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

Guinness brownies

One of the great things of having a blog for so long is that after all these years you and I have bonded in such a nice way that I no longer feel ashamed to tell you things like my caipirinha fiasco (no judgmental comments so far). :D I like me some booze occasionally, either for drinking or for baking.

Just like the cake I posted the other day these brownies are a great way of enjoying a beer without having to deal with a headache the morning after: they are chocolatey, very fudgy – to the point of being creamy – and delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

Guinness brownies
slightly adapted from the delicious and foolproof Tate's Bake Shop: Baking For Friends

5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, chopped
250g milk chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (80g) all purpose flour
½ cup (45g) unsweetened cocoa powder – I used Dutch-processed
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (112g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (40g) brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225ml Guinness or other stout beer
¾ cup (125g) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 20cm (8in) square baking pan with foil, pressing foil firmly against pan sides and leaving 5cm (2in) overhang. Butter the foil.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth, cool slightly.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt. In the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs, granulated sugar and brown sugar on high speed until well combined. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, mix in the chocolate mixture and scrape the sides of the bowl. Still on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients, then the stout. Finish mixing with a spatula, then transfer to prepared pan. Smooth the top and sprinkle with the chocolate chips.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the brownies comes out with moist crumbs, about 50 minutes. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Lift up the brownies using the foil and cut into squares.

Makes 16

Chocolate stout cake with peanut butter frosting

I've been trying to keep up with the inventory idea for the last year and it's worked out fine so far: the ingredients no longer end up in the garbage and that is great. From time to time I check the contents of my pantry/freezer/fridge to make sure nothing goes to waste and a couple of days ago I found a can of Guinness beer in the cupboard; while searching for something delicious to make with it I remembered this great cake I made months ago but still hadn't shared with you - it's another one of Donna Hay's wonderful recipes and it was the first time I ever baked with stout beer.

Chocolate stout cake with peanut butter frosting
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Donna Hay Magazine

Cake:
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
½ cup (120ml) Guinness or other stout beer
½ cup (113g/1stick) unsalted butter, chopped
1/3 cup (30g) cocoa, sifted
1 egg
1/3 cup sour cream*
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (224g) granulated sugar

Peanut butter frosting:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar, sifted
½ cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ½ tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 1.5l loaf pan, line it baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Cake: in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Place the stout and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir to melt the butter. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa; set aside.
Whisk together the egg, sour cream and vanilla. Add to the stout mixture, followed by the sugar and the sifted ingredients. Whisk to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool the cake in the pan over a wire rack for 20 minutes. Carefully unmold cake and transfer to the rack. Cool completely.

Frosting: place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the cream and beat for a further 2 minutes. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake to serve.

* 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 6-8