Monday 19 May 2008

Yet Another Cake - Guinness Cake

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I promise there'll be something else for the next post!

Now, you don't usually find me drinking on my own, in my kitchen, in the middle of the day, but today was different because I was baking Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake from her Feast - Food that Celebrates Life cookbook.

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The recipe calls for 250ml (1cup) of Guinness, but unable to buy a single can of the stuff in the supermarket and not wanting to buy a four pack, I bought a bottle of Williams Bros Brewing Co's Midnight Sun instead. Of course there was still half a bottle left, so I couldn't let it go to waste and that's why I was drinking on my own in the middle of the day.

Midnight Sun is described on the bottle as a rich, dark & spicy Porter style beer and there was a mention of chocolate malt and a hint of root ginger, so I guessed it'd make a perfect substitute. The beer on its own was a bit too strong and bitter for me, but than I'm not a serious beer drinker and maybe some of it was down to it being the middle of the day. It did have a nice malty sweetness to it as well though, and I'm sure that if you like Stout you'd really enjoy this!

Well, the cake is for my colleagues birthday tomorrow, so I haven't been able to try it yet, but it was fun and easy to make (I have never before made a cake in a saucepan and of course I got to have a drink in the afternoon.) , the 'dough' tasted great (Yes, I did lick the whisk when I was finished.) and it smells and looks great. I'll let you know what it tastes like next time, as I'll make sure I'll get a slice at work tomorrow. As far as I can tell from the few crumbs that stuck to the springform, it's a great cake though, really dark and chocolaty but not too sweet.

Happy Birthday A.!

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Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake

Cake:
250ml Guinness (I used Midnight Sun Porter)
250gr butter, unsalted and cut into slices
75gr cocoa powder
400gr caster sugar
1 x 142ml pot sour cream
2 eggs
1tbsp vanilla essence
275gr plain flour
2 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Frosting:
300gr cream cheese
150gr icing sugar
125ml double cream

Preheat your oven to 180C/Gas 4.

Butter and line a 23cm springform pan (mine is 25cm and worked fine).

In a large, wide saucepan heat the Guinness and butter, until melted.

Add the sugar and cocoa and whisk until the sugar has melted.

Remove from heat.

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Beat together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla essence and pour into the pan, whisk until well combined.

Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda and whisk until smooth.

Pour into the prepared springform pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 45-60 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Don't remove from the pan until the cake is completely cool.

Once cool the cake can be iced.

For the frosting, whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve in the confectioners sugar and continue to whip until combined.

Add the double cream and whip again until the frosting is spreadable.

Spread over the top of the cake. I only made 2/3 of the icing and thought it was plenty.

Enjoy!

31 comments:

Melissa said...

This looks awesome!

Silvia - Magnolia Wedding Planner said...

Sylvie I'm speachless..this chocolata cake is superb.
long life to Nigella our queen of chocolate heaven :-D
Good job and happy birthday to A.!
Silvia

Peter M said...

Sylvie, I luv the midnight black cake and I do hope it's received well tomorrow...it looks stunning.

test it comm said...

I really like the sound of using guinness in a cake. It looks good!

Anonymous said...

Oh yummy, das sieht soooooo lecker aus! Jetzt fehlt mir nur noch jemand, der demnächst Geburtstag hat...

Amy said...

Wow guiness and chocolate! I'll be trying this for sure!

Sylvie said...

Melissa, thanks.

Silvia, I agree, you just gotta love Nigella, or at least her recipes. ;)

Peter, I hope so too!

Kevin, I hope the Guinness makes it a nice and moist cake with some depth.

Anke, der schmeckt bestimmt auch ohne das jemand erst Geburtstag haben muss!

Amy, that's exactly what I said when I saw the recipe in the book.

Thistlemoon said...

I am so intrigued by these Guinness cakes - I love the idea of them - I really need to try this soon! Yours looks awesome! Slainte!

Raquel said...

Hummmm . . .Guiness cake. Definitely trying this one, perhaps in the autumn. Thanks for a great recipe, Sylvie!

Gloria Baker said...

Sylvie this look amazing and so yummy!! mmmm! I like so! xGloria

Mama Mia said...

really? cake with Guinness in it? Wow, that is so cool! I wanna eat the whole cake and get drunk.

Marie Rayner said...

Oh, my birthday is the 13th of August by the way and I am putting in my order now! lol
Seriously this looks gorgeous!

Jan said...

Wow - I've never heard of putting Guinness in a cake! Bet it's good though - it certainly looks it!

Maria♥ said...

Sylvie this is one of my favourite cakes by Nigella, so much so I made one for St Patricks Day and another for Easter!

Your cake looks absolutely delicious!!

Maria
x

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Lovely cake and nicely iced! What a lucky collegue you have!

Susan Morris said...

Wow, Guinness in a cake, who would have thought....Your cake does look lovely though Sylvie.

Anonymous said...

yippyyyy! yet another way to sneak beer into our diet! hehe my husband will be delighted to hear that you can have beer as dessert. not that he doesn't do it anyway, in its liquid form!

i've got the book (and love it), and i did see that cake. I can't wait to read what you think of it! love the colour, btw! Dark, chocolate and totally sinful. yuuuum

Maggie said...

I'd love to read all about the cake. Have seen this recipe on blogs before, but alas, have not read a review.
The cake looks amazingly dark and rich.

Unknown said...

I don't know what you're talking about -- your pics are fantastic! This cake is making my mouth water.

zlamushka said...

Hey, a beer cake? that is amazing. I am so bookmarking this one. Any chance of cooking something for my event? I am hosting Tried & Tasted event dedicated to cooking from other blogs. This month, we re cooking from Cynthia. Up for the challenge?

Lisa said...

This recipe sounds great and looks gorgeous too!

I've made a similar cake, using Guinness, for St. Patrick's Day. It was wonderfully rich and chocolaty and the stout seemed to cut the sweetness and add depth to the flavor.

Pilar - Lechuza said...

That is a fabulous cake. You are so talented! My mouth started watering as soon as I saw it.
Best wishes from Spain

Sylvie said...

Jenn, slainte!

Lina, I think you'd have to eat a lot of cake to get drunk. ;)

Marie, I wish I could get one to you!

Maria, I'm definitely gonna make it again, too.

Maninas, it's definitely one to please a guy.

Raquel, Gloria, Holler, Sue, Magaret, Rivka, Zlamushka and Pilar, thanks so much for the lovely comments.

Lisa, I agree it's rich and dark.

Nic said...

Beautiful looking cake you made - I wouldn't mind one of those for my next birthday!

Anonymous said...

Guinness cake! Has to be tried. It looks so good.

Niamh

Rosie said...

Hi Sylvie, I just adore this cake!! It is one of my favourite cake recipes of Nigella and you really have made a great job of this one :)

Rosie x

Peabody said...

Guiness cake rocks...of course I like to enjoy it with a pint for full enjoyment. ;)

La Bella Cooks said...

This has to be one of my favorite cakes! It is just too decadent to pass up. Your picture is gorgeous of the finished product.

Anonymous said...

Hey, does this recipe come in English measurements? I don't understand those metric ones at all and I don't have anyway of converting them.

Sylvie said...

Sorry, I've only got metric and not cup measurements, but this is how they should convert:

1 cup Guinness
2 sticks of butter
5 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 cups of flour + 2tbps
2 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

And the temperature would be 350F.

Hope that helps.

chris said...

Got this cake in the oven now, hope it turns out as good as yours Sylvie....