Chocolate Guinness Cake

(from speak2animals’s recipe box)

Moist, black, and tender. I made this for Father’s Day and it was an impressive success. I got a little bit carried away with the frosting and piped edges and curly letters and big hearts and then dotted it all over with whole rasberries and individual seeds. A little tacky a lot beyootiful. I used extra dark cocoa, but the rasberries made a world of difference in keeping it flavorful vs. dull. Oh, and I loved the frosting.

Source: Feast: Food to Celebrate Life by Nigella Lawson (from RecipeThing user sissboombah)

Ingredients

  • For the cake:
  • 1 cup Guinness
  • 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3/4 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
  • For the cake:
  • 1 cup Guinness
  • 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3/4 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
  • For the topping:
  • 8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
  • 1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
  • 1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

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

  2. 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.

  3. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in a pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

  4. 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 confectioners’ 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.

  5. 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.

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