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Chocolate Guinness Cake

Servings: 8-12
Comments:
This is the perfect cake to serve on St. Patrick's Day. I have been making this cake for a few years now on every St. Patrick's Day and it's been loved by my family and everyone that's had a slice. I love the dense, damp moistness of this cake and for those of you wondering, no you can not taste the Guinness! Please give this cake a go, it will not disappoint.


Ingredients:
For the Cake:
250ml (8 oz.) Guinness Stout
250g (2 1/4 sticks/8 oz. + 2 tbsp./10 tbsp.) unsalted butter
75g (3/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
400g (2 cups) caster or superfine sugar
142ml (1/2 cup/4 oz.) sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp. real vanilla extract
275g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
2 1/2 tsp. bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

For the Icing:
300g (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese
150g (1 1/3 cups) icing sugar (powdered or confectioners' sugar)
125ml (4 oz.) double or whipping cream
Shamrock or green sprinkles (optional)


Instructions:
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 /180ºC/350ºF, butter and line a 23cm (9-inch) springform tin.

Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter - in spoons or slices - and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar.

Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb (baking soda).

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake. When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing.

Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of a pint. Sprinkle with shamrock or green sprinkles for that extra touch!

Makes 8-12 servings.

Photograph taken by Maria ©2007


Source: Adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson
Submitted By: Maria
Date: March 16, 2007