Bake a Chocolate & Guinness Cake for Morning Coffee!

Morning tea or coffee is a very important part of a Lindy Smith workshop. Our expert assistant Sally is well known in our student circles for her baking – her Lemon Drizzle cake is divine.  But  today we were treated to the most glorious cake,  it wasn’t baked by Sally… oh no…she  is on vacation, but by our very own workshop co-ordinator, Jane, who came up with a beauty. A Chocolate and Guinness cake! Originally created by the domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, who describes it as ‘magnificent in it’s damp blackness’.  Love it!   Who needs to eat Popeye amounts of spinach when you can feast of this delicious iron rich delight. It’s got to be good for you…surely!!

Here’s the recipe and how to make it:

250ml Guinness

250g unsalted butter

75g cocoa

400g caster sugar

1x 142ml pot sour cream

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 c/ 350 F, butter and line a 23cm tin. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter, and heat until the butter is melted, start whisking in the sugar and cocoa. In another bowl beat the sour cream, eggs and vanilla then pour into the Guinness buttery pan.  Finally whisk in the flour and bicarb soda. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to completely cool in the tin on a cooling rack as it is quite a damp cake. When the cake is cold transfer to your cake plate.

To make the icing:

300g Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 150g icing sugar and 125ml double cream

Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and beat until smooth, add the cream and beat again until it makes a thick but spreadable consistancy. Smooth over the cake.

Devour & Enjoy! We did…

KiwiRachel