Beer Me a Chocolate Guinness Cake

I was again commissioned to make a cake. This one was a little more involved than I was used to, but I was happy to do it! I didn't try any but MAN it smelled great!

I like using not so common ingredients in desserts. This cake called for Guinness beer. Good times.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

1 c Guinness beer
1/2 c + 2 T butter
1/2 c dutch-processed cocoa
2 c superfine sugar
3/4 c sour cream (I used light)
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour
2 1/2 t baking soda

For Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese (I use low fat)
1 1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9" spring form pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Pour Guinness into large saucepan and add butter. Heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Whisk in cocoa and sugar.
3. In a bowl, beat sour cream with eggs and vanilla.
4. Add sour cream mixture to Guinness mixture in saucepan. Beat in flour and soda.
5. Bake 45-60 min. Cook completely and cool on wire rack.
6. For frosting: Beat sugar and cream cheese until creamy. Slowly add heavy cream and beat until spreadable. Ice only top on cake to resemble foam on the top of beer.
   

I would suggest a different icing than this. maybe something with Bailey's in it. The icing just didn't seem to have a lot of flavor to it. Again, didn't get to try the cake, but the smell alone made it worth baking.

Key Lime Pie

This was another commissioned project. I like having Wanda choose what I'm going to bake for her each month. It takes me outside of my comfort zone and allows me to try new things.

April's treat was a Key Lime Pie. I looked around for a simple yet tasty looking recipe. I found some interesting information regarding baking versus not baking the pie.

Allegedly, the acid from the fresh citrus juices "cook" the eggs that are in the recipe. This is similar to what happens when you make a ceviche (fish "cooked" in citrus juice). However, I did not use fresh key lime juice, so I thought it would be safe to bake the pie.

I got my recipe from Baking Bites. She is always a great source. I used her recipe for the unbaked pie, but the directions for the baked pie.

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

1 pre-baked graham cracker crust (8 or 9-in.)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (key lime, if possible)
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 t lime zest (added in)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, egg, lime juice and lime zest until mixture is smooth. Pour into prepared crust.
3. Bake for 20 minutes, until filling is just set and moves only slightly when you gently jiggle the pan.
4. Cool to room temperature than chill in the refrigerator before slicing.
5. Top with whipped cream to serve. (I did!)

I think I baked it longer than it said to make sure it was correctly set. But it turned out well. And I got a good review:

Just want to let you know we all enjoyed the key lime pie immensely!!

Thanks so much.....

love ya,

Wanda

p.s. if you decide you want to go into the dessert business, you may use me as a reference!