Gentlemen’s Challenge: Chocolate Beer Cake

This year our talented and not so talented gentlemen bakers are challenged to produce a chocolate beer cake.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 large free-range eggs, beaten
• 175g self-raising flour & ¼ level tsp of baking powder
• 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 110g of spreadable butter
• 50g cocoa powder
• 275g of dark brown soft sugar
• 200ml of sweet stout (Guinness or Murphy’s)

For the icing:

• 110g of dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa solid)
• 2 tablespoons of sweet stout
• 50g spreadable butter, room temperature
• 110g of icing sugar (sifted)
• 25g walnut pieces

To decorate:

• 8 walnut halves

Method

Preheat the oven to Gas 4, 200°C or fan 180°C. Lightly grease and line the base of two 20cm round sponge tins. Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarb of soda into a large mixing bowl. Then add all the other ingredients except the stout. Using an electric hand whisk combine them for about 1 minute until you have a smooth creamy mix. Then add the stout, a little at a time until it’s all blended. Divide the mixture into the two prepared tins and bake near the centre of the oven for about 30–35 minutes. Remove from the oven and after about 30 seconds, remove from the tins and turn them onto a wire cooling tray. Remove the lining by gently pulling it back.

To make the icing, melt the broken chocolate with the stout into a bowl set over a pan containing 5cm of barely simmering water, without the bowl touching the water. When it’s melted, take it off the heat. Beat in the butter and then let it cool before beating in the icing sugar using a whisk. Transfer a third of the icing to a separate bowl and stir in the chopped walnuts. After the icings have cooled to a spreadable mix, sandwich the cake with the walnut icing, then spread the remaining two-thirds on top of the cake using a palette knife. Finally, decorate the cake with a circle of walnut halves.