Happy St. Patrick’s Day! You all know Guinness is good for you, right? Well, Guinness chocolate cake is even better.

I tried to drink the leftover beer… that didn’t work out. Maybe I should have let it come to room temperature and poured it into a pint glass?

Since I made this as a bundt cake (like it was on Smitten Kitchen), it made sense to drizzle chocolate ganache over the top. But if you’d rather have cupcakes, I would recommend Baileys frosting. It is fantastic.

I noticed that my beer-butter-cocoa mixture started to separate a bit as it cooled, so I kept whisking it and I think it was totally fine. Either way, you definitely need to let that mixture cool some before adding it to the eggs and sour cream.

The recipe said it would take about 35 minutes to bake, but mine took more like 50 minutes. And, a hint — let it cool all the way (or at least very close) in the pan first.

Don’t be scared of the instant coffee granules in the ganache. It just makes the chocolate taste more chocolatey. And I would have put little shamrock sprinkles or something on top if I could find them. Unfortunately, Annapolis seems to be sold out of shamrock cookie cutters (this happened last year, too) and St. Patrick’s Day-themed cake supplies. Oh well. It still looks pretty. Erin Go Bragh!

Guinness chocolate cake (From Smitten Kitchen)
Cake
1 cup Guinness or other stout beer
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well — make sure you get all the nooks and crannies. Bring beer and butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Allow to cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend. Beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl with an electric mixer to blend. Add beer-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat on slow speed for a few seconds. Using a rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.

Pour cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 35-50ish minutes. Transfer pan with cake onto a cooling rack and allow cake to cool completely. Turn cake onto rack for drizzling ganache.

Ganache
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Melt the chocolate, cream and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water (or metal bowl placed over a pot of simmering water) until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the cooled cake.