A rich moist chocolate cake flavoured with Guinness. It's dark in colour but light in texture. Makes a good alternative Easter cake, though delicious at any time.
Prep Time30 minutesmins
Cook Time50 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr20 minutesmins
Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert
Cuisine: British
Keyword: birthday cake, dark chocolate, ganache, Guinness, layer cake
Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water. Leave to cool a little.
4 oz dark chocolate
Cream the butter and sugar well until it's light and fluffy. You can do this by hand or with a hand-held or stand mixer. I do it by hand.
8 oz unsalted butter, 12 oz soft brown sugar
Beat in the eggs, one by one. If the mixture looks as though it's going to curdle, add a little of the flour.
4 large eggs
Beat in the melted chocolate.
Sieve in half of the dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated.
6 oz wholemeal spelt flour, 4 oz white spelt flour, 2 oz cocoa powder, ½ tsp baking powder, 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Stir in the Guinness alternately with the remainder of the sieved dry ingredients until everything is just mixed.
12 floz Guinness
Divide the mixture between two 2 x 23cm round silicone cake pans or lined tins and bake for about 50 mins. An inserted skewer should come out clean (ish).
Boozy Butter Ganache
Whilst the cakes are cooling, melt the chocolate in the same way as before using the same bowl.
5 oz dark chocolate
Stir in the butter, then add a good glug of Guinness and stir fast. When the mixture is thick enough use half to sandwich the two cakes together and half to ice the cake. Decorate as desired. I used little gold wrapped chocolate Easter eggs.
5 oz unsalted butter, 1 glug Guinness
Notes
Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They're approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.