In honor of St. Patrick's Day I wanted to make something festive. Last year we made homemade Rubens, so I thought this year should be dessert, and to really celebrate, it should have beer. I Googled and found many variations on the same Guinness Cake recipe, but used this one from GroupRecipes.com with one serious substitution - I didn't use Guinness as the beer. I substituted Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I know what you're thinking, "Is it really an Irish cake if it doesn't have Guinness? And you used a British beer instead? For shame."

Well, didn't you hear me say Double and Chocolate before I said Stout. Plus there was a Young's in the fridge and Guinness was all the way at the store. So maybe my cake isn't Irish, but really how Irish are most things on St. Patrick's Day?

So the Guinness Cake recipe called for Guinness...

But I substituted the same amount of Young's Double Chocolate Stout (and saved the rest for the cook!)

While the oven pre-heated to 350 degrees, I prepped all the ingredients.

I melted the butter in the beer over medium heat on the stove. Then I added the coca and sugar. It looked incredibly chocolaty at this point.

In a separate bowl I had combined the sour cream, eggs and vanilla then added it to the mixture. I was nervous about putting sour cream in the cake, but it gave it a nice texture.

I whisked in the flour and baking soda. It looked like brownie batter at this point.

The recipe called for a spring form pan, which I don't have, so I used my 9" cake pan. Note: a 9" cake pan is slightly too small for this recipe (but I made it work.)

I put the cake into the oven for a full hour. While I waited, I ate some batter. (And drank some stout, hence the picture.)

Lastly, I took up making the frosting. I mixed the three ingredients in the mixer.

The frosting had to be tasted (and there was still a little stout left to go with it!)

The cake cooled and I tried my best to frost it to look like a frothy beer.

So, even though my beer cake isn't completely Irish, I think it's a great way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.