St. Patrick’s Day can be a day for parades, shamrocks and leprechauns, but it can also mean an excuse for green beer, leftover Mardi Gras beads and crazy college student shenanigans. For those of us who have outgrown the mess but still love the taste of Guinness and Baileys, indulge in a different way with this dark chocolate Guinness cake with Baileys cream cheese frosting from Love Swah. This dessert is even better than leprechaun gold at the end of the rainbow, and it won’t give you a headache the next day!

You’ll Need:

The Cake
1 cup Guinness beer
1 cup and 1 tablespoon butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups superfine sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Note: If you don’t have superfine sugar, you can make some at home! For every cup of superfine sugar you need, put one cup of granulated sugar plus two teaspoons into a food processer and run for 30 seconds. For this recipe, you’ll put 1 3/4 cups of granulated sugar into the food processer with 3 1/2 teaspoons of granulated sugar to get the 1 3/4 cups of superfine sugar you need. Check out this explanation of the difference between regular and superfine sugar at the kitchn.

The Icing
4 to 5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
Baileys Irish Cream, to taste (about 4 to 6 tablespoons)

To Make

The Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and line a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Melt the butter into the Guinness in a saucepan over low heat.
3. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Take the saucepan off the heat and set aside.
4. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl until combined.
5. Add the beer mixture to the sour cream and eggs.
6. Whisk in the flour and baking soda until all ingredients well-combined.
7. Pour the cake batter into the springform pan. Bake for an hour.
8. After baking, let the cake cool completely in the springform pan. The cake is very moist and dense, so it could collapse if you remove it from the pan too soon! It may also look a little wet when you take it out of the oven, but if you allow it to cool completely you’ll see it firm up.

The Icing

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar together until well mixed.
2. Slowly add the cream cheese in cubes until incorporated.
3. Add in the Baileys and continue to mix until the icing is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes

For a fun twist, Love Swah recommends adding the icing to the cake just along the top to make it look like the foam at the top of a glass of Guinness! The recipe will yield plenty of delicious Baileys icing, so there will be enough for the whole cake if you decide to really indulge.