Guinness Chocolate Cake with Baileys Cream Cheese Icing

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. My sister and I took him out for lunch (the ever glamorous Harvey's but seriously those burgers are amazing) and then with a surprise trip to Canadian Tire for my dad to pick out a bicycle.

He was an avid runner for many years and recently due to knee troubles has had to stop. He's taken up cycling on a stationary bike in the basement but we figured this was a great way for him to take his new hobby back outside to the trails.

We celebrated later on at the pub where he plays and I baked him a cake that I had been eyeing on Pinterest.

It's one of the best chocolate cake recipes I've ever made.  The batter is delicious and the cake bakes up quite dense and moist. You can't really taste the Guinness but you can tell there's an extra ingredient in there.

1. Preheat oven the 350 degrees.
2. Grease cake pan (I used a deep bundt cake pan but the recipe suggests using 3 round pans) and line with parchment paper or dust with icing sugar.
3. In a large saucepan (trust me, use a very large one), combine 2 cups Guinness (1 tall can) and 1 1/4 cup sticks butter over medium-low heat until the butter is melted. Remove from heat.
4. Add 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 4 cups sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 tbsp molasses and whisk.
5. In a small bowl, combine 3/4 cup sour cream with 4 eggs and 2 tbsp vanilla extract. Whisk together then add to the Guinness.
6. In a large bowl, combine 4 cups flour with 5 tsp baking soda. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in increments, mixing well each time to prevent lumpy batter.
7. Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 90 mins for a deep bundt pan or about 45 minutes for 3 round cake pans - or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Allow cake to cool before removing from pan and allow for cake to be completely cooled before adding the icing.

To complement the Guinness I used Baileys Cream Cheese icing to top the cake.

I also cut my cake into two halves midway so that I could add in more icing. If you're using 3 cake pans you won't need to do that.

This icing isn't as thick as others so this is better used for more of a drizzle. But I still managed to cover the sides of the cake with it.

Baileys Cream Cheese Icing

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend 1 pkg cream cheese (softened), 1/4 cup butter (softened), and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream. 
2. Add in 3 tbsp Baileys. Continue to mix together until very smooth.
3. Slowly add 2 - 2 1/2 cups icing sugar, adding until your icing has reached the desired consistency. Drizzle or frost your cake as desired.

Enjoy!

Happy birthday Dad