I wouldn’t normally care about St. Patrick’s Day. Come on, it’s not a statutory holiday, like we could sleep in or skip work. But for some reasons, you will never miss that day. Because of the green, I guess.

Now my son goes to school, he’s started to come home and talk about whatever he has learned from school. The other day, he came home with a piece of green art. A very green Irish man. For St. Patrick’s Day. And he asked to wear something green on that day.

I guess I would have to do something too. Here comes these Guinness cupcakes. I decided to pass the green food, and thought that Guinness was more the ingredient I would go for, stylistically!

Why popcorn? Because we had way too much leftover from a hockey game that we went to. I know people don’t normally take home their leftover popcorn. But only if you don’t know my five-year-old who can be very persistent, especially when it comes to popcorn.

Ingredients (12 regular sized cupcakes):
Guinness Cupcake
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Guinness, room temperature
Chocolate Ganache
100 grams dark chocolate, cut into small chunks
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
Salted Caramel
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon flaked sea salt
Others
4 cups popcorn

Directions:
To prepare cupcake, preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tin or line with muffin liners.
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Crack in the egg, spoon in the sour cream, and pour in the oil and the vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Pour in Guinness, and slowly mix until smooth and liquidy.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups, about halfway full. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely.
To prepare ganache, place the chocolate, heavy cream and corn syrup in a medium heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir the mixture using a wooden spoon until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes.
To prepare the salted caramel, in a heavy saucepan set over low heat, combine sugar and water and heat just until the sugar is dissolved. Add the butter. Let it come to a boil and cook until it reached a golden caramel color.
Remove from the heat and add the cream slowly. Be careful as it will splatter. Whisk to combine and put back on the stove. Let it come to a boil again over low heat and cook 10 to 15 minutes until you reach a nice creamy consistency. Mix in sea salt and let cool slightly.
Mix caramel with the popcorn, stir to make sure all popcorn is coated with caramel. Set aside.
To assemble the cupcakes, spoon and smear a tablespoon of ganache on top of each cupcake. Place a handful of caramel popcorn on top of the ganache. Drizzle remaining ganache on top of the popcorn.