This cake. Oh, this cake. I cannot put it into words, so I will leave it to the author herself:
This cake is magnificent in its damp blackness. I can’t say that you can absolutely taste the stout in it, but there is certainly a resonant, ferrous tang which I happen to love. The best way of describing it is to say that it’s like gingerbread without the spices.
OK, now back to reality. This cake is moist with a very nice mouthfeel (thank you, butter) and with a very nice depth of flavour (thank you, Guinness). It is one of my go-to cakes for chocolate lovers, since it is so easy to make. The recipe makes two small 20 cm cakes or one large 23 cm cake. I often omit the topping when I make the cake and serve it with homemade vanilla ice cream instead.
Guinness cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 250 millilitres guinness
- 250 grams unsalted butter
- 75 grams cocoa powder
- 400 grams caster sugar
- 142 millilitres sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 275 grams plain flour
- 2½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
FOR THE TOPPING
- 300 grams cream cheese
- 150 grams icing sugar
- 125 millilitres double cream (or whipping cream)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/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 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 then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing 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.
