Chocolate porter cake

Chocolate porter cake

The porter in this chocolate cake recipe ensures it’s extra moist. Serve this celebratory dessert at a dinner party or birthday.

Chocolate porter cake

Or… our chocolate Guinness cake is very similar, and perfect for St Paddy’s celebrations.

  • Serves icon Serves 12-16
  • Time icon Hands-on time 30 min, oven time 1 hour, plus cooling

The porter in this chocolate cake recipe ensures it’s extra moist. Serve this celebratory dessert at a dinner party or birthday.

Or… our chocolate Guinness cake is very similar, and perfect for St Paddy’s celebrations.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories
464kcals
Fat
26.6g (16.5g saturated)
Protein
5.8g
Carbohydrates
48.4g (34.6g sugars)
Fibre
1.4g
Salt
0.5g

Ingredients

  • Sunflower oil for greasing
  • 260ml porter (we like St Peter’s Old-Style Porter or Guinness)
  • 250g unsalted butter
  • 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped into chunks
  • 50g cocoa powder
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 200g soft light brown sugar
  • 2 large free-range eggs
  • 150g full-fat Greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp vanilla bean extract
  • 280g plain flour
  • 2½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the topping

  • 200g full-fat cream cheese (note: it needs to be full fat, and Philadelphia is the brand we’d recommend for best results)
  • 80g icing sugar
  • 200ml double cream

You’ll also need…

  • Deep 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin
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Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/ gas 4. Grease a deep 23cm loose- bottomed cake tin and line with baking paper. In a large pan, gently warm the porter, butter and chocolate until the butter and chocolate have melted.
  2. Mix the cocoa powder and sugars in a large bowl, rubbing away lumps. Pour in the chocolate mixture gradually, whisking well using a balloon whisk, then add the eggs. Whisk until it’s thick and smooth, then whisk in the yogurt, vanilla, flour and bicarbonate of soda.
  3. Pour the batter into the lined tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
  4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the topping ingredients with an electric mixer until the mix just holds its shape. It’s important not to carry on beating as the topping will go runny – and the more you beat, the runnier it will get. Beware, too, that adding more icing sugar isn’t a quick fix – it will only make the topping runnier. Swirl the icing on top of the cooled cake.

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving
Calories
464kcals
Fat
26.6g (16.5g saturated)
Protein
5.8g
Carbohydrates
48.4g (34.6g sugars)
Fibre
1.4g
Salt
0.5g

delicious. tips

  1. The un-iced cake will keep for up to 2 days in a container in a cool place. It will keep frozen, wrapped in cling film, for up to 1 month.

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Reviews

Read what others say...

  1. This is one of my favourite cakes to make – perfect for a birthday. It’s moist yet light, chocolatey and so easy to make. I like the fact that the topping is lighter and fresher than the usual cream cheese icing, too, but I always add a crumbled flake to decorate . Almost foolproof, i’d say!

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