Drunken German Chocolate Cupcakes

 I had been thinking about creating a line of recipes using 512 beers, and this was one of the first creations.  A big thanks to Kevin at 512 Brewery for the booze.  I call these cupcakes drunken because they contain 4 different types of alcohol: beer, Irish cream, pecan liquor, and bourbon.  This cupcake recipe went through Plan A to Plan G.  I literally went through an entire 5 lbs of flour in one weekend.  The only thing that didn't change was the cake and the maple bourbon pecan.  The final cupcake is as follows: 512 Cask Pecan Porter Cake filled with coconut, almonds, and Irish Cream topped with chocolate pecan praline liquor butter cream and a maple bourbon pecan.  Here are pictures of various phases of the process.  

I'm still haven't released the recipe yet, and I'm not sure that I will, just yet. Maybe.  

	Final Product

Great American Beer Fest #7: (512) Brewing Pecan Porter Brownies

These brownies made their way to GABF 2009.  They are adapted from a generic brownie recipe I've used, and they are more fudge-like rather than bar or cake-like.  The top and bottom will usually have a soft crust, and the inside is very thick with the texture of truffles.  This brownie recipe freezes well, and goes well with ice cream.  Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/8 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed 1 1/2 cup dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped 4 large eggs, at room temperature 1 cup sugar 1-1/4 cups (10 ounces) Pecan Porter beer or any other stout or porter.  Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 inch pan.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside. Melt butter and chocolate in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to luke warm.  I prefer dark chocolate chips, but you can use milk if you like.  In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined. Beat flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. But it will come together.  Pour into a buttered baking pan, and bake 25 to 30 minutes on center rack in the oven.  The center should be just set, and the outsides will just begin to curl.  Cool completely and chill before serving.

(512) Pecan Porter Chocolate Mousse drizzled with Pecan Praline liquor and a bacon spoon

Makes 8 large (6-8 oz) servings or 16 smaller (3-4 oz) servings

Preparation time: 30 minutes for the mousse, 1 hour for the bacon

Chill time: 6 hours minimum

Ingredients

	2 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream
	5 large egg yolks
	3 tablespoons sugar
	1.5 cups of (512) Pecan Porter or other dark stout beer
	7 oz fine-quality bittersweet or dark chocolate, chopped

Garnishes: adjust if using another type of flavored dark beer

	2 pound maple or plain bacon uncooked. Do not get peppered or spicy bacon.
	1/3 cup Pecan Praline liquor

Equipment:

	Double Boiler
	Instant-read thermometer
	2 Large bowls
	Hand or stand mixer
	long skewers (wooden or metal)
	large baking or roasting pan

Preparation of the Mousse:

Heat 3/4 cup cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot. Whisk together yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined. Whisk slowly so that the eggs do not curdle from the hot cream.  Transfer mixture back to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 160°F on thermometer. It is extremely important to reach at least 160 degrees or else the custard may not set.  Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a glass bowl in a microwave at 50 percent power 3 to 5 minutes), stirring frequently. Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth, then cool. Once it is smooth, add the beer while whisking.  The beer may start to fizz, but just keep whisking. Allow to cool to at least room temperature or colder.

Whisk remaining 1 1/4 cups cream in a bowl with an electric mixer (hand or stand) until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate mixture. I do it by pouring the cooled chocolate mixture into the bowl of whipped cream.  If it is not cool, your whipped cream may cease to be whipped.  This process will be time consuming, but do not stir. You must fold, fold, fold or else you'll lose the air that is in the mousse.  Make sure that you incorporate the liquid at the very bottom of the bowl into the whipped cream or else you will end up with mousse on top and liquid chocolate beer on bottom. 

Spoon mousse into 8 (6-ounce) stemmed glasses or ramekins and chill, covered, at least 6 hours. Mousse will stay edible for about a 10 days refrigerated.  If it gets to room temperature, it may start to loose it's shape, but once refrigerated, it should stiffen up again.

Cooking the bacon:

