Post 11 – Boozy Dessert: Stout Gingerbread Cake and Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday, I know I did. Before I get to the recipe for the delicious dessert I made for Christmas dinner, I thought I would share a few Christmas pictures. Nick got me a very cool set of lenses (macro, wide-angle and fish eye) to attach to my iPhone to help improve my iPhoneography. I had a lot of fun playing around with them yesterday, although we might have got a little carried away with the fish eye lens…
Now, the main event, dessert! This recipe is from a Cook’s Illustrated magazine. It has a deep, rich flavour and is very moist. The fresh ginger, dry ginger and freshly cracked black pepper give this cake an extra kick of “spice.” I made the cake the day before and then just gently warmed it in the oven before serving it at Christmas dinner.
Stout Gingerbread Cake
INGREDIENTS:
– 3/4 cup Guinness Stout
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 2/3 cup mild molasses
– 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
– 1/4 cup granulated sugar
– 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
– 2 tablespoons ground ginger
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon table salt
– 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
– 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
– 2 large eggs
– 1/3 cup vegetable oil
– 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
METHOD:
1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch round baking pan.
2. Bring stout to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. While the stout is heating, measure out the sugar and molasses to be added. Remove stout from heat and stir in baking soda (mixture will foam vigorously).
3. When foaming subsides, stir in molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until dissolved; set mixture aside.
4. Whisk flour, ground ginger, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pepper (optional) together in a large bowl; set aside.
5. Transfer stout mixture to a large bowl. Once cooled, whisk in eggs, fresh ginger and oil until combined.
6. Whisk wet mixture into flour mixture in thirds, stirring vigorously until completely smooth after each addition.
7. Transfer batter to prepared pan and gently tap pan against counter 3 or 4 times to dislodge any large air bubbles.
8. Bake until the top of the cake is just firm to touch and a toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Cook cake in the pan on a wire rack, about 1 1/2 hours. Cut into slices and serve warm or at room temperature.
Bourbon Caramel Sauce
INGREDIENTS:
– 1/4 cup butter
– 1/2 cup white sugar
– 1/2 cup brown sugar
– 1/2 cup whipping cream
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
– splash of bourbon or Jack Daniels
METHOD:
1. Add sugars, butter and whipping cream to a heavy sauce pan.
2. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat for about 2 minutes.
3. Take off the heat and stir in vanilla and a splash of bourbon. Allow the caramel sauce to cool slightly before serving.
For my dessert, after gently reheating the cake in the oven, I cut a slice for each plate. I put a little icing sugar on each piece, to hide any imperfections, added a scoop of french vanilla ice cream, drizzled on some caramel sauce and dessert was ready!
Everything about this dessert was amazing, everyone practically licked their plates clean. I would absolutely make this cake again and I highly recommend it! Good thing there are leftovers!
Happy Christmas!
Life is Better Red 
It was a fabulous dessert, Robyn. Just delicious. Thanks for making it. It was a perfect completion to Christmas dinner.
Thank you, glad you liked it!