Chocolate Guinness Cake with Cream Cheese
Celebrate St. Patrick's day with this gorgeous and moist Chocolate Guinness Cake with a luscious cream cheese icing
Ingredients
- 250 gm butter (chopped roughly)
- 1 cup Guinness (original 250ml/8.8floz) (NOTE 1)
- 2 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour) (NOTE 2)
- ¾ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened, good quality)
- 1¾ cup caster sugar (or regular white sugar) (NOTE 3)
- 2½ tsp bicarbonate soda (baking soda)
- ½ cup sour cream (whole fat)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
FROSTING
- ½ cup thickened cream (NOTE 4)
- 250 gm cream cheese (softened at room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) (NOTE 5)
- 2 tsp cornstarch (or cornflour)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F) or 160°C (320°F) for fan-forced ovens. For the Guinness mixture - Place the butter and Guinness in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted completely, but don't let the mixture simmer or boil. Remove saucepan from heat and allow the mixture to cool down for 15 minutes. This is important because we'll be mixing this mixture with the eggs so we don't want to cook the eggs.
- Whilst waiting for the Guinness mixture to cool down, prepare the cake tin. Grease the sides and base of a 23cm (9in) round baking tin with a loose base. Line the base with baking/parchment paper.
- For the dry ingredients - Sift the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and bi-carb soda into a large bowl. Whisk the ingredients together until combined.
- In a large separate bowl, place in the eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract and whisk. Then add in the Guinness mixture and whisk to combine until smooth.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour in the wet ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and tap it gently against the bench a few times. Bake in the middle of the oven for one hour or until a skewer comes out of the cake clean when inserted in the middle. Cool the cake in its tin on a cooling rack until the cake is cool to touch.
- Once the cake has completely cooled down, make the cream cheese frosting. In a small bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks. In a separate bowl, place in the cream cheese, vanilla extract and whisk for 2 minutes on high speed. Sift in the icing sugar and cornstarch into the cream cheese mixture and whisk further for 3 minutes. Place two tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream and whisk until combined, then fold in the remaining. Place the frosting over the cake and use a spatula to spread it over the cake. Optional - sprinkle with green decorations for St. Patrick's Day.
Notes
(NOTE 1) Guinness original is an Irish dry stout beer. It's dark, a little thick with bitter and strong malty flavours. It's perfect to add to chocolate desserts and hearty stews. To use, pour the Guinness slowly against the edge of the measuring cup/jug. This way, you'll avoid having lots of foam.
(NOTE 2) Plain flour (all-purpose flour) does not contain any leavening agents.
(NOTE 3) Caster sugar (superfine sugar) - Caster sugar has finer granules than regular white sugar. However, it's not the same as icing/powdered sugar. Many baking or candy recipes call for caster sugar as it dissolves faster and better into mixtures. If you can't find caster sugar, you can make your own by placing regular sugar in a food processor or blender. Pulse the sugar a few times until it looks finer, but don't over-blitz to a powder consistency. Or, just use equal amounts of regular white sugar.
(NOTE 4) Thickened cream (whipping cream) has gelatine added to it and contains 35% milk fat. I don’t recommend using low-fat cream because it may not whip up well and be a little runny.
(NOTE 5) Icing sugar (powdered sugar, confectionary sugar) - Icing sugar usually comes in two forms: icing sugar mixture and pure icing sugar. Icing sugar mixture is softer than pure icing sugar because there's starch or flour added to it. For this recipe, I prefer using icing sugar mixture because the starch helps stabilise the whipped cream.
Leftovers - Transfer the cake into an airtight container and refrigerate. It'll be good for up to 5 days. If eaten cold, it tastes like a chocolate mud cake. If you prefer a softer cake, leave the cake at room temperature for 20 minutes or so, before serving.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
Nutrition
Serving: 1ServingCalories: 574kcalCarbohydrates: 73gProtein: 8gFat: 38gSaturated Fat: 23gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 136mgSodium: 536mgPotassium: 206mgFiber: 3gSugar: 49gVitamin A: 1261IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 68mgIron: 2mg