Chocolate Stout Cake

This is the recipe I used for my chocolate stout birthday cake. It is a moist, versatile dark chocolate cake. The addition of stout gives the cake a slightly pleasant bitter, beery flavor.

Chocolate Stout Cake

4 cups granulated (white) sugar

3 ½ cups all-purpose (plain) flour

1 ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons instant coffee

1 cup buttermilk

3 cups stout beer

1 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350◦F and grease four 8-inch round baking pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and coffee.

Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, beer, oil, eggs, and vanilla;

Add wet ingredients to dry, and beat until well combined. This will form a smooth, thin batter.

Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to a wire rack to cool completely before

icing.

Pouring Beer Stein Cake

The pub where I work recently celebrated their fifth birthday, from the day they first opened their doors. We had a big celebration during service that night  - a live shucking oyster bar, special appetizers and beer pairings, live music, and of course, cake. The owner asked me to make the cake, which they would be serving to customers late in the evening for free. She did not give me a lot of guidance for the cake - mostly left it up to me. Just said that the restaurant seats 60, and we expected a full house plus for the party. Because I wanted to make sure the cake met her approval, I did give her a few samples beforehand, but didn't share my design. I spend over a week planning the cake and was very happy with how it turned out in the end.

I made a chocolate stout cake using the stout beer we brew in house. Then I made a Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream frosting to go with it. The cake was my standard chocolate cake recipe with the substitution of stout for coffee. Then my signature buttercream frosting for filling, frosting, decorating and piping - except this time I used Bailey's Irish Cream instead of milk for the liquid, for a very rich (and alcoholic, in a good way). I also made some of my candy clay/modelling chocolate for the handle and stability in the hidden pipe (under the buttercream foam).

So my cake was designed to look like a beer stein - it's an eight inch round four layer cake frosted in 'beer colored' buttercream, a candy clay handle, and some white buttercream foam on top. Then I covered a pipe inserted into the center of the cake, at an angle, with candy clay and buttercream. This pipe supported the beer can making it look like the can was being poured into the cake. I finished off the cake with a little green inscription. The cake was very well received - in fact the 50 or so pieces I cut from it disappeared very quickly, and some people were amazed by how the beer can was 'levitating'.

Bizarre Beer Battering

Tonight for supper my father made (vegan) beer-battered onion rings as a side dish. They were quite good. We own a deep fryer, but rarely haul it out to use it. So since we had the fryer out with hot oil, and had a little extra beer batter left over, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and do some experimenting. Chefs are curious by nature, and I love trying new things and playing around in the kitchen sometimes when there is no pressure.

Top left: Pasta, top right: Cashews, bottom: Brownie

I hadn't planned in advance, so I just looked around in the fridge and cupboard for (vegan) things I could try beer-battering; just to see how they tasted and if it would work. Here is what I tried, and what I discovered:

1. Leftover Pasta - I've actually tried this before and it is awesome! It's such a nice, chewy and crispy texture. It works well with thicker shapes such as shells and bowties, not so much spaghetti. I once beer battered a filled ravioli and it was awesome!
2. Cashews - This worked quite nicely as well. Put four or five cashews covered in a spoonful of batter and fry until golden. 
3. Leftover Chocolate Brownie - This was AMAZING! The batter doesn't remain overly thick or provide a lot of flavor, but simply gives a protective coating, allowing the brownie to warm up again and the chocolate to melt.
4. Tahnini - This one didn't really work so well, it was too thin to coat itself or blend in with the batter.
5. Strawberry Jam - This went better than expected. It made a sweet-savory snack.
6. Spice Cookie (commericial) - This was also very, very good. It is much like the brownie, where the cookie warms up and softens for that fresh-from-the-oven texture again.
7. Plain Beer Batter - Of course, if you have leftover batter you can always spoon it or pipe it in different shapes and eat it as is because everyone knows the batter is the best part.

Spice cookie

The key for beer battering other items is a very thick batter. Sometimes a thinner, pancake-like batter works well for fish, but you need a thicker, muffin-like batter for items like cashews. You can flavor the batter with spices if you wish, to match whatever you are beer battering, or season after frying. A rule of thumb is anything savory should be sprinkled with salt immediately upon emerging from the fryer, and anything sweet with icing sugar.

Beer Can Chicken

I'll have to give all of the credit for this creation to my father, as he is the barbecue master. Well, most of the credit anyway; it was I who gave him the cookbook with the recipe in it and bought him the chicken rack. Beer Can Chicken is a simple process of putting a whole chicken on a rack with a half-full beer can in the cavity of the chicken, resting in the pan underneath it. The recipe is started off by brining the chicken in salt water, rinsing it well, and patting it dry. Then rub it with a dry rub (the one we used was a mixture of brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper). Place it on the rack with the beer can and barbecue it! It was originally estimated that the chicken would take at least 2 1/2 hours to cook, but it was done within 1 1/2 hours. The only problem with this was that the rest of our meal was not ready. So we left it on the grill a little while longer, then put it in a roasting pan, covered it, and placed it on the hot stove to keep warm. Even though the chicken was slightly overcooked, it was still incredibly moist, tender, and juicy, even the breast. I'm not one for chicken skin, but the flavour was incredible from the rub, and it was very crispy too! The only regret I have is not buying another roasting rack, specifically designed for beer can chicken. I found it at a local grocery store in the clearout section for less than $3, but it did a surprisingly great job, and even came with a basting brush. I wish I had bought two, that way we could do two chickens at once! This bird turned out absolutely beautiful and delectable, and I hope my father will make it again. It can even be prepared similarly in the oven in the winter!