Chocolate Guinness Cake
A dark, damp chocolate cake made with a whole cup of Guinness, topped with cream cheese frosting so it looks like the pint it came from.
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 50 min
- total
- 1 h 15 min
- serves
- 12
- level
- medium
This is the cake Nigella Lawson made famous: stout in the batter for a deep, malty darkness, and a cloud of cream cheese frosting on top so the whole thing looks like a pint of Guinness.
The beer does not make it taste of beer. It makes it taste more of chocolate, the way coffee does, and keeps the crumb damp for days.
This dish is one of our top 10 recipes that made Nigella Lawson famous.
method
Heat the oven to 170°C (340°F) and line a 23 cm springform tin.
Melt the butter into the Guinness in a large pan over low heat. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar and take it off the heat.
Whisk the sour cream, eggs and vanilla together, then whisk into the pan. Finally whisk in the flour and bicarbonate of soda.
Pour into the tin and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool completely in the tin; it is too tender to move warm.
Beat the cream cheese smooth, sift in the icing sugar, then beat in the cream until spreadable.
Frost only the top of the cold cake, right to the edges, so it looks like the head on a pint.
chef's tips
- Frost the top only. That is the whole joke of the cake, and the sides are prettier dark.
- It is better on day two, so bake it ahead without guilt.
- Do not open the oven before 40 minutes; the soda-risen crumb will sink.