guess what I had for breakfast this morning… Nigella’s Chocolate Guinness Cake!
I made the cake part on Friday night while Cooper was napping….
I am guilty of licking this spoon!
Nigella’s Chocolate Guinness Cake
(recipe from “Feast” by Nigella Lawson)
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 sodaIcing
-8 ounce cream cheese
-1 cup confectioners’ sugar
-½ cup heavy cream***The recipe didn’t say whether the cream cheese should be cold or at room temperature. I left mine out to take the chill off and it produced a runny frosting. I ended up adding another 4oz of COLD cream cheese to the food processor-whirled it up and it was finally the perfect consistency. Good luck!***
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform 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 (You may also do this with a food processor like I did.).
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.
Serve it up!
I really enjoyed this cake. Not only was it novel to have beer in a cake, but it was pretty moist and had a good balance between bitter and sweet. The cake definitely needs the frosting to balance it out. Fortunately after adding the extra 4oz. of cream cheese I had extra frosting to make it even yummier. I’m pretty sure chocolate ganache frosting would be superb too!
Now excuse me…I have another slice to devour…
