Who's Baking Cupcakes at 2am? - Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Semisweet Chocolate Ganache

I AM!!!! I'm weak, I know. Cupcakes are my weakness. When I see a recipe that appeals to me... I fantasize about making it.. a lot.. maybe even too much.. it gets to the point where it disrupts my productivity. Well, that recipe today was chocolate stout cupcakes and I did buy a 6 pack of Guinness earlier for my Irish stew... perfect! I needed something to nibble on, and well, nibble I did. I ended up eating 6 of these in a day...what can you expect? I had a study day, so all I did was study, and eat....cupcakes! 

These were really good, even the non beer lovers loved it. The beer flavor wasn't really there, I wish it was a little bit more stout. I need to reduce the sugar for this as well. I've been following recipes to a T the first time I try it, and when I know I'll be giving them out to people because many people like it sweet! I actually like to enjoy the flavors and not let it be overpowered by sugar. I don't know if it would replace my favorite chocolate cake recipe, but it's a close second. It had a different texture, moist, with large crumbs. The only problem with this is that even after make in 12 cupcakes, I had a ton of beer leftover.... more for me right? Wrong. I still have finals! Shame on me for wanting to have so many adventures these days. 

I will pair this with the Irish stew I made earlier. I could have used the leftover beer from that recipe instead of opening up another bottle. The recipe was from Bon Appetit's magazine. I actually do subscribe to that magazine! Haven't really made anything yet, the themes have been weird these past few months, and their recipes are a little more involved than what I'm used to, and my pantry isn't as stock as theirs. Recipe: (I did 1/4th of it, and still had 12 cupcakes, used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to fill.. I followed it exactly, but next time, will reduce the sugar by a quarter) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Stout-Cake-107105

It took me awhile to take a decent picture of this. I still find all of the pics blurry...I realized that everything looks deceptively better on an Apple device. It was pretty gloomy outside so the lighting wasn't too ideal in my apartment. I went a little overboard swirling on the cupcakes... just practicing for when I make a large cake with a larger tip... that will be my next project... beautiful rosette buttercreams on a 2 layer cake. Ganache was hard to pipe with though, it was a little too stiff, and the last cupcake I frosted had melted ganache probably because I was squeezing the piping bag too long :( Oh well, live and learn. 2 left... cupcakes and finals... that is. I made these on Monday, don't worry. I've been good, no baking/cooking since!