Teetotalling doesn't mean the end of the world, even for a budding home chef that uses booze here and there, on this neverending journey to find ultimate satisfaction in cooking.
I quit alcohol a few years ago, but knowing that many dishes use booze to marry the flavors never stopped me in my tracks. It was always going to be a challenge to cook with alternatives to ale, rum, vermouth or champagne, for example, but just doing a bit of research solved the problem.
I quit alcohol a few years ago, but knowing that many dishes use booze to marry the flavors never stopped me in my tracks. It was always going to be a challenge to cook with alternatives to ale, rum, vermouth or champagne, for example, but just doing a bit of research solved the problem.
 |
I wanted to move forward and try recipes with which I can find alternative options and experiment with, to satisfy myself and fellow diners. Okay, it wasn't rocket science for this recipe - I used non alcoholic beer, but the flavours do compliment the cake just as if I had used normal beer. And yes, I do know how the "normal" chocolate beer cake tastes. I used normal beer the very first time I made this.
The taste of beer is lightly covered by the cocoa and it has a wonderful fudgy texture that simply melts in your mouth. Divine.
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 40-50 mins
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
250ml beer (non-alcoholic, if desired)
225g unsalted butter
65g unsweetened cocoa powder
215g plain flour
360g caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
160g sour cream
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease your cake tin well.
2. Simmer the beer and butter in a medium sized pan over medium heat, then whisk cocoa powder through until fully combined.
3. In a large bowl, sift the flour, almond meal, sugar, baking soda and salt together and stir to combine.
4. In a medium bowl, hand-beat the eggs and sour cream, then stir in the warm chocolate mix.
5. Make a well in the dry ingredients and gently hand-fold in the wet mix with a spatula until combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes for cake, or until the cake comes away from the sides of the pan and a skewer comes out clean.
7. Leave the cakes to completely cool before trying to remove from the pan. Dust with icing sugar to finish, if desired.