Guinness Chocolate Cake

This cake comes from The Brewery in Great Barrington, Mass. If you go there, you have to marvel at the 3 huge layers, covered in chocolate icing and of course, eat a piece. I've made this smaller (better for family consumption) and a wee bit more figure friendly by replacing some of the fat with applesauce and yogurt for sour cream. It's a lovely moist chocolate cake that is not too sweet.

Ingredients:

1 cup Guinness

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup applesauce

2 eggs

3/4 cup plain yogurt

3/4 cup cocoa

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 Tbl baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

Melt first 3 ingredients in a bowl in the microwave. Cool slightly. Beat eggs and yogurt in mixer then add melted ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended, scraping sides of the bowl. Pour into a greased bundt pan and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then place on rack.
Tips:

Although The Brewery ices it with a rich dark chocolate icing, I usually serve it plain with vanilla ice cream.

I mixed Creme de Menthe with a bit of powdered sugar and drizzled it over the ice cream for a festive St. Patty's Day look.

Confession time. I accidently made this cake with a full (12oz) bottle of Guinness rather than the 1 cup. All it seemed to do is add about 15 minutes to the cooking time without changing the texture or taste. Whew!