Monday, March 3, 2014
Guinness Chocolate Cake with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting
I suppose I should've waited until St. Patrick's Day to post this. Or maybe around March 14 to get you in the spirit of the holiday, give you time to gather up the ingredients, and whip up this delicious cake.
But I couldn't wait. It's too good not to share.
I've had my eye on making a Guinness cake for awhile now, thanks to Nigella Lawson's cookbook Feast, where she makes a Springformed single layer version with an extra swirly cream cheese frosting top (like the frothy top of a Guinness pint, of course). However, I wanted to make mine a layer cake with a hearty slug of Bailey's Irish Cream in the frosting. Because layer cakes make me happy. And Bailey's, that makes me happy, too.
With its rich bitter undertones (think coffee), Guinness and chocolate have a natural affinity for each other, and cream cheese frosting - no question there. You can't really taste the beer in the cake; the Guinness just lends a richer, more complex flavor. The Bailey's does come through in the frosting, however, and it's wonderful.
If you are going to make a single layer version of this cake, make Nigella's recipe. Dark, damp, and gorgeous, it is the barometer that all other Guinness cakes are compared to. I would've gone straight to her recipe myself, but having baked with Nigella before, I know her love for moist, nearly underbaked cakes and brownies. With her cake recipe voicing things like "it's going to sink a bit in the middle" and "let it cool completely in the pan as it is really moist", that wasn't going to work for my double layer intentions.
So time to adapt. A Google search brought me to a layered version on a blog called A Beautiful Bite. But I didn't like the recipe because 1) it used vegetable oil and non-fat yogurt instead of butter and sour cream, 2) it had way too much sugar, 3) it didn't have cream cheese in the frosting, and 4) it included three layers instead of two.
So what's a girl to do? Improvise, of course. This cake is the best of both worlds: Nigella's flavor and richness, but with some layer cake sturdiness. And yes, a slug of Bailey's in the frosting. Extra luck o' the Irish that way.
Guinness Chocolate Cake with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting
Be kind to your cake batter and bring all your ingredients to room temperature before starting - you'll get a better batter consistency and more lift as your cake bakes in the oven.
¾ cup Guinness or another dark stout
1 stick (8 Tbls.) butter, softened
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
¾ cup sour cream
2 large eggs
3 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
For the frosting
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 Tbls. butter, softened
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
A few Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
Preheat oven to 350º. Grease two 8″ cake pans, line bottoms with parchment, and grease the parchment as well.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine. Set aside.
In a stand mixer over medium-low speed, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Mix just until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Once it is all mixed together, add the beer. Mix for three minutes on medium-high speed.
Divide batter between the two cake pans. Bake in a 350º oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Prepare the frosting. In a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and drizzle in a little Irish cream, adding just enough to pull the frosting together and bring it to your preferred consistency (this will be a few Tablespoons). Beat until fluffy.
Once the cakes come out of the oven, let them cool on cooling racks for ten minutes. Flip them out and let them completely cool before frosting. Frost and serve.
My mouth is watering just looking at the cake. I think I will try it for my son's BD. I have a question for you. I get alot of recipes off the internet and I usually print them out. Now I have this big mess of paper. I tried putting them in a binder but now it is over flowing. Do you have any ideas. I have about 75 cookbooks which I barely use any more.
ReplyDeleteHi Marilyn! I actually have a tablet (like an iPad, but it's a Samsung, not Apple) that I keep in my kitchen. I pull up the recipe I want, and then just cook from the tablet. Sometimes I get a little flour in it, but it cleans up pretty easily. :)
ReplyDelete