Irish Drunken Cake, a chocolate Guinness cake with Irish whiskey and Irish Cream Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Irish Drunken Cake, a chocolate Guinness cake with Irish whiskey and Irish cream

By Irvin Lin

Nigella Lawson popularized the Guinness Chocolate Cake but this Irish Drunken Cake takes it to a new level. I split the cake into four layers (don’t worry I give you instructions with photos on how to do that painlessly) but if you’re feeling lazy, just leave it as two layers and only make half the frosting. But trust me, this light and fluffy frosting is fabulous and you’ll want as much as possible of it so do try to split the cake layers if you can. It’s not too hard!

Radically adapted from a Simply Recipes which in turn was adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe. Inspired by a recipe from First Prize Pies by Allison Kave.

Cake Batter
2 1/2 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
10 tablespoons (140 g or 1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 bottle (11.5 oz or 1 1/2 cups) Guinness
3/4 cup (80 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (110 g) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (115 g) Greek-style yogurt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup Irish whiskey

Frosting
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, cold
16 oz (2 bricks) cream cheese, at room temperature
8 oz (1 tub) Mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
2 cups (230 g) powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoon Irish whiskey
3 tablespoons Irish cream

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Spray two 9-inch cake pans with cooking oil, then line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt in a medium bowl. Using a balloon whisk, stir the dry ingredients together vigorously until well blended. Place the butter in a large pot on the stove and turn the heat to medium high. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted. Turn the heat off and pour the Guinness into the butter, stirring to blend with a whisk. Add the cocoa powder and both sugars to the pot and whisk until blended in.

3. Measure the Greek-style yogurt into a glass measuring cup and add the eggs and Irish whiskey to it. Stir until the eggs and whiskey are incorporated and the entire mixture is smooth. Add the yogurt and eggs mixture to the pot with the chocolate Guinness mixture. Whisk to incorporate. Add all the dry ingredients to the batter and whisk until incorporated. Divide between the two prepared cake pans (if you have a scale, it’s roughly 750 grams of batter per pan). Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the sides of the cake pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting and letting cool on a wire rack completely to room temperature.

4. Once the cake layers have cooled completely (at least two hours or overnight if you can). Make the frosting by first whipping the cream until peaks form (you can use a stand mixer or do it by hand). Move the cream to another bowl (if you are using a stand mixer) and use the paddle attachment to beat the cream cheese, Mascarpone cheese and powdered sugar together until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Scoop the whipped cream back into the bowl and slowly (I “pulsed” the stand mixer on-and-off) beat the cream into the frosting. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use your hand to fold the whipped cream in with a large rubber spatula. Once the whipped cream is incorporated, scoop out about 1/3 of the frosting (it’s better to error on the smaller side so 1/4 to 1/3 of the frosting works, but you don’t need to be exact) and place it in the bowl that had the whipped cream. Add the Irish whiskey to the remaining 2/3rds of the frosting in the stand mixer bowl and beat slowly until incorporated. Fold (or gently stir) the Irish cream into the reserve 1/3 frosting in the separate bowl.

5. Once the frosting is made, assemble the cake by splitting the layers. Stick 8 toothpicks halfway up the side of one cake layer. Using the toothpicks as “guides” slice the cake layer horizontally into two layers each (resulting in two layers). I like to use a long serrated bread knife but use the longest and sharpest knife you have. Once the cake layer is split, use a thin cutting board, piece of plastic or stiff cardboard to slide the cake layers apart. Repeat with the other cake layer, resulting in four layers.

6. Place one layer on the serving plate or cake stand and scoop out 1/3 of the Irish whiskey flavored frosting on top of the layer. Spread the frosting to the edges and place a layer on top of the frosting. Repeat with 1/3 of the Irish whiskey frosting, spreading to the edge and place the third layer on top. Spread the remaining frosting on the third layer. If you find you don’t have enough frosting for the third layer, use some of the Irish cream flavor frosting, spreading to the edges of the cake. Add the final layer of the cake and spread all of the Irish Cream frosting on top, as if the cake had a frothy layer of beer foam on top. Serve immediately.

Makes 1 cake, serves 12-16 people, depending on how thin you slice the cake.