Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This cake is perfect for celebrating everything Irish. It is equally ideal for any beer or chocolate lover's celebration. The first time Eve encountered this densely delicious cake was during a college bake-off in England! It is so good, two of her friends used this recipe for their cake entries. One taste, and it'll be hard not to eat the whole thing!
xxx Ivy & Eve
Adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe in Feast.
Makes one 9-inch cake.
Ingredients
For the Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 cup butter (two sticks)
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
⅔ cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
For the Frosting
½ cup cream cheese
1¼ cups powdered sugar
½ cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
Smashed malt balls (preferably Maltesers)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F
Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment, butter or pam the pan
In a large saucepan, pour in the Guinness and butter, turn heat onto Med/Low until butter is melted
While the butter is melting, in a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla together
Once melted, take off the stove and whisk in the sugar and cocoa powder
Pour and whisk in the egg/sour cream/vanilla mixture
Lastly, add the flour and baking powder and mix well to get the lumps out
Pour the mixture into the lined and buttered pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (the cake may wobble a little when you move it)
Leave the cake to cool in the pan on a cooling rack. It will be a very moist cake.
Once it's cool, take the cake out of the pan and place on a cake stand or plate
To make the frosting, whip the cream cheese in an electric mixer until smooth, add the sifted powdered sugar, and lastly, add the cream and whip well.
Frost the top of the cake (so it looks like the foam on the top of a pint!) and add the crushed malt balls as decoration!
Sláinte!
