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

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Butter and line the 9-inch round spring-form tin pan
3. Make the strong coffee
4. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan and heat on low / medium
5. Add the strong coffee you’ve just brewed
6. Add the butter – in spoonfulls, slices, or small chunks – and whisk it in until it’s melted



7. When the butter’s melted you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar until it is dissolved
8. Remove from the heat once this mixture is well combined.



9. In a separate bowl, beat together the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla
10. Add the sour cream-egg-vanilla mixture into the slightly cooled brown, buttery, beery pan and whisk until smooth
11. Gradually whisk in the flour and baking soda until completely smooth.
12. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
13. 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.
14. When the cake’s cold, set it on a flat platter or cake stand with the frosting.

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Making the Making the Frosting

1. Lightly whip the neufchâtel cheese until smooth in a food processor or with a mixer
2. Then add in the 1.25 cups confectioners’ sugar and beat them both together.
3. Add the 1/2 a cup heavy cream — a little bit at a time — and mix until it becomes a nice spreadable consistency.
4. 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 🙂