Chocolate Guinness cake with whiskey frosting

We went over to some friends' apartment for dinner earlier this month around St. Patrick's Day. Although my Irish roots are pretty distant (going back to my great-great grandfather), it still seemed like a themed dessert would be appropriate. 

However, I couldn't find a recipe for something green that I really liked, not to mention the fact that food coloring is only available at fancy grocery stores in Hong Kong. Then I remembered that not everything Irish-inspired must be green.

So I found a recipe for chocolate cake made with Guinness, which actually seems to be a twist on a wacky cake. I made it as written, but chose to use whiskey buttercream instead of the suggested cream cheese / whipped cream frosting.

Later I read that Nigella Lawson has a different version, which might be worth trying. However, this recipe turned out really well. The cake was very moist, even though it needed to bake longer than called for. Whiskey in the frosting was also surprisingly tasty! It was a bit like the "Irish car bomb" cupcakes I've had at home, which are delicious despite the rather questionable choice of name.