Cupcakes don’t always have to be bright, colourful and covered in sprinkles. Not that there isn’t a place for that (because there absolutely is), but I felt there could also be a place for a more muted, masculine appeal and a flavour palette to match.
When thinking about a ‘masculine’ flavour combo to invite curiously and get both the girls AND guys interested, I decided to go bold and bring together this beer and pretzel cupcake. So here it is, a lightly beer and chocolate flavoured cupcake, topped with cream cheese buttercream and a top crammed with salty pretzels. The contrast of flavours and textures need to be added to your bucket list and made for any event where you want to impress a beer or chocolate lover (or simply enjoy yourself)!
What kind of beer should I use?
This is 100% up to your personal preference, and different styles of beer can add unique characteristics. So to keep it easy, I’d suggest giving your favourite brew a try. Also, if you prefer to avoid alcohol, you can opt for non-alcoholic beer.
Will the beer make the cupcake alcoholic?
When cooking or baking with beer, the alcohol evaporates during the baking process, leaving behind the unique flavours and characteristics of the beer. So adding beer to this cupcake won’t leave it alcoholic.
What kind of pretzel should I use?
This preference is up to you as too while hard pretzel snack you’d like to use. You could break up pieces of classic pretzel twists, or personally I like to use the pretzels sticks to give a more jagged appearence.
- 120g Plain Flour
- 40g Cocoa Powder
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 1 ¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 Large Egg
- 130ml Beer
- 120g Butter
- 70g Sour Cream
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 80g Butter – Room Temperature
- 150g Cream Cheese – Room Temperature
- 420g Icing Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Milk
- Pretzels
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Preheat the oven to 170°C bake and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake cases. Set aside.
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In a medium sized saucepan, add in the beer and first measure of butter. Stir on a low heat until melted and combined. Do not boil.
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Remove the saucepan from the heat, then whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar until dissolved. Allow to cool slightly.
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Using a free-standing mixer or hand-held beater, beat together the egg, sour cream and vanilla in a separate bowl until combined.
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Slowly pour the beer and butter mixture in with the egg, while still beating on a low speed. When combined, add in the flour and baking soda and continue to beat until smooth.
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Transfer mixture to a small jug and pour into prepared cupcake cases, filling to about ⅔ full.
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Bake for around 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and cupcakes spring back when touched. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
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For the buttercream, add the butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a free-standing mixer or using a hand-held beater, and beat for about 2-3 minutes until well combined.
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Add the icing sugar in two stages, beating for another 3 minutes between each addition. If the buttercream is still quite firm, beat in small amounts of milk until desired consistency is reached.
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Pipe blobs of buttercream on top of cooled cupcakes and decorated with pretzels. You can either roll the top of the cupcake in a saucer of broken pretzel pieces or spend some time arranging pretzels on top by hand. Enjoy!
Flashback!
The above and below images were the first I had taken of this cupcake and had included them on this recipe since I shared it back in August 2017. Because this was such a unique looking cupcake (and tastes amazing too), I thought it was time to give the recipe a facelift and try and answer some commonly asked questions about this recipe as well. Happy baking!
It looks different, but it looks very good.