Kootek Chocolate Guinness and Rainbow to Pot of Gold Cake

Directions

THREE DAYS BEFORE SERVING

1. Make the fondant rainbow. To do this, roll out each color of your rainbow into an even round strip and place it over a glass to hold the arch shape. Use a thin brush of water before adding each color to act as a glue. One end of your rainbow should be about two inches higher than the other end to account for the cakes of different heights.

CAKE INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Reduce the Guinness beer on the stove by bringing to boil, then simmer, for about 20-30 minutes. It should reduce to about 1 cup's worth. Use the hot reduced beer in the cake recipe, and let the remaining cool to use in the frosting.

2. Preheat oven to 350F and grease three 6 inch pans and two 4 inch pans. Whisk together: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and remaining dry ingredients. In another large bowl, mix together eggs, oil, sour cream, vanilla, and buttermilk. Pour dry ingredients into wet, and whisk together. Add 1/2 cup of reduced, hot guinness beer and whisk until smooth.

3. Pour into prepared pans (5 total pans if making the rainbow arch) and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Start checking cakes at 25 minutes, and add more time if needed (ovens vary). Let cakes cool completely before frosting.

MAKE THE FROSTING:

1. Whip butter on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Mix on low for 1 minute, then on medium-high for 2 minutes until creamy. Taste, add more salt or guinness if needed.

CRUMB COAT THE CAKES:

1. Fill and stack the three 6 inch cakes together, off-center on a 14 inch cake board, and the two 4 inch cakes together on a smaller round cake board (you will move the smaller cake to the larger cake board later). It's OK if you don't have enough frosting to fully cover the outside. Place in fridge for 20 minutes.

FINISH THE CAKES:

1. Cover the larger cake in a variety of piping styles, I used green vanilla buttercream and tips T17, T07, K02 and K45. Carve the top and bottom part of the smaller cake to make it look like a round pot, quick crumb coat & refrigerate again, then cover in fondant. Add gold coins or sprinkles on top.

ASSEMBLE:

1. Using an offset spatula, carefully lift the smaller cake and place it beside the larger cake on the large cake board. You may want to measure to be sure they are spaced out properly to fit your fondant rainbow. Carefully insert the rainbow into the cakes using toothpicks.