A Taste of Nigella

Guinness, cocoa, butter swirly patterns

The Chocolate Guinness Cake that is currently and beautifully baking in the oven is one that I can verily lay claim to, oh yes, but alas, the same cannot be said of the recipe.  That Aphrodite of a cake belongs to none other than Nigella Lawson and to her I am perpetually grateful.  As for all you anti-Guinness folks out there, and as a non-Guinness drinker myself, I must admit that the only resemblance that this cake has to it is in appearance, since it is designed to reflect the iconic ebony-ivory tipple.  

The first thing to note about this cake is the smell when it's cooking: the first stage involves melting an entire pack butter into half a can of Guinness and mixing in a bucket load of cocoa which produces a heady, rich and slightly metallic smell.  (To find a suitable word to describe the Guinness element of the scene I am sitting here making myself sip the drink like a pungent medicine or vodka shot, screwing up my nose slightly.  All in the line of duty of course.) Whilst stirring all the components into a swirly twirly helix of delight, I wondered whether I'd invented - sorry Nigella had invented - a new variety of hot chocolate: butter, Guinness, cocoa and sugar etc in a perfectly smooth twist on the classic blends. I sampled a little and was pleasantly surprised despite the quantity of Guinness that still remained in a relatively unchanged state.  

Anyway, the next best part of cooking this cake (other than licking clean all used utensils and bowls etc) is making the icing. Now it's not traditional icing solely made from icing sugar and egg whites, but a creamy melange of Philadelphia, icing sugar and double cream.  Once the chocolatey cake mix has been left to cool, the icing can be smoothed over the surface, á la Guinness 'froth'.  It is delicious if not verging on being criminally rich, but self-restraint is the key to the perfect flavour as a night (or several hours) in the fridge solidifies both cake and icing and creates a cool, moist and succulent consistency.  (This is approved by my whole family, plus the many other families we have shared this cake with...) 

The Morning After...

As per my own advice, I have nestled my prize cake on a shelf in the fridge to mature over night, only to be devoured by hungry little village goers at the fete tomorrow.  My only comfort lies in the fact that so many of them will consider me to be their fairy godmother by this time tomorrow.  Maybe I should lay tribute to the wonderful Nigella in some fashion though, as it's one thing to bake a fantastic cake, but another thing entirely to have the dream to start with...

HAPPY COOKING ALL.  check out the link for the recipe: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086