Bake yourself some afternoon tea....

In all our chalets waiting for you on your return from a day on the mountain you can expect delights such as Guinness cake, lemon curd butterfly cakes, Portuguese tarts, banana flapjacks, and death-by-chocolate cookies. There will also be fresh bread and a variety of jams, accompanied by hot chocolate, and a selection of tea and coffee.

The Guinness cake seems to be a hit with guests this winter so we thought we'd share the recipe....

GUINNESS CAKE

Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 45 minutes – 1 hour

Ingredients

• 250ml Guinness 
• 250g butter
• 75g cocoa powder 
• 400g caster sugar
• 140ml crème fraiche 
• 2 eggs (3 if small)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract 
• 275g plain flour
• 2 ½ tsp baking powder

For the icing:

• 300g cream cheese (preferably Philiadelphia)
• 150g icing sugar
• 100ml cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.
2. Grease and line a springform cake tin.
3. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter in slices, and heat until the butter has melted.
4. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
5. Beat the crème fraiche with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the beer mixture.
6. Finally whisk in the flour and baking powder.
7. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until a knife comes out clean. 
8. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
9. For the icing, lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and beat them both together. 
10. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency.
11. When the cake is completely cold slice it in half through the middle. Put a layer of icing on the bottom layer, put the top on then put a nice thick layer of icing on the top. Decorate the cake with cocoa powder and a shamrock stencil.

Note – if you are using a wet cream cheese, then add less cream or the icing will be too runny. If it does seem a little runny, place it in the fridge for a while before icing the cake.