Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St Patrick's Day!

This is from a great blog theKitchn.com
I have been making this cake for a few years now. It's amazing and simple and complex and beautiful all at the same time. It's a one pot wonder! Enjoy it with a lovely pint of Guiness and toast the lovely Irish and all that they represent on this special day! Erin Go Bragh!

Recipe: Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake

As a person of Irish heritage, I always feel a little treacherous admitting this, but honestly I don’t really like to drink Guinness. Still, once a year I do consume a bit of Guinness to celebrate St. Patrick's Day—not in a pint glass, but in Nigella Lawson’s dark, moist Chocolate Guinness Cake.

This cake couldn’t be easier to make—it’s a single layer with a crown of fluffy frosting, and you toss it all together on the stove top. The results are always delicious, moist but not overly dense, with that complex undertone of beery flavor. I make it every year on St. Paddy’s Day.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

From Feast by Nigella Lawson (reprinted in the New York Times on 12/8/04)
Yield: One 9-inch cake (12 servings)

For the cake:

Butter for pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar (I have used regular granulated sugar with no ill effects)
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the topping:

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream

For the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Photography 101 week 8:Negative Space

I have been teaching a photography class at my local YMCA in Charlotte, NC for the past 9 weeks! I have been SO amazed at the progress and creativity that has come out of it. They've agreed to let me show off some of their work each week.

So every Monday I'll be posting their work that had been selected as their best the previous week. Enjoy!

Assignment: Negative Space