Lockdown Indulgence: Chocolate Guinness Cake Recipe

If I am correct, this recipe originally hailed from Nigella Lawson and it is as seductive as she is with that wooden spoon of hers. Chocolate Guinness Cake is usually my go to for a birthday cake or bake off if I am trying to impress. This cake is slightly more technical than your average Victoria sponge - it is rich in flavor - and in sugar (a lot of sugar) and the stout creates this dark alluring black glaze. This is not a healthy cake by a long stretch but who needs healthy when its a birthday celebration.

This is my other half's favorite cake and he asked me to whip it up for him whilst I was experimenting with lock down baking recipes and I had some cans of Guinness left over from the Guinness bread so I figured why not give it another go.

You can play around with this recipe, I have made it before by making a cake sandwich and putting cream in between but I think the one Layers of cake with the icing on top is sufficient as it is quite a rich, dense cake, probably best not to over do it.

if you can - use a large round baking tin (9 inch) - I only had a small (6 inch) available but think I I will invest in a larger one for my next attempt. I think it helps with the aesthetics if not baking a double layer cake.

Total Prep and Bake Time: 90 minutes (approx)

Difficulty: A bit technical but still easy-ish. Patience required with this one guys.

Ingredients:

• 250 - 300 millilitres of Guinness

• 2-3 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda

• 275 grams of plain white flour

• 400 grams caster sugar

• 250 grams unsalted butter

• 2 large eggs

• 75 grams of cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks Organic)

• 150 mililitres of sour cream

• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

• 150 grams of icing sugar (for Icing)

• 250 grams cream cheese (for icing)

• 100 mililitres of double cream (for icing)

Method:

For the cake:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C

• Pour the Guinness into a wide (deep) saucepan, slice up the butter and add it in - simmer until melted.

• Stir in the caster sugar and cocoa powder

• Separately, whisk the eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract together then add into the saucepan with the rest of the mix (keep stirring and simmer on a very low heat, or once the butter is melted you can remove from the hob altogether)

• Lastly, add in the flour and soda powder and whisk

• Once you are happy with the consistency of the batter, pour it into your greased (with butter) baking tin until evenly spread and pop in the oven for around 45 minutes.

• Once risen, with a crystal black glaze on the top, remove from the oven and allow to cool

• Once cool you can now apply the icing

For the icing:

• Beat the double cream until a thick consistency then add in the cream cheese and icing sugar and whisk some more (you can always add in some corn flour if you aren't happy with the consistency of the icing) It should be a fluffy texture so you can dab it onto the top of the cake.

• With a bread knife, gently slice sideways into the top of the cake, removing the lumpy layer of chocolate cake. This will help have a flat surface to spread the creamy icing - if your cake has an even top layer feel free to skip this step

• With a spatula, gently prod the creamy icing onto the top of the cake and spread evenly

• Leave in the fridge to set for around 30 - 60 minutes

• Then voilà - you have successfully made a cake that resembles the head of a pint of Guinness (well that is what we are aiming for anyway) I think this one takes a bit of practice.

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