Chocolate Guinness Cake

I only iced the top of the cake so it resembled a pint of Guinness. It is so delicious that it doesn't need to be St. Patrick's day to bake this cake. Guinness cake would make a great 21st birthday cake. 

This is a wonderful chocolaty cake! You'll want a glass of milk or a warm cup of tea to wash it down. Next time I make this I will frost it heavier on the top.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

(recipe from “Feast” by Nigella Lawson)

Ingredients

Cake:
-1 cup Guinness stout
-1 stick unsalted butter, sliced
-¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-2 cups superfine sugar (i used granulated)
-¾ cup sour cream
-2 eggs
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-2 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Icing
-8 ounce cream cheese (cold)
-1 cup confectioners’ sugar
-½ cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

2. Pour Guinness into a large saucepan, add butter and heat until melted. Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat sour cream with eggs and vanilla and then pour into brown, buttery, beery mixture and finally whisk in flour and baking soda.

3. Pour cake batter into greased and line pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour (Check at 45 minutes for doneness, poking a skewer in center.). Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

4. When cake is cold, gently peel off parchment paper and transfer to a platter or cake stand.

5. Place cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a mixing bowl, and whip with an electric beater, until smooth.

6. Add cream and beat again until you have a spreadable consistency.

7. Ice top of cake, starting at middle and fanning out, so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint. Since you are not icing the side of the cake you can be a little heavy handed with the frosting.