Chocolate Guinness Cake

🥘 Ingredients

• Guinness 250 ml
• unsalted butter 250 g
• cocoa powder 75 g
• caster sugar 400 g
• sour cream 150 ml
• large eggs 2
• vanilla extract 1 tbsp
• plain flour 275 g
• bicarbonate of soda 2½ tsp
• cream cheese 300 g
• icing sugar 150 g
• cornflour 2 tsp
• double cream 125 ml

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/160°C Fan/350ºF, and butter and line a 23cm / 9 inch springform tin .
2. 2

   Pour Guinness into a large wide saucepan , add unsalted butter — in spoons or slices — and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in cocoa powder and caster sugar .
3. 3

   Beat sour cream with large eggs and vanilla extract and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in plain flour and bicarbonate of soda .
4. 4

   Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to 1%hour .
5. 5

   Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack , as it is quite a damp cake.
6. 6

   When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing.
7. 7

   Lightly whip cream cheese until smooth, sieve over icing sugar and cornflour and then beat to combine.
8. 8

   If using double cream , add it and beat until you have a spreadable consistency.
9. 9

   If using whipping cream, whisk first to soft peaks, add a couple of spoonfuls into the cream cheese mixture and once this is combined, fold in the rest.
10. 10

    Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.