With St.Patrick’s Day just around the corner and internet booming with celebration ideas, foods, drinks and party evites I started to feel the spirit of this Irish holiday. The fact that I visited my sister in Ireland just last month might also have had something to do with it. I must say I really love this always green beautiful country with its pubs, music, culture and the most wonderful people. Even though I lived there myself (short period when I was a student and worked in a Dublin pub) and visited so many many times, I’ve never actually experienced the St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland but I am definitely hoping that one day I’m gonna be around for it, can’t even imagine how amazing it must be!

What comes to your mind when thinking about Ireland? Green color, rainbow, pubs…. Guinness! So of course Guinness has to be a part of any Irish themed party or this time a cake. Paired with chocolate you get a beautiful, dense but very moist chocolaty cake. The recipe for the cake was inspired by this recipe, but as usual I like to make it my own. The cake itself is not overly sweet so when you add the frosting it creates a perfect balance and the result is pure deliciousness!( as you may have noticed I am not a fan of cakes that taste like a bag of sugar). As we are talking Irish theme here, I was wondering what would be the best Irish touch for the frosting. Baileys was an easy option as its my top favorite drink. And here we have it a perfect blend of Irish flavors on the plate! Hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do, just writing about it I think I am going to sneak another slice 😀 Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Chocolate Guinness Cake with Baileys Cream Cheese Frosting

Guinness chocolate cake:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup Guinness Extra Stout
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
• 1/4 cups of sour cream
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs

Baileys Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 2-4 Tbsp of Baileys
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 stick of cream cheese
• 1 cup of powder sugar
• green food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. In a small pot or saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add Guinness, cocoa and vanilla extract. Remove from the heat and let cool.

   

3. In a stand mixer mix eggs and sugar until well combined and foamy( you can also use hand mixer) Add sour cream and continue mixing.
4. In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder.
5. Add butter mixture to your eggs and sugar and mix well.
6. At last add your dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
7. Grease and flour your pan and gradually pour your cake mixture in. I used a star shaped pan.(TIP: As the recipe is meant for a 9inch pan I opted for a smaller bundt pan. I case you want to use your regular size pan or ensure you fill the pan I would recommend to double the recipe.)

   

8. Bake for 30-40 min or until a cake stick comes out clean. (baking time may vary based on your oven) .Let cool completely.

   

9. Make frosting: With hand mixer mix butter and cream cheese ( make sure they are room temperature and soft otherwise you might end up with bumps in your frosting)
10. Spoon by spoon add sugar and Baileys( I used 4Tbsp but it just depends on how strong you want the flavour) and 4 drops of green food coloring.
11. Frost and decorate your cake. As its a St. Patrick’s Day I went for green sprinkle shamrocks.

    

Enjoy!

Tips:

• the cake is very moist and chocolaty, its absolutely delicious with the frosting, simply perfect balance, so don’t be shy with it
• when serving I would recommend to cut it into smaller slices as the cake it quite dense
• I tried this recipe for cake pops as well, crumble the cake, add the frosting and make little balls, cover in while choc. SOOOO DELICIOUS!!!
• to make the shamrocks on the cake I printed one and cut the inside out, placed it on the cake and sprinkled away