Chocolate cake is tough to pull off. Too dry is never a good thing and is too easily achieved when delving into the homemade cocoa gateau realm. When it’s good though, it’s oh so good. So with my Libra husband’s birthday upon us, I figured no cake could be more man pleasing than one that is moist, chocolatey, and loaded with Guinness.
Sugar. Check. Chocolate. Check. Stout. Check. And did I mention the incredibly soft and frothy cream cheese frosting? This recipe for chocolate Guinness cake from the buxom and lovely Nigella Lawson is one that I have transferred to the “handwritten family recipe book”. This is serious business reserved for the best of the best. Nigella cleverly tops her dark and damp cake with soft white frosting to imitate the froth on top of a good pint. So pretty. So moist. So delicious.
The original recipe can be viewed here, but because I like you I have saved you the grief of converting each ingredient from British weight measurements to volume measurements. You’re welcome. Now just make sure to drink the left over half can of Guinness while it’s still frothy and gorgeous as you bake that pretty cake.
Chocolate Guinness Cake
(recipe from nigella.com)
For the cake:
1 cup of Guinness
1 cup of unsalted butter
2/3 cup of cocoa
1 3/4 cups of caster sugar
2/3 cup of sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 1/2teaspoons baking soda
For the frosting:
1 1/3 cups of Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/3 cups of icing sugar
1/2 cup of double or whipping cream
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and butter and line a 23cm 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.
13 comments
Kathy says:
Oct 30, 2011
Is guinness a certain kind of beer? The cake looks wonderful!
sugar says:
Oct 30, 2011
It is indeed a kind of beer. I suppose you could make it with any beer, but Guinness does have a distinct flavour. It’s a lovely cake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness
Diana says:
Dec 3, 2011
is this cake child friendly??
sugar says:
Dec 5, 2011
I think it is. I fed it to Violet. The beer gets cooked down so I really think the boozy content is minimal to nil. Let me know if you try it!
Sue says:
Mar 14, 2012
I just made this cake & it has sunk a little in the center….is that common?
Maz says:
Mar 21, 2012
Hey, I just came across this, looks wonderful. I was wondering whether you’re meant to whip the whipping cream first or just pour it un unwhipped? I’d really like to make it in the next few days so any help would be much appreciated!
sugar says:
Mar 21, 2012
Sue! My sincere apologies for taking so bloody long to reply. It’s the saddest to labour over a cake and have it sink in the middle. I didn’t have that issue, but found a great resource for trouble shooting a sunken cake. Hope this helps! Hopefully, despite its sunken appearance it tasted delicious?
“Some Reasons Why Cakes Sink or Fall In The Middle:
Cakes will sink or fall because:
1). Overbeating – too much air is incorporated into batter.
2). Underbaking – Oven temperature too low and/or too short a baking time.
3). Over or under measurement of liquid or under measurement of flour.
4). Using too small or large of a baking pan.
5). Moving or jarring cake before sufficiently baked or opening the oven door before cake sets.
Note: Only open oven door if absolutely needed, one-half to three-quarter’s way through baking.
6). The most common error has to do with the oven temperature. Make sure you have an oven thermometer to test your oven for accuracy.
7). Depending on the recipe if you fold in egg whites, if not beaten fully or folded in too harshly, the cake could fall.
8). Even creaming the butter and sugar too much or too little can cause problems.”
Tips borrowed from http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/bakingtips.cakesandtortes/CakesandTortes.cfm
sugar says:
Mar 21, 2012
Maz, just pour it right in unwhipped. Easy peesy. Enjoy!
Chris says:
Apr 14, 2012
I baked the cake and it is very good. The only issue I had was my frosting was a little too thin. Did I put too little cream cheese?
sugar says:
Apr 15, 2012
Glad the cake was a hit, Chris. About the frosting, I have a few trouble shooting ideas. Did you use the block cream cheese or the spreadable tub style cream cheese? I think the block style yields better results as it is naturally denser than the spreadable variety. Second idea is that perhaps the cream cheese became too warm in the process? I used my straight from the fridge and had good results. It really is dreamy frosting so I hope you’ll have a chance to give it another try.
Catherine says:
Mar 8, 2013
Thanks so much for this! I’ve been running around mad trying to find a trustworthy version in cup measurements, because there’s two versions printed in the NY Times, one saying a 3/8 cup of sour cream and another saying 3/4, but 2/3 sounds much much better!
Here’s to hoping it turns out! I really wish the version on her page just had the cup measurements already, like so many there, but for some reason that one just converts to ounces, and I was certainly not looking forward to using the scale for everything!
sugar says:
Mar 12, 2013
You’re so welcome! I hope it turns out as well for you as it did for me.
Michelle says:
Nov 22, 2013
I’ve made this cake 4 times now and LOVE it!! I used a 10″ pan instead and the cake came out denser which I liked. Vie been having troubles with the icing the last couple of times and after reading the above posts it’s related to the temperature and kind of cream cheese I was using. Making it again tomorrow!! Excited to see hoe it comes together 🙂