I wanted to make something special for my husband Nate's birthday, but he's not a big dessert guy. He is, however, a huge beer fan (he even brews his own, of course). We planned quite a gluttonous feast to celebrate the big day, so I was looking for something that wasn't too rich. I found a delicious-sounding recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake with a cream cheese frosting. Now I don't have the best track record of making cakes from scratch, but I was determined to eventually get it right.
Guinness is a stout, which is a dark, heavy beer with lots of body and flavor. It has some chocolately undertones, so it seemed like a good choice to use in a chocolate cake. The recipe was actually fairly easy, although it left some room for guesswork. There was no indictation of how long to beat the batter after the flour was added, but from my experience cake batter should be beat for a few minutes until it is lighter in texture. Incorporating a lot of air will keep the texture light; otherwise you end up with a dense brick. I beat mine very well and was satisfied with the results.
The cake was slightly dense, but not very sweet. The smooth, sweet cream cheese icing really balanced this out though. The recipe recommended spreading the icing on the top of the cake only, so that it would resemble the head (foam) on a glass of Guinness. I took it a step further and copied the traditional shamrock ouline that bartenders create in the head using the tap. It was much appreciated by the connaisseurs in the crowd :) I would definitely make this again!
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