Whoa, did someone says Guinness? And Chocolate? Guinness Brownies

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Guinness. Lovely Guinness. Wonderful on its own, and it would seem, pretty good with chocolate too, but in honesty I already knew that, as evidenced here and here.

Because Guinness is good for you, I fervently believe that these brownies will have health giving properties. It is a mere detail that they contain stuff which may not form part of a calorie controlled diet, for the reason that these are so beneficial is that I defy anyone not to sit down with one of these bad boys and a cuppa and not feel completely restored, or else just a little bit better about the trivialities of life. Here is some photographic proof of the restorative properties of Guinness, from a small visit to Dublin more years ago than I would like to admit.

Has Guinness

Gets smiley

This is not necessarily a shameful attempt to get in early on the whole ‘what shall I cook for St Patrick’s Day?’ internet traffic, more an encouragement for those who may be pre-disposed to celebrate the day with a pig under their arm/wear a ‘Kiss Me, I’m Irish’ t shirt/don a snazzy leprechaun hat to do something slightly less predictable. Actually, scratch that. This blog is no place for sanctimony and so this is not the time and place to tell people how to live their lives.  You crack on with whatever it is you’re planning, but make these brownies as well, because they are amazingly glorious. In fact, don’t wait ‘til St Patrick’s Day to make them. Make them now.

You’re welcome. Slainte!

Guinness Brownies, adapted from 'Baked in America' by David Muniz and David Muzniak

Makes 12 humungous ones

Ingredients:

8oz plain flour

6oz plus 2 tablespoons cocoa

½ tsp salt (or taste the batter once it’s mixed; you might need a smidgen more)

12oz dark chocolate - I used 72% cocoa. Go big or go home.

6oz white chocolate

6oz unsalted butter, cubed

6 large eggs at room temperature

12oz caster sugar - original recipe says granulated but, not for me.

1 tsp vanilla extract

16fl oz Guinness, at room temperature

9oz milk chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190c

Grease a 12 x 9 x 2 inch pan really, really well. I then line it with foil, in a bit of a cradle style so I can lift the brownies out afterwards.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients – the flour, the cocoa, the salt.

Place a heatproof bow over a pan of simmering water and melt the white and dark chocolate and the butter. Don’t allow the bottom of the heatproof bowl to touch the simmering water or you risk the chocolate seizing. Set aside to cool a little. You don’t want it so hot that it will ‘cook’ the eggs when you add them.

Talking of eggs – in yet another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture becomes light and creamy and the beaters/whisk leave a ribbon like trail when you pull it out of the mixture.

Put the mixer onto medium and carefully add the melted chocolate mixture, stopping periodically to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Ensure that the mixture is completely amalgamated together. Reduce the speed to low, add the vanilla and then add the flour mixture in stages, allowing the flour to mix completely into the batter before adding more. Do not overbeat.

Finally, continuing with the mixer on low, add the Guinness, and mix until everything is well combined.

Carefully pour the batter into the prepared tin, giving it a bit of a shake so it all levels out and fills the corner of the tin. Once the mixture has settled, scatter the chocolate chips over the top.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre emerges with set crumb, not raw mixture. Do not overbake. The mixture will probably shrink from the edges of the pan.

Allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting into big slabs/removing them from the tin. I put mine in the fridge to speed the process a bit. I have no idea if this is correct but patience and Guinness and chocolate have never really gone together in my life, so….

Preparing for St Patrick's Day? Need some cupcakes? Here is the answer: Guinness and Gingerbread cupcakes.

Readers of the recent Guinness and Chocolate Cake post will realise that after adding some of the black stuff to the mix, there is half a can left. Not a catastrophe by any means as all I would do is reach for a glass from the cupboard and voila! Problem solved. However, if drinking in the afternoon isn't your bag and you are still in cake making mode then frankly you could do such much worse than making these lovely little things.

I remember perusing Amazon and seeing this recipe book with the most gorgeous looking cake on the front and thinking that really I would like to have it on my shelf. As I have no semblance of self control I bought the recipe book, which is entitled 'Tea with Bea' and is chock full of lovely things all begging to be made and devoured. I was intrigued by this recipe which Bea describes as being somewhere between Lebkuchen and beer, and she is sort of right. Depth of flavour, moist, with the warmth of ginger = Yum.

The other thing that I like about these is their understated sense of drama. Cupcakes are often about prettiness, a certain girliness which I don't think these possess that much of. I measure this by Phill not looking too odd whilst eating one. If there is a handsome cupcake, here he is!

A note about quantities and frosting here. The recipe says it makes 24; I got 18. The frosting iced 14 of my cupcakes, but I am nowhere near an expert when it comes to decorating cakes and tend to be somewhere between generous and heavy handed. The 4 that were 'un-iced' I see as 'cook's perks'.

