Stacie Stewart's Black Beehive Frosted Guiness Cake

Found this recipes while searching for cakes using Guiness. After reading the ingredients and method, decided to have a go with it. This is a rich moist cake. It's unusual method, but trust me, you won't be disappointed. The large amount of sugar is necessary to counterbalance the bitterness of the Guiness, so don't be tempted to cut it down. The classic cream cheese frosting cuts the richness of the cake beautifully.

Ingredients:

• 250ml/1 cup Guiness
• 400g caster sugar
• 100g cocoa powder
• 250g unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 100ml buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 250g plain flour
• 2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1 tsp salt

Cream cheese frosting:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 175g full-fat soft cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 500g icing sugar
• cocoa pwder, for dusting

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C/160C for fan oven. Grease a 20cm baking tin and line with baking parchment.

Put the Guiness, sugar, cocoa and butter in a pan over a low heat and stir gently until the butter has melted. Leave to cool slightly.

In a large bowl or food mixer, beat the eggs with the buttermilk and vanilla, then add the Guiness mixture, beating until combined.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate soda and salt together. Add in the flour mixture to the Guiness mixture in 3 stages, stirring gently after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix to make sure everything is evenly combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin; it will be really runny. Bake for 60 minutes, until the skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely before decorating.

To make the frosting, beat the butter until softened. Add the soft cheese and beat gently, then add the vanilla and icing sugar and beat until thick and creamy. Spead over the top and sides of the cake and dust with cocoa.