Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Cream Caramel Sauce
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Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Cream Caramel Sauce
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This deep and dark ode to Ireland is quite possibly the second best use of Guinness in the world, next, only, to drinking the black liquid gold beer.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process) plus additional for dusting
- 1 1 /4 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extreact
- 1 1/3 cups room-temperature Guinness or other stout beer
- Lightly sweetened whipped cream
- For Caramel Sauce:
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/3 cup Irish whisky such as Jameson or Bushmills
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Directions
- Make Cake: Preheat oven to 350 F. with rack in the middle. Butter and flour an 8-inch square cake pan (2 inches deep).
- Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one and at time, beating well, then beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and beer alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined.
- Pour batter into cake pan and smooth top, then bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes.
- Cool in a pan on a wire rack 1 hour. Transfer cake to a cake plate.
- Make Sauce: Heat sugar and water in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, and cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is a dark amber. Add whiskey and carefully cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is a dark amber. Add whiskey and carefully ignite with a kitchen match (use caution: whiskey will ignite in a ball of flame). When flame dies out stir in cream and bring to a boil (don't worry if the caramel seizes -- just stir until the sauce is recombined). Boil until liquid is reduced by 1/3, then remove from heat and whisk in butter. Remove from heat and keep warm, covered.
- Serve cake with caramel sauce and whipped cream.
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First Posted: 10/27/2011 4:55 pm Updated: 08/31/2012 10:48 am