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 π
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.
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat.Comβ’ and commented:
YummY stuff From In Vegetables We Trust.
Happy belated birthday! I hope you had a joyful day. Your cake looks amazing- what a wonderful way to celebrate!
π
This cake looks so so good! Happy Birthday!
This cake looks so dang good. Happy happy birthday, Alex!
Thanks! π
oh. my. god. that looks AMAZING.
And it was! π
happy birthday! π
Thank you π
This looks gorgeous! Have never heard of mocha beer, is it anything to do with mocha? Poppy π
Yeap, it has real arabica coffe and dark belgian choc π
OMG I need to find this stuff – where will I find it????!!!
Heres the brand I used, I have seen other chocolate beers/ stouts as well but I used this one as its says vegan on the back π http://www.bateman.co.uk/online+shop/products/beers/case+of+mocha+bottle+beer
Awesome, thank you so much! π
OMG….I am drooling like Homer Simpson over here. I only have four words to say about this. Get in my belly!
Holy CRAP Alex! That’s not a cake…thatβs a religion! I hope you gave it the appropriate adoration and appreciation that it so rightly deserves. When I make this, and I am SO going to make this gorgeous specimen…I will give you a minutes silence in appreciation for this majestic accomplishment of a cake…no words folks…a whole minute which if you know narf7 you will not believe possible…
Looks SO delicious…
yum! beer & chocolate? great.
They look so delicious!
I posted an article on different types of cakes. Why not choose your favorite cake? π
http://bakistryblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/choose-your-favorite-cake
You outdid yourself this time, Alexander! I want to go back in time to my birthday and have someone bake me this cake!! Maybe I’ll have a “do-over” birthday :-).
Now that’s a cake! Beautiful!
Perfect birthday cake! Wishing I could’ve come to the party!
Beer and chocolate- sounds perfect to me! Love you blog.