Even though these Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting are perfect to celebrate on St. Patrick’s Day,they’re a delicious treat to enjoy any day of the year.
Stout lends a somewhat caramel undertone in baking and marries really well with chocolate. These chocolate stout cupcakes are topped with an almond Irish Cream frosting and are finished with a light flurry of chocolate shavings. While the alcohol bakes off in the cupcakes, the frosting does have some alcohol in it – if you’d like to avoid it, substitute the volume of vegan Irish cream with a tbsp of your favorite extract and some plant milk to get the consistency you want.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Stout Cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ¼ cups vegan Irish stout
- ½ cup neutral vegetable oil (e.g. avocado, canola, sunflower, etc)
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Irish Cream Frosting:
- 4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 cup vegan butter or non-hydrogenated shortening
- 3-5 tbsp vegan Irish Cream
- vegan semi-sweet chocolate shavings for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together, whisking to blend.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the stout, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract. Add this to the flour mixture and whisk just until combined.
- Fill the paper liners about 2/3 full with the cupcake batter. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with a few cooked crumbs. Cool the bases in the tray for 5 minutes and then transfer each cupcake to a cooling rack. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
For the Irish Cream Frosting:
- In a stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment or with a hand held blender, beat the vegan butter/shortening until smooth, slowly adding in the confectioner's sugar a 1/2 cup at a time, blending well before the next addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in 3 tbsp of the Irish cream and beat for about 3 minutes, adding more Irish cream a tbsp at a time depending on the consistency you like. If it's thinned out too much, the frosting will slouch on the cupcakes. If it gets too thin by mistake, add a couple more tbsp of confectioner's sugar. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Sprinkle with vegan chocolate shavings
Melissa
Friday 21st of January 2022
I followed the recipe almost exactly (just added a bit of almond extract to the frosting alongside the irish cream) and it turned out amazing. Thanks!
Crumbs & Caramel
Tuesday 25th of January 2022
Ooooh I bet the almond extract would be really nice in with the Irish cream! Thanks for taking the time to share! I'm so happy you enjoyed the cupcakes! ~ Bronwyn