I know I shouldn’t.

But I did.

And it was SO good.

I made this beauty for our last Seasonal Mama Dinner in February and to me, it was like pure heaven. In celebration of St.Patrick’s Day and of mama’s breastfeeding all over the world here is the recipe for those who asked. I altered it from the original I found and added the coconut milk frosting and candied mint leaves because I just thought they were so beautiful ( and also Aggie was sick so I had  lot of time to brush the leaves in egg whites ). If you haven’t noticed, our 3rd Seasonal Mama Dinner has been posted here. Let me know if you bake this and how it turns out!

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Cake Ingredients

250 g (1 c. and 2 tbsp) unsalted butter

250 ml (1 c.) Guinness (I accidentally used 1 whole can, I thought it was great but experiment for yourself!)

75 g organic cacao ( 3/4 c.)

275 g (2 +  1/4 c.) all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. sugar ( I used coconut palm sugar )

2 medium eggs

150 ml (2/3 c.) kefir yogurt or sour cream

1 tbsp. good quality vanilla extract

Coconut Milk Frosting

1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk, chilled

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fresh mint leaves

1 egg white, whisked

1 cup ultrafine baker’s sugar

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First stick your can of coconut milk in the fridge(overnight), then prepare the candied mint leaves. Lightly brush the exterior of mint leaf with the egg white (you don’t want to brush it on too thick otherwise the sugar will stick in too thick of a layer and you won’t be able to see the details of the leaf through the sugar). Gently sprinkle the sugar evenly over the leaf until it is coated in a light dusting of the sugar. Place the leaf on a wire rack to dry and repeat this process with the remaining leaves. Allow them to dry until they are stiff and crisp when poked (about 18-24 hours).

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

1. Add butter, cocoa and Guinness to a saucepan. Warm over a medium heat and stir until melted. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes to cool slightly.

2. Add flour, baking soda and sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix together well. Pour in the Guinness/cocoa/butter mixture, lightly combine, add the vanilla, eggs and sour cream and beat everything together until well combined. The batter should be thick and dark chocolate in color.

3. Pour into a greased and lined 10″ angel food pan (or another straight-sided tube pan) and cook in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake.*Note: This cake is very moist inside, so use your judgment regarding the skewer test. Do not leave in the oven until the cake has totally dried out — cook long enough so there is no uncooked cake on the skewer but there may be a few moist crumbs sticking to it after an hour of cooking.

4. Leave to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before removing from the cake tin and placing on a wire wrack to cool completely.

 5. Open the can of chilled coconut milk and scoop out only the hard coconut cream that should have settled on top. Whip the coconut cream with maple syrup, vanilla extract until fluffy. Spread onto cake!