So, as most of you may know already it was mine and my twins my birthday yesterday. It was also one of my good friends birthday too, so I originally threw together some ingredients and made this cake for one of my friends, but when it smelt for fricken good in the oven I knew I had to make one for myself as well! Theres two things that make this cake good, a good beer and a good dark chocolate, the hazelnuts on top are just a bonus! The beer i used for this cake is a mocha beer that says in clearly on the back “This is a vegan beer” how awesome is that? You can use any rich beer or stout in this cake, A beer with a good strong flavour and dark colour would work perfectly. The rule of thumb when cooking/baking with alchz is never use something you won’t drink! If it’s too cheap and nasty to drink your not gonna want to eat it! Before I get onto the recipe I would just like to tell you guys that if any of you make one of my recipes you can share a photo on my facebook page here, I would love to see how the recipes work out for you peeps 😀

Ingredients:
1 cup batemans mocha beer or stout
100g quality dark chocolate
1/3 cup unrefined golden caster sugar
1/3 cup unrefined soft brown sugar
1/2 vegetable shortening
2 flax eggs (1 tbsp ground flax + 2 tbsp water whisked together= 1 flax egg)
1 1/3 cup plain white flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch o’ salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder

For the beer ganache:
100g quality dark chocolate
1/4 cup mocha beer or stout
1 big tbsp vegetable shortening
1 tbsp vegan milk

3/4 cup hazelnuts

Method:
Grease and lightly flour a 8″ round cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180c/360f. Carefully melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl). Stir the chocolate gently as it melts. Once the chocolate has melted set aside whilst you beat the two kinds of sugar together with the shortening until light and fluffy. Beat in the flax eggs. Now whisk in the beer followed by the melted chocolate, whisk together well. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt and whisk together until just combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared cake tin and smooth over the top. Bake for about 35-45 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before carefully removing and cooling completely on a cooling rack. to roast the hazelnuts just pop in the oven after the cake is done for about 5-8 mins, remove from oven and transfer to a wire sieve and shake to remove as much skin as you can, rub the remaining hazelnuts together between your hands and more skin should come off. Chop some of the peeled hazelnuts up roughly and leave a few whole, for the sake of decoration.To make the ganache gently melt together the ingredients over a low heat in a saucepan, stirring gently with a wooden spoon. Allow to cool a little before carefully pouring over the cake and gently pushing down the sides with a spoon. Top with the hazelnuts and allow the ganache to set before serving.