Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Guinness Cake
So, Ben’s 28th birthday was yesterday and I knew I wanted to make him a cake. He loves beer and chocolate, so I thought this chocolate stout cake was the perfect thing to try! But, I wasn’t completely sold on this exact cake, until I read Chez Megane’s post about making it.
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INGREDIENTS – FOR THE CAKE
- 1 cup Guinness
- 3/4 cup strong coffee
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 cups superfine sugar – I used regular cane sugar because I realized it was all I had in the cabinet (Oops! I’ll read the recipe more carefully before I go food shopping next time.)
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2.5 teaspoons baking soda
INGREDIENTS – FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 8oz Neufchâtel cheese (Nigella’s recipe called for cream cheese, but I substituted)
- 1.25 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
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Special Equipment and Helpful Tools
- One 9-inch round spring-form tin pan
- Angled Spatula (like this one by Wilton)
- A round of parchment paper (for the bottom of the pan)
- Some mixing bowls
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Making the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Butter and line the 9-inch round spring-form tin pan
- Make the strong coffee
- Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan and heat on low / medium
- Add the strong coffee you’ve just brewed
- Add the butter – in spoonfulls, slices, or small chunks – and whisk it in until it’s melted
- When the butter’s melted you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar until it is dissolved
- Remove from the heat once this mixture is well combined.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla
- Add the sour cream-egg-vanilla mixture into the slightly cooled brown, buttery, beery pan and whisk until smooth
- Gradually whisk in the flour and baking soda until completely smooth.
- Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
- When a tester comes out clean, remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan completely, on a cooling rack — as it is quite a damp cake.
- When the cake’s cold, set it on a flat platter or cake stand with the frosting.
![[image - Chocolate Stout Cake with the butter in small chunks in the Guinness and coffee]](https://yarnandchocolate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DSCN0894.jpg)
![[image - Chocolate Stout Cake beginnings - combined mixture of butter, Guinness, coffee, cocoa and sugar]](https://yarnandchocolate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DSCN0897.jpg)
Combined mixture of butter, Guinness, coffee, cocoa and sugar
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Making the Making the Frosting
- Lightly whip the neufchâtel cheese until smooth in a food processor or with a mixer
- Then add in the 1.25 cups confectioners’ sugar and beat them both together.
- Add the 1/2 a cup heavy cream — a little bit at a time — and mix until it becomes a nice spreadable consistency.
- Frost the top of the cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint. . . perhaps while you enjoy the rest of the bottle of that stout 🙂
![[image - Ben's Chocolate Stout Cake with the Candles]](https://yarnandchocolate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/IMG_20140109_214011.jpg)
![[Ben's Chocolate Stout Cake - Single Slice]](https://yarnandchocolate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/IMAG1172.jpg)
![[image - Tamara signature]](https://yarnandchocolate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/tamara-my-blog-sig.png)