Chocolate Guinness Cake.

I love desserts as some of you may know.  So it only made sense that my mother nominated me to bring dessert for Thanksgiving.  I am a HUGE fan of pumpkin pie - so I figured I could just make a pumpkin pie or something.  But that seemed kind of boring.  So I posed the question to my husband...what should we bring for dessert?  And peter responded without any hesitation..."CHOCOLATE GUINNESS CAKE!"


I first had this cake last year when Peter's brother Mark cooked it up!  And it was delicious - so very delicious that it took PEter and I a full year to make it ourselves.


I found my recipe online - thanks Nigella Lawson.  And I know I shouldn't put the picture of the finished product first  - but I just couldn't resist!

Chocolate Guinness Cake

From Feast by Nigella Lawson (reprinted in the New York Times on 12/8/04)

Yield: One 9-inch cake (12 servings)

For the cake:
Butter for pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar (I have used regular granulated sugar with no ill effects)
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the topping:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

For the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.