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| Extra creamy pint of the black stuff anyone? |
Inspiration comes from the
funniest places… I had committed myself to baking a cake for some friends a
couple of weeks ago, but as I had been so busy with work and training, I had
asked that they be the ones to decide what I’d make. My one stipulation?
Something that I hadn’t made before.
Quite a challenge as, well let’s
just say that since starting Baby Got Bake, I’ve covered A LOT of the bases.
*Ding-ding* my phone buzzes all of about 45 seconds
after sending out my request for a suggestion, and my dear pal Simeon Le Good
(I know, cracking name…. interestingly, his brother’s name is Simon) comes back
with, “Mmmmmmmm…. Chocolate Guinness Cake please”.
Challenge accepted…
I knew enough about baking (and
Guinness!) to know what sort of cake to expect in terms of consistency/texture
and flavour for this one. I conducted my usual research into the recipe -
checking out tried and tested methods, looking into tips and techniques, and of
course seeing where there was room for variation so that I could put my own BGB
stamp on it.
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| No caption necessary.... |
Now, when I say that the list of
core ingredients for this cake is devilish… I am not being dramatic. There are
reasons as to why Chocolate Guinness Cake is quite possibly one of the most
mouth-wateringly exquisite chocolate cakes that I have ever made. Some of those
reasons for this are……. butter, sugar, sour cream, single cream, double cream
and cream cheese.
Let's crack on, shall we?
The Ingredients:
For the cake
- 250ml of Guinness (bottles draught is best – see the snap above)
- 250 grams of unsalted butter
- 75 grams of cocoa powder
- 400 grams of caster sugar
- 150ml of sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon (2x dessert spoons) vanilla extract
- 275 grams plain flour
- 2.5 heaped teaspoons of bicarbonate soda (or baking powder)
For the topping
- 300 grams of cream cheese (plain full-fat philly is best)
- 150 grams of icing sugar
- 125ml of double cream
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- Optional – bronze sugar bits to shape into an angel
The Method:
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 C /350 F, and butter a round tin (23cm / 9inch size is best)
- Pour the measured Guinness into a large wide and deep saucepan, add the butter in spoons or slices and heat until the butter has melted – a medium heat will do best. Make sure there are no lumps
- Keep the heat on but lower it slightly, and whisk in the cocoa (sieve cocoa to get rid of lumps) and sugar.
- In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb (again, make sure both the flour and the bicarb is sieved).
- Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin – this is important as it is quite a damp, moist cake. A tip – as soon as you take it out of the oven, put it in the freezer to cool for about 45 mins, before putting in the fridge or leaving on a cooling tray to completely cool. This helps the cake retain its moistness for longer and improves the consistency. Nom!
- While the cake is cooling, get started on the icing
- Lightly whip the cream cheese with a fork until it’s smooth and sieve over the icing sugar, then beat them both together.
- Add the double cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Don’t worry if it seems watery after adding in the cream, just keep beating and it WILL firm up.
- When the cake’s cold sit it on a flat board or platter and get to icing that bad boy – ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of a laaaaverly pint of hearty Guinness. Giddy up!
The Moosic:
Simple really, given
the time of year it is….. Christmas songs. Lots and lots of Christmas songs.
The cheesier the better! Par exemple – This bad boy.
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| Et Voila :) |
A delicious and
delectable Merry Christmas from BGB, to you all.
B x