While there are many different ways to cook bacon, I prefer to use the suspended baking method.  This method renders the fat from the bacon without it sitting in grease.  You want a crunchy bacon strip without grease.  It should be easy for people to handle and to use as a spoon.  I cook mine by cutting the bacon strips in half crosswise so that you end up with many 4-5 inch long pieces of raw bacon.  Run a wooden skewer all the way through one end of all the bacon pieces.  You should have a skewer (if held parallel to the ground) of bacon hanging off.  Leave about 1-1.5 inches between each piece of bacon and make sure they are separated.  If not, they will cook together in one big clump.  Place the skewers between the openings of the oven racks.  Make sure the top rack is at the highest position possible, and make sure the bottom rack is at the lowest position possible.  Place a large baking or roasting pan under the bacon.  If you do not make sure that all the bacon is directly over the pan, you will end up with a nasty, greasy, smokey mess in your oven.  Starting with the cold oven, I turn it up to 350 degrees.  Once the bacon is sizzling at 350, I crank it up to 400 degrees, leave it at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then bring it back down to 350 degrees.  After 20 minutes, I turn the often off completely and allow the bacon to finish cooking and cool in the oven.  It is about 40 minutes of cook time.  I find that cranking the often up to 400 degrees for a short amount of time gets it that crispy stage faster, but doesn't burn it.  Allowing the bacon to cool in the oven ensures that the dogs will not be able to get to it (most dogs anyways), and that all the grease drips off.  The end result will be non-greasy crispy bacon spoons. 

Serving: Mouse should be placed in individual cups (clear plastic or glass makes for a pretty presentation).  Drizzle Pecan Praline liquor over the mousse and serve with a bacon spoon dipped in. 

Garnish adjustments: I chose bacon and pecan praline liqueur for this recipe because 512 Pecan Porter has a dark, rich, nutty aroma.  I would not use this combination for other beers, say perhaps a coffee porter.  I might serve biscotti or Kahlua with a coffee porter mousse.  Other garnishes include peppermint chips, cookies, raw cacao nibs, or fruits.  The possibilities are endless. 

Drunken Lamingtons

Lamingtons are delicious, and have often been described as a "snowball." Lamingtons are a traditional snack (I hear that I'm not supposed to call it a dessert) in Australia, and I had my first at a little bakery in College Station called Patty Cakes. Patty Cakes has since closed. *cry cry cry cry cry* When I found out the news a week ago, I was determined to make my own lamingtons, drunken style. They are yellow sponge cake covered with a chocolate syrup and rolled in coconut. The classic recipe for this is widely available on the internet, so I won't post it here.

My twist on the lamingtons is that I added beer (Shiner Bock for this particular batch) to the cake batter, and (512) Pecan Porter to the chocolate syrup. My recipe is not currently being posted. Here are some pics of how it is done though. All photos by John Knox, so he doesn't sue me.

Beer Cake

Dipping the cake in chocolate syrup

Cake can fall apart easily. Refrigerate quickly to set the syrup.

More Dipping

Finished product!

(512) turns a year old!

New (512) Shirt with John's pic. It kind of looks like a ghost hand to me.

It's an anniversary party, and there's going to be cake! (512) Brewery turns a year old, and they are throwing a party to celebrate on Saturday, August 1st, 2-5 pm. Check out this blog for more deets. http://craftaustin.blogspot.com/2009/07/512-brewing-1st-anniversary.html

I'd like to take a moment and post about (512). If you haven't had their pecan porter, you haven't really lived. This is one of my favorite porters, and I do love my porters. It is dark and has the rich smell of pecans. Smell it. you'll like it.

Many moons ago, my friend Nikki and I were driving to a dog show in Utah when I thought, "Why don't I make a line of recipes based entirely off beer?" I came up with a list of dishes: beer cake, beer pie, beer maple syrup, beer bread, beer pancakes, etc... We got pretty excited, yes, we did. I called John from Utah and instructed him to contact Kevin @512brewing with the idea. John does photography as a hobby for (512). Very soon after, the Drunken German Chocolate Cupcake was created. I also recently made Drunken Lamingtons with the (512) Pecan Porter.

Anyways, go to the party. Grab a shirt. Have some cake. Have some booze. Then head over to Cupcake Smackdown1.0.

Bread in a Can & Who wants cupcakes?

Many moons ago, my friend Jillian gave me bread in a can as she could not longer eat it due to dietary issues. I finally decided to open it and attempt to eat it. It was edible, but um....... well, it's canned bread. It was dense, kind of flavored, but mostly tasted like preservatives. Can't expect much. Pictures below for your viewing pleasure.

I'm also thinking of 3 new cupcake flavors: Reese's, Nerds/Sugar Rush (the name for this is still up in the air), and Latte. I have some ideas so far, and experimenting will start this week. Since John is on sabbatical, I need taste testers. His co-workers are the usual taste testers. If you want some cupcakes this week, holla!

Reese's - 512 Pecan Porter chocolate cake, filled with a Peanut butter cream, topped with whipped cream.

Nerds/Sugar Rush - Sprite vanilla cake laced with Nerds, topped with Pixie stick whipped cream.

Mochachino or some other coffee name - 512 Pecan Porter chocolate cake laced with espresso, filled and topped with a chocolate mocha whipped cream and topped with chocolate covered espresso beans.