3.17.2010

Day 3 of No School? Happy St. Patrick's Day + A Recipe for You



I remember the days when St. Patrick's day meant day-long drinking with friends at the bar. So fun! Now I'm a lame mom and St. Patrick's day is all about cake. Chocolate Guinness Cake, that is. Here's a picture of the cake I planned to make for today. That all changed when we lost power and our basement flooded. We've been cleaning up that mess for days, so I've had no time for baking.

I hear this cake is delicious and easy to make, so thought I'd share the recipe from Nigella Lawson'. If you do make it, let me know how it is.

Happy St. Patty's Day! Do you have any fun plans or traditions you'd like to share? Hit comment below and let us know how you're spending this beautiful day. I think most schools are still closed so how are you keeping busy?

Chocolate Guinness Cake
Cake
1 cup Guinness stout (not the whole can)
1 stick unsalted butter, sliced
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar (superfine, if possible)
¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Icing
8 ounce cream cheese
1 cup confectioners' sugar
½ cup heavy cream

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom and sides with parchment paper.

Pour Guinness into a large saucepan, add butter and heat until melted. Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat sour cream with eggs and vanilla and then pour into brown, buttery, beery mixture and finally whisk in flour and baking soda.

Pour cake batter into greased and line pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Check at 45 minutes for doneness, poking a skewer in center. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake. (Note from my friend who sent the recipe: My 1st attempt collapsed a little and I think it's because it cooled too fast, so you may want to turn off the oven and open the door and let it cool in there first for 10 minutes or so first)

When cake is cold, gently peel off parchment paper and transfer to a platter or cake stand.

Place cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a mixing bowl, and whip with an electric beater, until smooth.

Add cream and beat again until you have a spreadable consistency.

Ice top of cake, starting at middle and fanning out, so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

Yields about 12 slices.

3 comments:

Bridget said...

So, I am not sure if doing something two years in a row is considered a tradition - but this morning my almost four year old and I made green pancakes. It's important to note that I made the terrible mistake of allowing her to "drop" the green food coloring into the batter, and well, it took longer to clean up the food coloring that flew all over the kitchen then it did to eat the VERY dark green pancakes. It was a fun way to start the day...unless you count the 30 extra minutes it took to clean up...Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Anonymous said...

We started a new tradition yesterday. My daughter woke up to a huge mess left behind by a leprechaun. She did manage to find some gold coins and a little hat left behind. It also left our toilet water green (well she thought it looked blue) buy close enough. Next year she is going to set up a trap and try to catch it.

Unknown said...

Sounds delicious! So glad you found me, cause now I found you! Great stuff on this site...thanks1