In celebration of St Patrick’s day, what better recipe to share than this Irish Stout Cake, complete with the most iconic Irish stout – Guinness. This cake really showcases the rich, dark nature of the classic Irish ‘perfect pint’ and by adding extra malt, it creates an even more sensational bake.
50 ml/3 ½ tablespoons dark Irish stout (we use Guinness)
250 g/2 ¼ sticks butter
400 g/2 cups white sugar
100 g/1 cup cocoa powder
30 g/3 ½ tablespoons malt powder (we use Horlicks)
150 ml/ ¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of/ baking soda
275 g/2 cups plain/all-purpose flour
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
25 g/ ¼ stick butter, softened
100 g/ ¾ cup icing/
confectioners’ sugar
200 g/7 oz. cream cheese
grated chocolate, to decorate
23-cm/9-inch springform cake pan, greased and lined with baking parchment
MAKES 1 LARGE CAKE
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
Put the stout and butter in a large pan set over gentle heat. Don’t let it boil, just let the butter melt through the liquid. Add the sugar, cocoa and malt powder to the warm
butter-stout mixture and whisk gently to get rid of any lumps. Add the sour cream and stir in – this will cool the mixture sufficiently so that you can add the eggs and then the vanilla extract. Continue to mix until all the ingredients are completely incorporated.
Add the bicarbonate of soda/baking soda and then begin to add the flour, little by little, stirring each time until fully incorporated.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50–60 minutes. A skewer should come out clean when inserted into the centre. Turn out, them allow the cake to cool completely before decorating.
To make the cream cheese frosting, place the softened butter in a large bowl and add the icing/confectioners’ sugar and cream cheese. Using a stand mixer or handheld electric whisk, slowly and carefully beat everything together. Once combined, increase the speed and whip until you have a soft and fluffy frosting.
Place the cooled cake on your serving plate and loosely spoon over the frosting – we like to use a very informal swirl technique, but this is entirely up to you. Sprinkle around the top edge with grated chocolate to finish.
For more delicious bakes, check out LOLA's A Cake Journey Around the World.