Chocolate and Guinness Cake

It was my Dad’s birthday over the weekend and as a little extra treat, I decided to make him a birthday cake as a surprise.

As my Dad loves Guinness, I thought I’d find a recipe for a Chocolate and Guinness Cake. The recipe that I decided to use can be found on the Sainsbury’s Magazine website.

I’m so glad that I picked this recipe because it was so tasty and everyone enjoyed it. Unfortunately for my Dad, it didn’t taste much of Guinness. I think it just brings out the flavours in the chocolate.

If you’d like to give it a go, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter
• 100ml Guinness
• 40g cocoa powder
• 200g light brown sugar
• 100ml whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 175g plain flour
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• milk or dark chocolate bar to decorate

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 100g soft unsalted butter
• 200g icing sugar
• 100g full-fat cream cheese
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c, fan 160c, gas mark 4. Lightly butter a loaf tin that measures about 20cm x 9cm x 8cm deep and line with a strip of baking paper. Ensure there is some excess that hangs over the sides of the tin – this will make removing the loaf out of the tin a lot easier.
2. Put the butter into a pan and place over a medium heat until melted. Remove from the heat and add the Guinness and cocoa powder, whisking together until smooth. Whisk the sugar, milk and eggs in the Guinness mixture.
3. In a bowl, mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and 1/4 tsp of salt. Add the Guinness mixture and whisk briefly until smooth and combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the preheated over for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool down in the tin before lifting out.
4. To make the frosting, put the butter into a medium bowl and using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar in 3 stages, mixing until combined. Once all the icing sugar has been added, beat it on a high speed until it’s light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and vanilla and beat until it’s fully combined. If you beat it for too long, the frosting will become too loose. If this happens, add more icing sugar until it’s the right consistency.
5. To decorate, spread the frosting over the top of the cooled cake and finish with chocolate shavings.

So there you go! Leave a comment and a photo if you choose to make this lovely cake!

Love,
Emily xo