Celebrity chef Zac Young gave The Manual his Guinness Green Velvet Cake recipe, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day

If you’ve spent more than even five minutes on The Food Network in the last several years, we’re quite sure that there’s no need to introduce you to Zac Young. Celebrated celebrity chef, TV host extraordinaire, and creator of all things ridiculously delicious, this chef’s talents are well known to the world. Between his frequent appearances on well-loved cooking shows like Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay, and Worst Cooks in America, he somehow finds the time to showcase his immense talents by gifting to the world treasures such as the PieCaken. For that culinary contribution alone, we are eternally indebted.

Young’s unbelievable holiday-themed desserts are nothing short of spectacular. His original, hugely famous Thanksgiving PieCaken — one decadent dessert encompassing pumpkin pie, pecan pie, spice cake, apple pie, cinnamon buttercream, and oat crumble all at once — snowballed into something of a sweet treat phenomenon and took the world by storm back in 2015. Since then, Young has ingeniously created a PieCaken for every season, including The Winter PieCaken, The Red, White & Blueberry PieCaken, The Valentine’s Day Red Velvet PieCaken, and many, many more.

In addition to all of these remarkable PieCakens, Young is still busy developing other holiday-themed desserts, such as this Guinness Green Velvet Cake, which he has shared exclusively with The Manual.

We’re big fans of food recipes that incorporate Guinness, and once we’ve finished off that corned beef and cabbage, we can think of no better way to celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day than with this unique, decadently moist, green velvet cake, worthy of a place at the end of any rainbow.

Guinness green velvet cake recipe

Serves 6-10

Ingredients:

For the cake

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup Guinness
• 1 teaspoon green food coloring

For the frosting

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons Irish whiskey
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Method:

For the cake

1. Preheat oven to 340F. Coat a standard-sized loaf pan with non-stick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda together until no lumps remain.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk brown sugar and eggs together until smooth.
4. Into the egg mixture, whisk in oil, and then buttermilk.
5. Slowly whisk the flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix until just combined.
6. To the batter, whisk in Guinness and food coloring until mixed together.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
8. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
9. When cool, remove the cake from the pan.

For the frosting

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat butter until melted, about 30 seconds.
2. When butter is melted, whisk in the brown sugar and microwave for another 30 seconds, or until the sugar is dissolved.
3. To the butter mixture, stir in whiskey, salt, and powdered sugar, whisking until smooth.
4. Cool frosting to room temperature.
5. Spread frosting over the cooled cake.
6. Decorate with green and gold sprinkles, and sanding sugar as desired.
7. For the prettiest results, allow the cake to sit for at least 30 minutes so that the frosting forms a crust before slicing.

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