I recently made this cake for my husbands birthday and everyone loved it so much I thought I must post about it in time for St Patrick’s day!
While it’s absolutely perfect for St Patrick’s day inspired recipes, do feel free to make it any time of year. It is gloriously dark and chocolatey with a complexity that the Guinness provides it. Most people can’t quite put their finger on it unless you tell them it has Guinness in it! I had children and grown adults loving this, so do not wait if you have not tried this beauty already! I am a big fan of Nigella’s and this one is absolutely brilliant and one that you are sure to repeat over and over.
That said, Happy St Patrick’s day! Enjoy the baking! Cheers!
Chocolate Guinness Cake
A great dark chocolate cake using Guinness, this was made famous by Nigella Lawson years ago!
Ingredients
- 250 ml guinness
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 75 g cocoa powder
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 200 g white caster sugar
- 150 ml sour cream
- 2 eggs large
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 275 g plain flour
- 2.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 shot cooled espresso
Icing
- 300 g cream cheese room temprature
- 150 g icing sugar
- 2 tsp cornflour
- 125 ml double cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/160°C Fan/350ºF, and 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, cooled espresso if using and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
- 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 cornflour and then beat to combine.
- If using double cream, add it and beat until you have a spreadable consistency. If using whipping cream, whisk first to soft peaks, add a couple of spoonfuls into the cream cheese mixture and once this is combined, fold in the rest.
- Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.
Notes
I have veered very slightly from Nigella’s recipe by adding a shot of room temperature espresso to the cake batter as I feel adding a little coffee to a chocolate cake really enhances the chocolate flavour of the cake. You cannot taste the coffee in the final cake, but somehow the cake tastes more chocolatey! Feel free to leave it out and go with the original Nigella recipe if you like!
You can also switch up the topping or the Guinness head or froth by adding a couple of tablespoons of baileys Irish cream to the icing, but reduce the cream by the same amount so its not too liquid. This will make the frothy topping more cream and not as white and the coffee flavour will then become more pronounce. A great variation for when you are in the mood to do so!
This is a great cake to bake the day before and ice on the day you need to serve. The flavours get better when it sits for a day.
Also you can get ahead by freezing the cake in advance of your party and defrosting for up to three months! Just ice the defrosted cake on the day you need it!
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