What better way to celebrate National Beer Day than with cupcakes that are made WITH beer, am I right? To be 100% honest I wasn’t sure how these were going to turn out. In theory they sounded like a great idea, but I’d never had one before. I’m happy to report that these Shock Top Belgian White Cupcakes are in indeed as delicious as I thought they would be. The beer adds a nice citrusy + hoppy finish to the cupcakes, and the lemon cream cheese frosting rounds out the flavor profile perfectly. But of course – don’t take my word for it. You’ve got to try these yourself – seriously I ate three of them during the photoshoot, that’s how good they are.
Note: The name comes from the type of beer I used, Shock Top Belgian White. Any beer can be substituted in its place, it will just change how the overall flavor turns out. Because of that I’d recommend sticking to something in a citrus/fruit family. There’s an Apple Ginger beer that I’m wanting to try and pair with a cinnamon cream cheese icing + Bud Light Lime cupcakes with salted vanilla icing, so definitely keep your eye out for those recipe as well!
In other words – Beer is just for drinking. It can be used in your cooking and baking to really elevate the flavor profile of whatever you’re working with. Be sure to leave a comment below if you end up trying the cupcakes – I’d love to hear how they turned out for you!
FOR THE CUPCAKES
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room tempearture
- 1-3/4 cup sugar
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 cup Belgian White beer, plus more for brushing on tops
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice + 1/4 tbsp of sugar
FOR THE FROSTING
- 12 oz cream cheese, cold
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 4 cups powdered sugar
FOR THE CUPCAKES
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking power, salt).
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add eggs, beating after each addition, then add the vanilla and zest.
- In a small bowl combine milk, beer, and lemon juice + sugar.
- Alternatively add this mixture and the flour mixture to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed, starting and ending with the flour.
- Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 18 minutes.
- When cupcakes are done, poke holes in the tops of the cupcakes with toothpicks or a fork and brush some beer on each while still warm.
FOR THE ICING
- In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice and zest and gradually add the powdered sugar until well combined. Beat until smooth for about 2 minutes.
- Ice cupcakes as desired.
Disclosure: This post was brought to you by LetsGrabA.Beer, but as always all opinions expressed here within are my own.