Chocolate Stout Cake with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting

My version is an adaptation from numerous recipes from around the web (see note below), and it turns out there’s a good reason this cake is so popular: It’s addictive!

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan, and line the bottom with a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper. Or, if making cupcakes, grease and lightly flour your muffin tin. Set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and the stout, stirring occasionally, until the butter is completely melted. Remove from the heat, then whisk in the sugar and the cocoa powder. In a smaller bowl, combine the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla, then whisk that into the chocolate mixture until well blended. Finally, add the flour, salt and baking soda, and blend well to combine, using an electric immersion blender or your whisk. The batter will be very liquid-y. Don’t worry!

Pour into prepared pan, and bake until top is firm and springs back when touched, about 45-50 minutes for the large cake, 15-20 minutes for mini cupcakes and 25-28 minutes for regular cupcakes.

Cool completely. While the cake is cooling, make the icing. (As it cools, the cake might fall a bit in the middle. Not a problem. That part will just be extra moist and chocolate-y. Yeah!)

For the icing, in a medium bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth and light, about 2-3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, and blend on low speed until smooth. Slowly add the Bailey’s, blending well. (This will make a little more frosting than you need. Thank me later.)

Spread frosting generously over cooled cake, and serve.

Note: recipe based on The Snakebite on Food 52, in turn based on Chocolate Stout Cake from Bon Appetit, and Nigella Lawson’s Guiness Chocolate Cake at The Kitchn, as originally posted by the New York Times.)