There was something in the refrigerator that was rarely there - Irish stout beer. J bought a pack of Guinness for the
celebration of St. Patrick's day, and some bottles were still left. Around the holiday, I happened to see a
recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake from The New York Times and saved it just in case. At that time, I didn't think I wouldn't have a chance to make the cake because Guinness is not a beer that I usually see in this house. The leftover Guinness bottles reminded me of the recipe. This was the chance.
The recipe was simple. I reduced all ingredients by about 1/4 in order to make a 8 inch cake instead of 9 inch. Except eggs. I used two eggs as the recipe called for. The result was not so bad although I won't say that it was the best chocolate cake. The flavor wasn't really chocolate-y, but kinda chalky. Cocoa powder I used was Hershey's natural cocoa powder. High quality Dutch cocoa powder, which I didn't have in hand, probably could make a better result. Also, the cake was somewhat dry, so serving whipped cream was a must. I added a few drops of
Irish cream flavor in the whipped cream. It seemed as if St. Patrick's day came back.
Good news! On the next day of the baking day, although it was still chalky, the cake tasted better and the texture was also improved. Within some days, we finished the whole cake up after all. I probably won't make the cake again because I have recipes for more chocolate-y
chocolate cake and I didn't see what Guinness exactly did in the cake.
