Twinkle’s Kitchen | Sláinte! Guinness Chocolate Cake

INDIANAPOLIS - As St. Patrick’s Day nears, serving and eating festive dishes of the Emerald Isle seem only appropriate. What better way to celebrate than with a slice of cake and a draught of beer.

Photos: 10 St. Patrick's day inspired recipes

And what better way to bake a cake than with one of Ireland’s very own malty creations, Guinness Stout.

Although it might sound crazy, baking with beer makes complete sense. Especially in a rich, moist creation like this Guinness chocolate genoise-style cake. The maltiness of the beer blends well with the chocolate, creating a multi-faceted flavor experience.

Cocoa and creamy stout fuse with butter, eggs and molasses to create one of the moistest cakes I’ve ever known. Each level of bitterness and sweetness hitting the taste buds make this a complex dish.

Although you won’t immediately think “Guinness” when you take a bite, you should taste the subtle undertones this beer adds to the overall flavor.

If you are anything like me, you’ll have to recover from sheer happiness after that bite.

The cream cheese icing that finishes the cake may be too sweet for you, but think of it as the frothy head on a tall pour of Guinness.

If I had a top ten cakes list, this cake would most definitely be on it. It’s easy to make, easy to serve and easy to disappear! It's the pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow!

The Recipe:

1 cup Guinness
10 tbs. of unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tbs. molasses
3/4 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1 tbs. pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ tsp. baking soda

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 9” springform pan with butter and place a parchment circle in the bottom for easy release after the cake is cooled slightly.
3. Mix the Guinness, butter and cocoa together into a large saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring on and off until blended. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
4. Blend together the sugars, molasses, sour cream, eggs and vanilla in a mixer until ingredients just come together.
5. Sift flour and baking soda together in a bowl.
6. Stir the sugar-sour cream-egg concoction into the pot of melty chocolate Guinness. Mix until ingredients are well blended.
7. Pour into a mixing bowl and then add the flour mixture in small batches, scraping down the sides after each addition.
8. Mix on low for two minutes until completely blended and pour into your prepared springform pan.
9. Cook for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester or knife comes out clean. Set on a wire rack and cool completely before icing.
10. Ice with cream cheese icing if you so desire. Really, this cake can be served without icing; it is JUST that good.

Pro-tip: Last but not least, cut yourself a slice and serve with a pint of cold Guinness. Sláinte!

Photos: 10 St. Patrick's day inspired recipes

For more on food and for more recipes check out twinklevanwinkle.com.

Twinkle VanWinkle was born in a small town in Mississippi. A life-long lover of music, media and food, she grew up following those three things along her path. She has almost 20 years of professional cooking under her apron strings, feeding thousands of friends, family and other folks while working in restaurants and bakeries in Oxford, Miss. She baked 300 apple pies for the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and appeared on “The Best Of...” in the same year. Along with producing dynamic entertainment content for LIN Media, she is a mother, musician and social media fanatic.

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