salted caramel?
Thanks to everyone who has read, commented on, or just swung by my blog. You’ve made this extra fun for me. Cheers.
Imperial Stout Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream (Makes approximately 20 cupcakes)
Cupcake recipe slightly adapted from Scharffen Berger; buttercream recipe from Sprinkle Bakes
What you need:
For the cupcakes:
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup imperial stout
- 3/4 cups buttermilk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt butter, cocoa powder and chocolate, stirring frequently until completely melted. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until well combined. Sir in the stout and buttermilk. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and stir until well mixed. Slowly add the dry ingredients, gently whisking until everything has been combined and no lumps remain.
- Carefully spoon the batter into your prepared cupcake tins, filling each about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
- In a small saucepan, stir together granulated sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook without stirring for approximately five minutes or until the mixture turns a deep amber color. Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until very smooth. Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes. (Note: if the caramel appears runny after adding the cream, that’s okay. It’ll continue to thicken as it cools.)
- Meanwhile, using an electric mixer or KitchenAid, beat butter and salt together until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and slowly add powdered sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Scrape down the side of the bowl and slowly drizzle in the cooled caramel. Beat on medium high speed until light and airy; about two minutes.
- Spoon frosting into a pastry bag loaded with a wide star tip (I used Wilton No. 2110) and slowly pipe onto the cupcake, starting from the outside and working your way in a circular motion into the center.
Fresh & Foodie 
These look great! I’ve done similar cupcakes substituting beer for bourbon. Congrats on your blogiversary!
Thank you!
Holy cow. I want.
Next time we all get together, I promise to make a batch. The buttercream is ridiculous.
oooooh John’s gonna love these! He isn’t into sweets but anything with beer is a good idea for him.
We also heart artisan beer. I don’t know how anyone could reach for a bottle of bud or a can of canadian when there are SO many good and amazing and beautiful beers out there!
PS. In case I don’t see you tomorrow – happy bloggy-birthday!!!!! It’s a BIG deal! Congrats on your commitment and energy and everything that you do with it! XO!
Thank you so much! And I agree about the beer — there’s so many great brews out there to waste time with the widely distributed stuff.
Oh, that sounds delicious! And congratulations on all of the above!
Thank you, Dina.
These cupcakes are epic. EPIC!
Triple congrats..ok and happy belated b-day to your hubs:)) your cupcakes are fantastic looking, perfect treat for celebration!!!!
Uum yeah…I now cannot focus on my work, because all I’m thinking about is this cupcake!
A hearty congratulations on all 3 milestones!!! The cupcakes were most certainly in order. We just had some Ballast Point Stout about a month ago at a farm dinner and my husband has been hooked ever since. Put it in a cupcake and it’s a winner for me!!
Congrats on all of your milestones! I love the way you celebrate with these cupcakes! 🙂
Gorgeous cupcakes, these look so delicious! Love your recipe! 🙂
Yum! Happy Birthday Fresh and Foodie! Would love to be invited to the party if I can eat these cupcakes. 🙂 They look awesome.
WOW! That is incredible! I am drooling right now at my computer!
I just said to my husband that I could go for a cupcake, this post isn’t helping!
Congrats on all your anniversaries – here’s to many more!
Indeed! These celebratory cupcakes look heavenly. Yum yum yum. On congrats on all of your feats!
Ooops… “And” Congrats… 🙂
Congrats on all those wonderful milestones. Definitely worthy of a cupcake! (Then again, waking up in the morning and remembering my own name are also cupcake-worthy events in my books, so my opinion might be a little skewed) 🙂
Anything with salted caramel is automatically awesome, as is anything with beer… which makes these doubly awesome. I might just have to come up with a good excuse to bake cupcakes so I can try a batch of these for myself!
Congrats on all the big anniversaries and birthday this month, so much to celebrate!
Congratulations on reaching two big milestones! Beer plus salted caramel? Oh my! I’ll bet these beauties are a salty-sweet lover’s dream.
Congratulations! Happy Anniversary! And happy B-day to your man! Yeah, I say that all calls for some killer cupcakes and maybe one too many beers 😉
Bobbi! Congrats on your 1st year of blogging! 🙂 So thrilled to have met you — your recipes, words, and photos are super. My eyeballs nearly fell out of their sockets and rolled away when I saw the title to this post (beautiful imagery, no?). You know I’m a huge fan of anything with “stout” in it. Sounds delicious!
This looks yum… Just wondering if you ever use the icing for cake icing (for example making roses using this recipe). Will it hold?
Will try this recipe tomorrow (before year end cupcakes for hubby’s colleagues)….
I haven’t done that myself, but I’m pretty confident that it would hold. Let me know how it turns out! This frosting is soooo good.
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I don’t see the amount of butter that you’re supposed to use in step 2 of the cupcake recipe. Am I completely missing something? Can’t wait to hear back so I can make these amazing looking cupcakes.
GREAT catch! Thank you for brining it to my attention — I’m not sure how I missed it. It’s one stick of unsalted butter. Thank you! I hope you enjoy them.
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