Sunday 9 February 2014

Guinness and chocolate cake




I’ve been making a lot of cakes with fruit of late but fancied something rich, dark and chocolaty this weekend.  This cake ticked the boxes and the cream cheese frosting was a bonus!



The frosting is supposed to represent the head on a pint of Guinness.  I cannot drink Guinness, it makes my mouth pucker in a way Mr CC finds endlessly amusing.  Indeed, one of his favourite past times is egging me on to try a drink of his whilst promising, ‘honestly, it’s not that bitter’, just so he can see that face.  Quite why anyone wants to drink something that tastes like iron filings is beyond me – but – in a cake, with lots of sugar to temper the bitterness, it works really well.



Several of my eaters didn’t fancy this cake from the description but were amazed at how much they liked it.  It is the richest, most intense chocolate cake and you wouldn’t know it had Guinness in, but you would wonder why the chocolate was so much more satisfying than a normal chocolate cake.




I suppose I should say that this cake is really rich and small slices will suffice....but really?  When was a cake ever so good that you only wanted a small piece of it?  Does. Not. Compute.



Ingredients

For the cake:
250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa powder
400g caster sugar
142ml sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

For the frosting:
300g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
150g icing sugar
125ml double cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Place the Guinness and butter into a saucepan and gently melt together, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar.

In a separate bowl beat together the sour cream and eggs, then stir into the butter mix.

Stir in the vanilla, flour and bicarbonate of soda.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool, in the tin, on a wire rack.  Don’t panic if it sinks a little on cooling – it’s a rich, squidgy cake!

Now make the topping: whisk the cream cheese until soft and smooth.

Add the icing sugar and beat it into the cream cheese.

Add the cream and beat again.

Spoon over the cake so that it looks like the head on a pint of Guinness.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.


Eat.

16 comments:

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce said...

Someone at work brought in a chocolate Guinness cake but I was a little disappointed because I was expecting it to be really moist, but it was really dry! Yours, however, does look moist and delicious. Perhaps I'll have to have a go myself with this recipe! I love bitterness so it certainly sounds like a cake for me.

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

I love this recipe- properly dense, properly chocolatey and properly tasty for those of us who wouldn't go anywhere NEAR a pint!

Gloria Baker said...

look wonderful!!

Kezia said...

This looks delicious - I've always hated the smell of beer but I love the look of this cake. I've only tried cream cheese frosting on a carrot cake but I imagine it would taste fantastic on a chocolate cake too!

Jo said...

Your Guinness drinking face sounds very similar to my wine face! Haha. I love how dark and chocolatey your cake looks. I remember skeptically trying a slice of chocolate guinness cake years ago and being amazed by how rich and un-guinnessy it tasted (if you know what I mean?!)

P.S. Thanks for the bundt advice, I'm going to try cake release spray next. I will not be defeated by this tin! :)

Jean said...

This is my all time favourite cake I think.
A very grown up kind of chocolate cake and I haven't made it for a while. Time to put that right I think.......

Ulla said...

I've baked Guinness & chocolate cake few times. Love it. But I also like Guinness and chocolate ;)

Maggie said...

I go to an independent Indie coffee shop who sell this cake and it's a joy to behold - just like yours!

Cakelaw said...

Hey, hey, that's my kind of cake!

United Cakedom said...

I love a chocolate Guinness cake! Even though I too do not like Guinness on its own!

Choclette said...

As always with your cakes, this looks generous and delicious. I remember the first time I was introduced to a chocolate Guinness cake, I was a little taken aback, but went for a 2nd slice without hesitation.

Cakeyboi said...

I was surprised how much I enjoyed guinness in my chocolate cake CC. It really works very well.

Snowy said...

It's a great idea to have a cream cheese topping. Have made Nigella's recipe. Your cake looks so moist and chocolatey.

CupandCake said...

I definitely know a few people who would LOVE this! It looks delicious :) can't wait to give it a go!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

That looks so rich and wonderful x

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, your cake looks so delicious! I don't think you can ever have too much chocolate! I am going to try your recipe, thank you!

Michael :-)
http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/making-creme-brulee/