I borrowed this recipe from Nigella Lawson’s website to make Adam a birthday cake, he loves Guinness and doesn’t really have a sweet tooth, so this rich, moist cake was the perfect option. Although it doesn’t taste of stout, there is a hint of flavour, along with chocolate and the creamy topping is a delicious addition.

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Makes about 12-16 slices

Cake;
250ml Guinness
250g Unsalted Butter
75g Cocoa
400g Caster Sugar
142ml Soured Cream
2 Eggs
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
275g Plain Flour
2 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Icing;
300g Cream Cheese
150g Icing Sugar
125ml Double Cream

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C, butter and line a 23cm baking tin.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter – in slices and heat until the butter has melted, then whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the soured cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the buttery beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and bicarbonate of soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 mins to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack.

While the cake is cooling make the icing and once the cake is cold, sit it on a plate to ice it. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together.

Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable mixture. Ice the top of the black cake, so that it resembles the frothy top of a pint of Guinness!

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