Sweet Baby Jesus! Cupcakes

We're big craft beer lovers. I feel like we're always on the hunt for a special brew. I love IPAs, but my favorite will always be a dark, heavy porter or stout (black IPAs also hold a special place in my heart!) Most of my friends are winos, but my friend Becca appreciates beer almost as much as I do. So when her birthday came around, I had the perfect idea for her cupcakes: chocolate peanut butter with beer incorporated into the cake. I used a chocolate peanut butter porter called Sweet Baby Jesus! by Duclaw. The brewery boasts that the beer is so good that you will exclaim it's name!

Sweet Baby Jesus! Cupcakes

Source: adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

1 and 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 oz. Sweet Baby Jesus! chocolate peanut butter porter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 paper cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, and set aside. In another bowl, beat together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and beer with a hand mixer on medium-high speed. Add flour mixture and beat until smooth on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake about 18–22 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Salted Peanut Butter Icing
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 stick butter (room temperature)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon regular salt)

2–3 cups powdered sugar

2–3 tablespoons milk

Beat together peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth with a mixer on medium speed. With mixer on low speed, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add more milk or powdered sugar if needed. Beat until smooth and fluffy.