How amazing that this month, my Secret Recipe Club assignment was the same blog that had me last month. I am very familiar with Cairns Manor and I was so excited to look around the blog for something to make. Jo is a domestic goddess and has some very delectable recipes on her site. As an animal lover Jo and I are on the same wavelength and I had a great time browsing her blog. It did not take me long to settle on my choice! I am so intrigued by using beer in baking and as this recipe has chocolate in it (my second love) I could not resist.

We are very fortunate to have some great local breweries near to us, and my favourite is Triggerfish. They are situated in Paardevlei, and the Friday before I decided to bake this cake, I drove into the complex to purchase one bottle of stout. I got a bottle of Empowered Stout which has an aroma of coffee, dark chocolate, dried fruit, raisins and licorice and pairs well with meat dishes or dark chocolate. Not wanting to let a good opportunity go to waste, I bought a selection of their beers so that Dave and Alex could enjoy them over the weekend. I baked the cake exactly as per the recipe, but after an hour it had not cooked through. The top was burnt and I sliced that off and left it in the oven for longer, but eventually decided to just leave it as is. There was nothing wrong with the cake per se (we ate every last slice) but I could not blog a recipe that was not right, and I could not take a photograph of the cake.

On the Monday I went back to Triggerfish and when I told Eric (the owner) what I was baking, he gave me the stout I needed to bake the cake. I am so glad I keep a water bottle in my car, as this was used for some black marlin which is only available on tap. This Russian Imperial variety has a lovely coffee, dark chocolate, aniseed, dark fruit and caramel aroma and pairs well with rich warm deserts and dark chocolate. Needless to say, I left with a few more bottles again to ensure the boys would not go thirsty during the week.

I baked the cake again, but halved the batter into smaller tins, and it worked a treat. I would definitely bake this again as you get a really malty, chocolate flavour in this delicious cake.

have you used stout in baking?

Chocolate Stout Cake

Chocolate Stout Cake

 

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Ingredients

• 100g butter
• 80g cocoa powder
• 255g flour
• 7.5mls bicarbonate of soda
• 2.5mls salt
• 385g sugar - I used fructose
• 60mls canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 180g plain yoghurt
• 250mls stout

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius
2. Prepare 2 17.5cm baking tins
3. Over a bain-marie, melt the butter
4. Once melted add the cocoa and mix in well
5. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt
6. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, oil and eggs until pale in colour
7. Add the cocoa-butter mixture and mix until blended together
8. Mix in half of the flour mixture, until the flour is just mixed in
9. Add the yoghurt and stout and mix again until incorporated
10. Add the rest of the flour and mix in
11. Divide the batter between the tins and smooth out on top
12. Bake for 30 minutes and test to make sure they have cooked through
13. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out
14. Leave to cool completely before icing with a chocolate ganache

3.4.3177

What I blogged:

• one year ago – ingredient challenge
• two years ago – Friday’s food quiz number 38

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