{beercakes} hardywood strawberry

Ok, folks, welcome to my new experiment, phase one, beer cakes!! I am so damn excited about how these turned out that I can hardly contain myself.

I have tons of beer in my fridge, but haven’t had much time to drink it because we have been busy having beer cocktails and chicken salad sandwiches. I knew I wanted to buckle down and work through what was in the fridge when an idea came to me. Why not use some of this beer to make cupcakes?

I have heard of people making cupcakes with Guinness and thought immediately that the Hardywood Strawberry would be an interesting beer to try to bake with.

A quick google search and I found this recipe for Coronoa and Blue Moon cupcakes on Sweet Tooth. I swapped the Blue Moon for Hardywood and made a basic cream cheese butter cream frosting. I tried stuffing a couple of the cupcakes with strawberries, inspired by Brittany’s post from last week on Eating Bird Food.

I completely burnt the first batch and it was such a buzz kill. I tried not to get too discouraged because the top of the cupcake tasted pretty damn good.

I was determined to make it work and round two was a complete success! I had 15 taste tester friends who all agreed they are excellent! (My one friend had no shame in eating three in a row. And she did not get drunk, so no worries if you have to drive somewhere.)

In honor of Virginia Craft Beer month this August, I will be experimenting with a bunch of different Virginia Craft Beers. I will let you know how it goes.

Speak to me: Do you have a favorite Virginia Beer that you think would make a great cupcake?