Guinness Cake

St. Patrick's Day is the one time all around the world when people generally celebrate Ireland. For many, this means going down to the local Irish pub and downing a few pints of Guinness, while wearing "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" t-shirts or other blazingly green apparel. It is the day when everyone claims to be Irish as an excuse for becoming belligerently drunk; and a sure sign of my age is my preference to stay home and bake a cake instead. Well, at least it is a Guinness cake.

I struggled with making a Guinness cake for a while. I was using Nigella Lawson's recipe, and noticed many of the recipes I found online used the same basic formula, which started by melting the butter into Guinness that is being warmed on a stovetop. But my cakes always turned out quite flat and dense. Eventually, I stopped heating the Guinness up to melt the butter, and instead creamed the butter and sugar together; it works out much better. So, if you have been having issues with making a Guinness cake Nigella's way, try this method instead.

For a 21cm diameter cake, you will need:

• 115g of butter
• 285g of brown sugar
• 60g of cocoa powder
• 250ml of Guinness
• 2 eggs
• 170g of flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder

For the optional icing, you will need:

• 150g of cream cheese
• 80g of butter
• 3 tablespoons of icing sugar
• Optionally, some orange rind for decoration

Preparation Time: 30 Minutes

Baking Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour

Preheat your oven to 175C (350F).

First, we cream the butter. Now, this is normally done by beating the butter with a hand mixer (or if you want to get a good arm workout, feel free to go at it manually) and adding the sugar slowly. However, I just did it all together, especially since I was using the robotic aid.

You want to get a consistant mix of butter and sugar. If you just dumped them together as I did, you may not get a creamy texture at this stage.

And now add the eggs, one at a time, into the butter/sugar mixture and mix them in.

After your second egg gets mixed in, you should start getting a creamy consistency.

You can set aside the creamed butter, sugar, and egg mixture.

In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Use a whisk to mix the dry ingredients together; this will ensure they are evenly mixed. You can also sift them into the bowl, if you have a sifter.

In another bowl, add the cocoa powder.

Carefully pour the Guinness into the cocoa powder, ideally minimizing the foam that is created.

Whisk the mixture together to create a homogeneous chocolate-Guinness. This sounds better than it tastes and looks, just in case you're tempted to take a little lick. Well, go ahead, it won't kill you either.

Now, you have the three main parts ready to go.

The key is making an even mix of everything, carefully folded together so as to not over-mix.

So, first add a little of the chocolate-Guinness into the creamed butter-sugar-eggs and fold it in gently.

Next, add some of the dry mixture and fold it in, gently of course.

And again, some more of the chocolate-Guinness.

And of course, a little more of the dry mixture.

And so on and on, alternating between adding the dry mixture and the chocolate-Guinness mixture. The key here is to gently fold the batter together, you are not trying to beat or whisk everything into a jam packed rave. You are trying to simply make introductions and allow them to get to know each other.

Finally, you should have a nice, thick, silky batter. Now this - this tastes good, so go ahead and take a few licks.

Grease your baking pan.

And pour the batter in.

And pop it in the oven!

While the cake is in the oven, we can make the icing.

Simply whisk the butter with a hand mixer.

Then add the sugar and continue to cream.

Finally, add the cream cheese, and continue to cream.

And, that's it!

Check the cake after 35 minutes, and again after 45. A toothpick poked in the middle should come out mostly clean, but keep in mind this is a moist cake so there will be some residue on the toothpick. However, it should not be obviously uncooked.

Before the cake cools too much, take it out of the mould.

And once it has cooled, add the icing. I like just some icing on the very top of this cake, because I do not like to hide its lovely dark body.

And, to add a splash of colour, I throw some orange rinds on the top.

And there you have it, a lovely moist Guinness cake with cream cheese frosting.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki

Beef & Guinness stew

Do you like to drink Guinness?

Do you like to eat beef?

Do you like warm stew?

Would you go mad in winter if you couldn't drink a pint of Guinness while eating a warm beef stew?

Well, I may not be a doctor (technically, anyway), but fortunately I can prevent you from going mad.

I suggest a dose of Beef and Guinness Stew, with a side of Mashed Potatoes, and you should wash it down with a pint of Guinness.

You're welcome.

For about four servings, you will need the following:

• Half an onion
• Three cloves of garlic
• A few springs of rosemary
• 3-4 bay leaves
• One pint of Guinness draught
• One pint of beef broth
• 4 carrots
• Stewing beef, check with your butcher

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 2-3 hours

This recipe was enough for four people and there was a bit leftover. Stew is always better the next day anyway, but don't tell that to your guests or they will be cross with you and leave - only to return inconveniently the following day just as you are about to enjoy your better stew.

Start by chopping three quarters of an onion and three cloves of garlic. Feel free to modify the onion/garlic as you prefer, you can taste the difference, but it won't kill the stew.

Next, toss your stewing beef cuts in flour. I realised post-stew that I ought to have doused my beef in more flour, so ensure that your beef looks whiter than mine.

To start cooking, toss your onions and garlic in a pot with some oil and let them fry up just a bit.

Then add the beef along with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper.

What you want to do is to get the beef nicely browed on the outside. I had the heat on med-high, and I only wish I had used a larger frying pan initially so that I would not have had to crowd the beef.

If you're in the same position as I was, just remember to let the beef sit for a few minutes before tossing it around the pot.

I decided to chop up some rosemary, but I am also going to use some full stalks.

Along with the rosemary, toss 3-4 bay leaves into the pot.

Finally, it is time to add the wonderful blessing. [Moment of silence]

Now, I'm using Guinness draught, which I first poured into a pint glass and left to settle. The reason is that I'm going to prevent the froth from getting in the stew.

I used a full pint of Guinness in my stew (minus a few important sips for quality control). The important thing is to remember that when you pour the Guinness into the pot, use a spoon to hold back the foam. Otherwise, the foam will rise to the top of your stew and you will have to carefully spoon it out later.

As you can see on the right, the foam is left in the glass after pouring the Guinness.

So, along with the Guinness, add just shy of a pint of beef broth to the pot.

Give the whole thing a good stir and raise the heat so that it comes to a boil, then reduce to a tiny, tiny amount of heat where the broth is just simmering.

Now cover the stew and go away for a few hours. Just pop in to stir it from time to time, but leave it on the stove for at least two hours before serving. About an hour before serving time, add some sliced carrots to it (sorry, forgot to take a picture, but you know carrots, right? Long orange things with a bugs bunny on one end?).

After two hours, if your stew is still quite thin, sift a tablespoon of flour into it and mix well.

Finally, serve with mashed potatoes.

Do I really have to suggest that a pint of Guinness is a great accompaniment to a Guinness stew?

No? Well, good then; I wont.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki