Chocolate stout cake and a disappointing trailer

Interstellar got announced last November, exactly one year before its release, and it being a Christopher Nolan movie I got immediately interested – there wasn’t much to read about the movie and the teaser did not reveal much, either, so my curiosity went through the roof.

Cut to months later – six, to be more precise – when the official trailer is finally out and for the first time, ever since I watched the amazing Memento, I don’t feel like running to the theaters to watch a Christopher Nolan movie – the trailer just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know if it was Mr. McConaughey, the cheesy family scenes, or that after what Alfonso Cuarón did with Gravity it will be pretty hard for someone else to get to that level when it comes to outer space movies, I just wasn’t thrilled after the trailer, Michael Caine and all.

As far as 2014 goes, Foxcatcher and Gone Girl have been keeping me pretty curious, and before the Interstellar trailer I thought that Nolan would be easily on that list, but no, not this time.

Favorites can be disappointing, even if it’s once in a thousand times, except for Nigella: this super moist, dense and delicious cake – one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever made or tried – goes to the list of great recipes only adds to the list of great recipes Ms. Lawson has brought us over the years. And if that wasn’t enough, the tangy icing is irresistible, too, and it complements the flavor of the cake perfectly.

Chocolate stout cake
slightly adapted from the delicious Feast: Food to Celebrate Life

Cake:
1 cup (240ml) stout beer
250g unsalted butter, room temperature, chopped
75g cocoa powder
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
150ml sour cream*
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
275g all purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
pinch of salt

Topping:
220g cream cheese, room temperature
100g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (80ml) double cream (or whipping cream)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 23cm (9in) springform pan and line the bottom with a circle of baking paper, buttering it as well (I used one with a removable bottom).
Pour the beer and butter into a large wide saucepan and heat until the butter's melted. Cool for a couple of minutes, then whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into saucepan. Whisk in the flour, baking soda and salt.
Pour into the prepared pan bake for 45-60 minutes (a skewer inserted in the center should come out clean). Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack.
Carefully unmold the cake, remove the paper and transfer to a serving plate.

Make the icing: using an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar, add the vanilla and then beat them both together until creamy. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the cake.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 10-12