Chocolate Guinness cake for St. Patricks day

St Patrick's day isn't really a big celebration here but I couldn't let it pass by without a mention, especially as I had found the perfect recipe for it.

Anyone who knows me could tell you that I love chocolate and I love Guinness so the idea of combining the two together in a cake had instant appeal, the fact that I had all the ingredients and it's st Patrick's day left me with little choice but to try this recipe out.The cake itself has a whole cup of Guinness in it as well as cocoa, flour, butter and an alarming amount of sugar. I hope you can see from the photo just how moist soft and rich it is, you really can taste the Guinness too which I was particularly pleased about. The topping is a simple cream cheese affair of the kind you'd put on a carrot cake, I've flavoured mine with Irish whiskey but you could also use Baileys to good effect.I've made a lot of chocolate cakes in the past and I can safely say this is one of the best, it's deep flavoured, rich and not at all dry. Perfect!

There are recipes for this cake all over the Internet, I found this one over at Moveable Feasts who got it from the New York Times. It looks like originally it came from Nigella. I should have guessed...

Recipe

For the cake:
Butter for pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the topping:
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
A splash of Irish whiskey to flavour

1. For the cake: heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

2. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

3. For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add the whiskey and mix until smooth and spreadable.

4. Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.