Grill Interrupted

I would love to take credit for this cake. Coming up with it, or even finding it. Alas, my friend Robin gets all the kudos. She called me up as soon as she saw it in her Oprah magazine and said “Gav, I know you don’t like desserts, but we’re baking this. Stat.”

Now, it’s true, I don’t have a love for desserts. The savory will always win me over ahead of the sweet. The desserts I like are usually quite straight laced. I like plain cheesecake. I like old style strawberry shortcake. I like pumpkin and pecan pie. All old faithfuls.

This cake though? It’s to die for, and thus, you should make it. It’s a chocolate cake, but the cocoa is subtle not obnoxiously uber-chocolate-y. Perfectly subtle so that the flavour of the Guinness manages to shine through. Also, if you’ve ever wondered how they make that awesome cream cheese frosting  you’ve had on red velvet, carrot, and other cakes? Well, this is it. You may be a bit horrified to find out it’s lots of butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Lots. But this is dessert folks, it’s not going to be all green beans and broccoli.

Thanks Robin – awesome recipe.  Hope you enjoyed the cake!*

*also – my attempts at a rustic icing look… not so successful… just a reminder I should stick to grilling…

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Guinness Cake

Adapted from Oprah.com

Servings: About 16 1-inch slices

Ingredients:

Cake

1/2 pound butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 2/3 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup Guinness stout
6 eggs

Icing

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars. In another bowl, mix together the baking powder, cinnamon, salt, flour and cocoa. At the very last moment, add the Guinness to the eggs. (Don’t let it sit too long, or the alcohol will begin to cook the eggs!)
2. Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture and blend, then add half of the wet ingredients. Repeat this process until all the ingredients are combined.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line the bottom of two 9-inch diameter cake pans with wax paper. Divide the batter between the pans, and bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack and peel off the wax paper. Let the layers cool completely before frosting.
4. In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until mixed, then beat in the sugar. Finally, add the vanilla.
5. Place one cake layer, bottom side up, on a platter. Spread with frosting, then top with another layer, bottom side down. Spread the remaining frosting smoothly over the top and sides of the cake.

Filed under: Recipe on May 19th, 2010