THIS week Charlotte is sharing a recipe for a delicious cake that will earn you compliments at bake sales or when having a cuppa with friends.

Shotton amateur cook Charlotte, who viewers saw reach the semifinals of this year’s MasterChef competition on BBC One, says the Guinness Cake may look a little messy but it more than makes up for it in deliciousness.

The Leader:

Charlotte Seddon

Charlotte said: “This time last year we ran a cake sale from our house to raise money for a cat charity a foster for called Chester Kitty Cat Rescue. Now I am not a fan of cake (we had cheese rather than cake for our wedding) but my friend Amy brought round this delicious Guinness Cake which I slowly though out the day devoured. After I had to get the recipe from her and today, I am sharing it with the Leader readers.

“Do not be put off if you’re not a fan of Guinness, its far from my favourite drink but it makes the cake beautifully moist and the cream cheese topping is delicious!

“The quantities for this cake causes it to yield a rather large cake or I sometimes to prefer to put it into two smaller loaf tins and give one to a friend - they will be eternally grateful!

Ingredients:

The Leader:

• 280ml Guinness

• 250g unsalted butter

• 80g cocoa powder

• 400g caster sugar

• 150ml crème fraiche

• 2 eggs

• 1 tbsp vanilla essence

• 275g plain flour

• 2 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

• 300g cream cheese

• 100g icing sugar

• 1 tbsp melted butter

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 160 degrees

2. Heat the Guinness and butter in a pan over a medium heat until the butter has just melted

3. Whisk into the pan the cocoa powder and the caster sugar until it has combined and then take the pan off the heat

4. Mix together in a bowl the crème fraiche, vanilla essence and eggs and then add this to the Guinness mixture

5. Add to the mixture the flour and bicarbonate of soda (depending on the size of your pan you may have to pour it into a large bowl)

The Leader:

The finished cake

6. Grease either a large cake tin (around 24cm) or two medium loaf tins

7. Fill the tin with the cake mixture and bake for around 45-60mintues until cooked in the centre

8. To make the topping mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar and melted butter

9. Once the cake has cooked remove from over and allow to cool on a wire rack

10. Spread the cream cheese frosting on top of the cake once it is cool enough