This is the third year in a row that I’ve hosted a Super Bowl party.  And this year, not only is it an excuse for me to wear a sparkly black and gold dress (go Saints!), I am using it as an opportunity to honor the most celebrated drink of all Super Bowl parties: beer.

Yes, Martha stepped up to the plate again (excuse the mixed sports metaphor) with her recipe for Stout Cupcakes.  Although the standard recipe calls for Guinness, I decided to kick it up to pretentious beer snob level and use Southern Tier’s Creme Brulee Stout, which is brewed with vanilla bean.  Beer!  Brewed with vanilla bean!  In cupcake form!  Really now, how can you lose?

With molasses, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the batter, the cake itself came out looking like a bran muffin and tasting reminiscent of a gingerbread cake, only lighter and fluffier in texture.  It’s something your grandmother would probably love if she didn’t know there was beer in it.  But there IS beer in it, both in the cake itself and in the simple confectioners’ sugar glaze.

And the best part is, I got to drink the leftover beer.  Yes, that meant I started drinking at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, but seriously, isn’t that what the Super Bowl is all about?  Oh yeah, football too, I suppose.

Ingredients for cupcakes:

3 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. + 1/8 tsp baking soda

1 3/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. cinnamon (My choice of cinnamon: Saigon cinnamon)

1 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/3 c. oil (I used a combination of vegetable and canola, mainly because the recipe called for vegetable but I had run out)

1 1/4 c. unsulfured molasses

1/2 c. + 1 tbsp. light brown sugar

2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. orange zest

1 1/4 c. (10 oz.) stout beer

Ingredients for glaze:

2 c. confectioners’ sugar

1/4 c. stout beer

Making the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  (Two things to note here: 1.) The recipe says it yields 28 cakes; I got 29 out of it.  Not that that’s a huge difference, but I figured I’d point that out.  And 2.) The cupcake is cakey enough that you can probably turn the cakes into mini cupcakes—just watch the baking time accordingly.)

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix on medium-low speed the oil, molasses, brown sugar, whole eggs & yolks, zest, and stout until combined.  Reduce speed to low; gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined.

Pour batter into paper-lined cups, filling roughly 3/4 full.  Bake for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through baking time.  Remove from oven when cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Turn out the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cakes have cooled completely, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 1/4 c. beer to make glaze, and drizzle over cakes.

Martha says: Unglazed cakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.  Once glazed, keep the cakes at room temperature.  Eat the same day as glazed.