Guiness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

 Guinness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting


As most of you know, I made three desserts for St. Patrick's Day. I hope you are ready for some amazing flavors, lots of chocolate, a hint of Guinness and a luscious frosting made from cream cheese, sugar and whole cream. Oh my goodness, was this ever good! My husband actually found this recipe in the March issue of People Magazine and suggested that I make it for our friends. (and probably for him as well!) It's a good thing I took it to someone else's home because we were less likely to eat more than one portion that way. The recipe was incredibly simple and my guess is, that even the most inexperienced cook could have success with it. I am often told what a great cook I am, and while I truly appreciate the compliment, my thought is that if you can read and follow directions, you can cook; at least basic things. I wouldn't say that if we were talking about French cooking or something complicated. But ordinary, everyday meals are fairly easy if you pay attention.

 This recipe comes from Chef Brian Leth of Vinegar Hill House in Brooklyn, New York. He describes the cake as "moist, dense, but not too sweet." And I would have to agree. I am guessing that my cake was a success due to the fact that everyone enjoyed it and had positive comments. Even our friend Bob, who is not much of a dessert person, was literally scraping his plate for every last morsel and bit of frosting.

I did need to make one small change to the recipe. It calls for Guinness Stout. We live in a fairly small town and I could not locate stout. I substituted Guinness Draught. Not being a beer expert, I'm not sure what the difference would be when in the context of baking but it didn't seem to cause any major problems. I guess I always imagine an explosion in the oven if one ingredient or instruction is altered. No explosions here, just a great tasting dessert. Easy enough for a casual gathering yet elegant enough for a formal dinner party. I had a glass cake stand to serve it on but with all of the other food I was making, it got left at home. And I'm thinking that flavor of the cake is a bit more important than the plate it is served on. 

I also liked that fact that it is a single layer cake. It still serves 10-12 people. Or five incredibly hungry people. Have fun with this recipe and let me know how it turns out! Bet you don't have any leftovers...

Guinness Chocolate Cake
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tbs unsalted butter, softened
6 tbs unsweetened cocoa
2 cups granulated sugar
6 tbs sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tbs vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Heat Guinness and butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in cocoa and sugar.
3. Combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; whisk into cocoa mixture. Whisk in flour and baking soda.
4. Pour batter into pan. Bake 40-45 minutes or until cake is firm. Remove to wire rack; cool completely. Remove from pan. Spread frosting on top.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat 8 oz cream cheese until smooth; gradually add 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, beating at low speed just until blended. Gradually add 1/2 cup cream; beat until blended.

Enjoy!
~Marna