Guinness Mud Cake

Just like a puppy, a chocolate Guinness mud cake isn't just for  Christmas St Patrick's Day. I would happily devour the entirety of this dreamy cake on any occasion. A few friends and I road tested this devil of a cake last night accompanied by a great big dollop of vanilla bean ice cream…heaven on a plate.

I tell you what would have been a perfect accompaniment to a hunk of this gooey Guinness gloriousness though which I'm only just thinking of now…a shot of baby guinness…mmm nom nom in my TUM! 

*baby guinness shooter- half coffee liquor (kahlua, tia maria) topped with irish cream (baileys) resulting in a miniature guinness stout look-a-like.

Whether you're from the Emerald Isle or purely celebrating the feast day with other paddy lovers, wear your shamrocks with pride and tuck into some glorious chocolate guinness cake! It's quite a dense cake with a brownie like quality, the Guinness isn't over powering at all, so if you're a fan of the Irish stout then splash in a bit extra!

!!!{I made my chocolately delight in a smaller tin which was 18cm in diameter so be sure to double check ingredient measurements in comparison to your tin! I based my recipe on The Hummingbird Bakery recipe so if your tin is the same size as their's - use their measurements!}

What You'll Need//

200ml Guinness
200g unsalted butter
60g cocoa powder
300g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
100ml buttermilk
240g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
½ tsp baking powder

30g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
100g cream cheese

one 18cm spring-form cake tin

Method
Preheat oven to 170 degrees C & line cake tin with greaseproof paper.
Pour the Guinness and butter into a large saucepan and turn onto a low heat until butter is melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder & sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg, vanilla & buttermilk together.
Add to saucepan mixture and stir.
Sift your flour, bicarb & baking powder into an electric mixer before adding your main mixture and whizz on a low speed until nice and smooth.
Pour mixture into your lined cake tin and bake in the oven for 45 minutes
Leave to cool on cooling rack before icing.

Icing time!  Soften your butter and mix with the icing sugar until there are no lumps. Add your cream cheese and give a whizz in the mixer until light and fluffy.
Frost away!
Give a light dusting of cocoa powder for decoration (this is where mine went wrong as the powder came out too fast and I threw a hissy fit (sorry William) :) so I ended up smoothing it over the top of the frosting - hence the brown roof.

 Cue Scout patrol…

''hey lads! come check out what my human made!!''

''mmm human food…''

I'm sat chomping on a slice whilst writing this post before dinner time claiming that it's giving me 'inspiration' when actually, I'm just a piglet who loves cake!

Whether you're boozing, caking, or having a movie night in, have the happiest St Patrick's day. Who am I kidding- I'm probably going to make this cake on most special occasions now.

If you give the recipe a whirl do let me know how you get on in the comments below or give me a tweet!

Betty x