So, without further ado, I present:

Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes, taken from 'Tea with Bea' (Recipes from Bea's of Bloomsbury)

Ingredients:

250ml Guinness

250g black treacle/molasses

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

280g all purpose flour

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 ground cardamom

1/4 ground cloves

3 eggs

100g caster sugar

100g dark brown (muscavado) sugar

1 tbsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger

200ml sunflower oil

chopped crystallised ginger, to decorate

For the frosting:

225g cream cheese

60g unsalted butter, softened

175g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp golden syrup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170c/Gas 5 and line a cupcake tin with papers.

Pour the Guinness and the treacle into a saucepan with tall sides (you will see why shortly)

Bring the mixture to a boil (over high heat to allow the treacle to 'melt' into the Guinness. Take off the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will fizz up and then dissipate, but be ready for it.

Let this mixture stand until completely cool.

Combine the eggs, both sugars, the grated ginger in a bowl (or in the bowl of a mixer as I did). Gradually add the oil, mix to combine, then add the Guinness mixture and mix until just combined.

Add the flour, baking powder and spices to the mix and stir until well blended but don't over beat.

Spoon the mixture (which is very runny - next time I would probably transfer to a jug and pour it) into the prepared cupcake cases. Fill about 4/5ths full as there is little rise whilst the cakes bake.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 - 25 minutes or so, until they feel springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the frosting: Put the butter and cream cheese on a bowl and mix thoroughly until it looks glossy. At this point add the icing sugar and beat until fluffy. This may take a while. Add the vanilla and the golden syrup and then mix to combine.

I used a large star nozzle to pipe the icing on. I piped reasonably swiftly in a circular motion. To finish, bedeck with a little jewel of crystallised ginger.

Chocolate and Guinness? Two of my favourite things! Chocolate Guinness Cake

My relationship with Guinness goes back a long way. The little bit of me that is Irish means that I must have a certain predisposition to liking of the black stuff (utter rubbish actually; I know enough Irish who aren't so keen) it was the only drink I would take during pregnancy on the seldom occasions I was tempted, (Guinness IS good for you), it is the drink of which I would down two pints accompanied by an Irish breakfast at the Irish Centre in Liverpool before myself and other trainee Liverpool schoolteachers would wander back to the university for an afternoon of transformational grammar and how to teach drama. And it is glorious. Creamy, earthy, smooth, dark... an acquired taste for sure, but once acquired, forever loved.

And so, whilst I may have in the not too distant past have poured half a can into a beef stew, finishing the rest of the Guinness in the style of Keith Floyd, I hadn't given a tremendous amount of thought to its cake making properties until I happened upon this glorious cake in 'Cake Days' by the Hummingbird Bakery. What it does to chocolate is really quite delicious, providing a depth of flavour and moistness which is makes it rather rich. Luckily a little goes a long way. The frosting which is cream cheese based gives a tang and a sweetness which matches the moist depths of the chocolate cake really rather well, though my alteration to the recipe is that I doubled the amount of frosting and piped it all into the top of the cake. I had a notion that a Guinness cake should look like the top of a pint of Guinness, and in my mind it does, and it makes me smile much like a pint of Guinness.

So, baking with Guinness. Next, I need to find a recipe for Jameson's whisky and a empty lemonade bottles full of poteen....

Chocolate Guinness Cake, adapted from 'Cake Days' by the Hummingbird Bakery

Ingredients

250ml (9fl oz) Guinness

250g (9oz) unsalted butter

80g (3oz) cocoa powder

400g (14oz) caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

140ml (5fl oz) buttermilk

280g (10oz) plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp baking powder

For the frosting (which I doubled)

50g (1¾oz) unsalted butter, softened

300g (10½oz) icing sugar

125g (4½oz) full-fat cream cheese (such as Philadelphia)

Cocoa powder, for dusting (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F)/gas mark 3, then line the base of a 23cm/9" diameter spring form tin with baking parchment.

Pour the Guinness into a saucepan, add the butter and gently heat until it has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the cocoa powder and sugar into the warm liquid.

 Mix together the eggs, vanilla essence and buttermilk and then add this to the mixture in the pan.

Sift together the remaining sponge ingredients into a large bowl or into the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer.

Using the mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand-held electric whisk, set on a low speed, pour in the contents of the pan a bit at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when lightly pressed and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Set aside to cool, and then remove from the tin on to a wire rack, making sure the cake is cold to the touch before you frost it.

Using the electric whisk or the freestanding mixer with paddle attachment, mix the butter and icing sugar together until there are no large lumps of butter and it is fully combined with the sugar in a sandy mixture. Add the cream cheese and mix in a low speed, then increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Place the cooled cake on to a plate or cake card and top generously with the cream cheese frosting. The cake can be decorated with a light dusting of cocoa powder if you like, but I wanted the top of the cake to look like the creamy head on a pint of Guinness, and so left it plain.