Thank god for chocolate cake! Chocolate cake ticks all the boxes that all good comfort food should and this one not only ticks the chocolate box, the cake box, it also ticks the booze box. It is so rich, dark and moist and served with the muscovado and malt cream would even stand up to being served as a dessert, but for today it is just going to be served with a nice cup of tea when the lovely Fiona comes over for tea at the Vicarage !!
The joke that Fiona and I call my home the Vicarage started a while ago and always gives us a giggle, it came about as the man that use to live in the house is a vicar and when we saw the photo’s of the house on the estate agents website it just had the look of a vicarage, the furniture in the house at the time really suited the part. So afternoon tea at the Vicarage is always a delight and of course there is always cake, cups and saucers, pretty napkins, dainty little cake forks and always lots of giggles and chatter.
This recipe comes from Tom Kerridge’s new book ‘Proper Pub Food’, Hubby and I are watching the show religiously, excuse the pun, and we absolutely love him, his food is good, strong and honest and I can not wait to buy his new cookery book that accompanies the show. It is going to be Hubby’s new cookery bible (LOL, another pun) and I can not wait for him to start cooking us delicious meals from it. Tom’s show and food is just so masculine and must really encourage guys out there to get into the kitchen to bake and cook.
Well I can highly recommend the show (Monday at 8:30 on BBC2) and this delicious cake and in keeping with my style I have even managed to flower the cake up with a few homemade pansies, I just hope Fiona loves it and has a lovely afternoon tea at the Vicarage.
Buon appetito
200ml/7fl oz dark ale, plus 4 tbsp for the icing
50g/1¾oz cocoa powder
110g/4oz butter, softened
275g/9¾oz soft dark brown sugar
2 large free-range eggs
175g/6oz plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
220g/8oz good-quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
220g/8oz icing sugar
100g/3½oz soft butter
For the muscovado and malt cream
250ml/9fl oz double cream
50g/1¾oz muscovado sugar
50g/1¾oz malt extract
pinch salt
For the chocolate and ale cake, grease and flour a 25cm/10in loaf tin. I lined mine with parchment paper, just to make sure that it came out easily.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
Slowly mix the dark ale into the cocoa powder to form a paste.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter and soft dark brown sugar together until smooth and creamy, then add the eggs one at a time beating between each addition.
Stir in the cocoa and ale mixture. Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in batches, stirring between each addition.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water.
Beat the icing sugar and butter together to form a soft paste. Add four tablespoons of dark ale and then fold in the melted chocolate. When the cake has cooled completely, smother all over the top and sides using a small palette knife.
For the muscovado and malt cream, whip all the ingredients together in a large bowl until thick and smooth.
Serve the cake cut into slices with a large dollop of the muscovado and malt cream.
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