By Request: Guinness Cake with Coffee Frosting
Greta, my son Daniel’s girlfriend, asked me today for the Guinness cake recipe I made when she and Dan visited. It’s another NYTimes cooking selection (original here, if you are subscriber) from Nigella Lawson. However, I do something different for the frosting. The original calls for a cream cheese frosting just on the top to mimic the foam on a pint of Guinness, but I prefer a coffee frosting with the earthy chocolate of this cake (which I’ve adapted from a different NYTimes recipe, the original of which is here).
From a few years ago, Hank’s request for his birthday!
This is an easy cake because there’s no creaming of butter and sugar, and it even works if you forget to take the butter out of the freezer because you melt the butter in the Guinness! Also easier is that it’s only one layer, although you will want to get out the food processor or mixer for the frosting. If that’s too much work, this will make a delicious dessert even without any frosting at all!
Chocolate Guinness Cake
1 cup Guinness stout
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2½ teaspoons baking soda
Coffee frosting (recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray or butter and line with parchment paper. If your springform pan doesn’t close tightly or if you are worried about leaks, wrap foil around the bottom and/or place the pan on a foil-lined sheet pan so you don’t have to clean your oven afterwards.
Create a double-boiler with a large metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Even if you have a double-boiler, this is easier, though you do need to be careful as the bowl will get hot.
Combine the Guinness and butter in the bowl and let the butter melt. Wearing an oven mitt (not using a small square potholder because the steam that comes up when you remove the bowl can burn) remove the bowl from the saucepan and place on a dishtowel to dry the bottom. Be sure your counter is heat-proof, or put a trivet between the bowl and the counter.
Add the cocoa and the sugar to the bowl, and, using the oven mitt to hold the bowl still with one hand, whisk to combine.
Place the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla together in a small bowl and mix well to combine. Add the sour cream mixture, flour, and baking soda to the Guinness mixture, and mix well to combine thoroughly.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the cake feels firm and springs back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan on a rack. The center may fall a bit, but that’ll be fine.
If frosting the cake, allow to cool fully before spreading the frosting on the top and sides.
Coffee Frosting
1¾ cups confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of salt
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1 Tablespoon instant espresso dissolved in 1 Tablespoon boiling water, or 3 Tablespoons regular coffee, cooled
If using a food processor, combine sugar, salt, and butter and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Pour in the coffee and pulse until fully combined, scraping down the sides as needed.
If using a stand mixer, beat butter and salt with the paddle attachment until smooth. Add the sugar gradually, starting at a slow speed so the sugar doesn’t puff up out of the bowl too much, scraping down the bowl as needed. Once the butter and sugar are well combined, add the coffee and beat until thoroughly mixed, scraping down the sides as needed.