Chocolate Guinness Cake

and notes from Ireland

I recently went to a genome engineering conference in Killarney, Ireland, and capped it off with a few extra days in Dublin. Pints upon pints of Guinness later, I’ve returned to the U.S.

I don’t think I had a single unfriendly experience while I was in Ireland. Every pedestrian, pub owner, waiter, shop owner, greeted me was a smile and a “Cheers!”
Dublin City center itself was bustling with activity. I loved walking among the crowds of Dubliners every morning as commuters went to work and kids went to school in their uniforms. It was a truly charming city to be in.

Killarney itself is in the southwest of Ireland, in county Kerry. (Speaking of counties, I learned that in Ireland, they pride themselves greatly in their counties, which each county having 2 signature colors and a flag with those two color blocks.) To get to Killarney, I had to take a small airplane to Cork and then take an hour long car ride across the beautiful, green Irish countryside. Killarney has a gorgeous national park with lush meadows and lakes. I went running there and came face to face with a family of deer on the way.

But now let’s talk about Guinness. I went to the Guinness store and learned that there are 4 ingredients in Guinness: yeast, water, barley, and hops. They’ve used the same strain of yeast to brew since they first started brewing Guinness. I never was a fan of Guinness until this trip, but I really do think it’s true that Guinness tastes better in Ireland. Every pint was poured and let sit to allow the foam to rise to the top, then they topped it off until you had this delicious thick coat of foam sitting on every glass. It’s truly magical to drink Guinness in Ireland.

Above all, the most important part of this trip is that my mom was able to join for me a few days to explore Dublin together. This was the first trip we had taken together as a mother-daughter duo since I was 13 years old. Where does the time even go? In the midst of the hubbub of wedding planning, it’s so nice to have the reprieve to enjoy some time with my mom.

And now that I’ve returned with this newfound appreciation of Guinness, I’m excited to try using it in more of my cooking and baking. I baked this Chocolate Guinness cake before I went to Ireland for my friend’s birthday and I thought the idea of using frosting to imitate a foamy top on a pint was so cute. I think I can safely say I’ll have such a deeper appreciation of all Guinness-adjacent treats I make going forward. So, cheers mates!

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Adapted from Nigella Lawson

For the cake:

1 cup Guiness stout

10 tbsp (1 stick + 2 tbsp) unsalted butter

3/4 cup cocoa

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

5 tsp baking powder

For the topping:

11/2 powdered sugar

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup milk

For the cake: Butter an 8 inch square cake pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heatu ntil butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar and whisk to blend.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Add in the Guiness mixture. Then whisk in flour and baking powder. Pour into the pan and bake until risen and firm, around 55 minutes. Let the cake cool completely in the pan.

For the topping: Mix confectioners' sugar and cream cheese with milk and beat until it's smooth and spreadable. Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Drizzle the glaze over the the top of the cake, so it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.