Chocolate Guiness Cake

I heard this recipe while listening to NPR one morning & decided to try it for a "day after" St. Patrick's Day celebration. :)

Ingredients for the cake:

1 cup Guinness1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar

3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Ingredients for the topping:

8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the over to 350 F, and butter and line a 9 inch springform pan.

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 then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan 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 frosting. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sift over the confectioner's sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsifted confectioners' 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 the famous pint.

Makes about 12 slices

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This turned out so moist & tasty. Not too rich & the frosting was so good. Next time, I will whip the frosting until it gets a little more firm, but it worked as it was. Definitely a new go-to recipe for chocolate cake! Here's a photo of my cake - not quite as pretty as NPR's. :)

A funny story: I was at the step where you need to add eggs & when I pulled out my carton, I found only one egg! I panicked for a bit because my baby was sleeping & I couldn't go anywhere for a few hours, but I needed to finishing making the cake. Finally, I called my parents & my dad agreed to ride his bike over with an egg. I rewarded him with the rest of the bottle of Guinness. :) He was glad to have an excuse to ride his bike, so it worked out for both of us.