Chocolate Stout & Salted Caramel Cake
Part of my Guinness-inspired bakes collection. It's a classic boozy chocolate sponge, topped with a beautiful creamy mascarpone icing, that mimics the frothy top. Stout gives chocolate cake a rich, malty, almost treacley flavour. And salted caramel goes ridiculously well with it.
Wash it down with a Bailey's.
Chocolate Stout & Salted Caramel Cake
Ingredients:
For the sponge:
250ml stout - preferably Guinness if it's for St Patrick's day, but if you've got a good local brewery then of course support them by using their darkest.
250g butter or baking block
75g cocoa powder
400g sugar. Caster will work, but light brown soft will add a dense fudginess
150ml soured cream or plain full fat yogurt
2 large eggs
2 tbsp good vanilla
275g plain flour
2.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
For the mascarpone icing:
500g mascarpone
Couple of tablespoons plain yogurt
100g icing sugar
2 tsp good vanilla
Tin of Carnation caramel
Sea salt flakes
Method:
Grease and line an 8" cake tin. Switch the oven on to 170C/150C fan and put the rack in the lower middle part of the oven.
Get a big pan, gently melt the butter or baking block, then whisk in the stout. Remove from the heat.
In a mixing bowl, weight the cocoa and sugar, then whisk into the pan.
Then use that bowl to sift together your flour and bicarb.
Beat together the sour cream or yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Whisk these into the pan until well combined, then gently fold in the flour and bicarb.
Pour into the tin. If it's a loose bottom, place it on a baking sheet so the batter doesn't escape.
Bake for up to an hour until the middle springs back and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for an hour or it'll fall apart!
Meanwhile make the icing: Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. Give it a taste and add a little more yogurt if you wish.
Once the cake is cooled, place it on a nice serving plate and top with the icing. Swirl through the caramel and and sprinkle over a little sea salt.
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