Cake of my ancestors
And now for a food-related post:
As I am 96 percent English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh means the heritage dishes of my ancestors are typically include fish and meat, potatoes and beer.
Being seafaring folks means a lot of fish, which can be delightful assuming the chef does more than batter it, deep fry it and douse it with malt vinegar. Or even if chef does all those things, great.
Free-range lamb and beef grazing on grass tinged with salty sea air is delectable. Everyone loves potatoes. Few things grown in soil inspire as much joy as a potato.
The climate of the British Isles does not lend itself to grape growing, so wine is an import. Beer, however, is the result of the greatest chemical experiment known to mankind, according to my college biology professor.
So I thought I would commemorate my heritage on St. Patrick’s Day.
This year on March 17, the dinner menu for my husband’s Saint’s Day included corned beef sandwiches with a cabbage slaw (I added horseradish mustard dressing and cilantro) and oven roasted baby potatoes. While he enjoyed a growler of porter, I decided to work beer into dessert with this recipe from the beautiful Brit Nigella Lawson. For all the specific provisions and measurements, click the link. Here’s what I did:
Ten tablespoons of butter mingled with a cup of Guinness stout in a sauce pan and when that duo was well combined, in went the sugar (I just used granulated sugar because I did not have superfine) and the cocoa. I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa and this turned this mixture into a silky, ebony colored chocolate sauce.
Once that delightful concoction cooled to room temperature, I poured it over the custardy cream I’d whipped up in my KitchenAid stand mixer: two cage-free organic eggs, the least pricey sour cream I could find at the store and the most expensive Madagascar vanilla I could procure online.
Once the bowl contents were well-blended, I folded in the sifted King Arthur all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt.
Once the mixture resembled semi-smooth batter it was poured into a greased 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper at the bottom and tucked away into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for one hour.
Meanwhile, I got creative with the frosting. The original recipe called for powdered sugar, a brick of cream cheese and a quarter cup of heavy cream. But since it was Saint Paddy’s Day, I thought why not sub the heavy cream from Bailey’s Irish Cream?
That substitution worked brilliantly, if I do say so myself.
The Irish cream in the frosting added not only flavor but a warm taste on the tongue, likely due to the whiskey that is the base of Bailey’s sweet liquor.
The cake was super soft and spongy with a deep chocolate flavor. I am no scientist but I suspect the carbonation in the beer makes is more springy. I’d use this recipe for any type of chocolate cake.
The frosting was a little runny — no doubt due to Irish cream not being as thick as heavy cream — so next time I would either use less booze or less cream cheese or more sugar.
And now to end with a traditional Irish blessing:
May your days be many and your troubles be few,
May all God’s blessings descend upon you,
May peace be within you, May your heart be strong,
May you find what you’re seeking wherever you roam.
May your cake be sweet and the frosting be light like foam*
(*Last line rewrite inspired by this dessert)
