I was desperate. Like eating hot fudge topping out of the jar type desperate.
Thankfully, in the nick of time, I remembered that I had pinned a Guinness Chocolate cake recipe on Pinterest. And I had leftover Guinness from St. Patrick's Day black apples. And chocolate. And butter. I was all set.
This is a very easy recipe that whips up in a saucepan. By hand. How awesome is that?
It is a very dense cake. Very rich. If you are hoping for a light and fluffy Duncan Hines end product, this is not the recipe for you. If you are looking for an almost brownie, but cakey and good brownie, this is the recipe for you.
In all my research, this cake is topped with a cream cheese frosting. I am not a fan of cream cheese frosting. Except on cinnamon rolls. Plus I didn't have cream cheese, and running to the store was out of the question.
Buttercream didn't seem like a good fit. But this whipped flour frosting had Saucepan Guinness Cake written all over it. I have made this frosting before. The two secrets are...cool the flour and milk completely. Completely! And beat the snot out of it! I used my stand mixer on the second highest setting for at least five minutes for the sugar/butter whipping, plus another 5 minutes (at least) when I added the flour/milk mixture.
1 cup guinness
17 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
¾ cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" pan.
-Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter-cut into 8 or 9 pieces-and heat until the butter is melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Remove from heat.
-Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and soda.
-Pour the cake batter into the greased pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
-Pour the cake batter into the greased pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
-After cooling completely, frost the cake.
Whipped Flour Frosting
5 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)
5 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)
-In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick like a brownie mix. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (you can place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step.
-While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (You don’t want any sugar graininess left, but sometimes it won't disappear completely until the flour is added) Then add the completely cooled milk/flour mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. This takes close to 5 minutes also.
-While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (You don’t want any sugar graininess left, but sometimes it won't disappear completely until the flour is added) Then add the completely cooled milk/flour mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. This takes close to 5 minutes also.
-Spread on cooled cake.
Perfect! Have a wonderful spring weekend!
