Drunken Cake

As hubby's birthday was getting near, I've been already thinking about the cake that I'd want to prepare - what design this time, what flavor, etc.  I'd like it to be different from the cake I did for my sis-in-law's birthday and I didn't feel like using fondant as I have even lesser spare time these days.  Fondant just require considerable amount of time although they are really very pleasing in the eye.   And the cake becomes really, really personal because the design will be unique.

But, this time, it just won't be fondant.  I was not in the mood for it.  So I searched around but couldn't find something that tickles my fancy.  But the irony of life is hard rock solid.  You'd normally won't find what you're looking for when you are actually looking for it and would accidentally stumble upon it when you're not looking for it.

That's what happened with this cake and I.  But it wasn't love at first sight.  Coz really, stout in a cake?  And then it was love at second look.  I found the recipe from this caprichosdecocinablog and was just convinced at how the blogger raved about the recipe.  Hubby loves dark beer.  Guinness in particular.  And this recipe calls for a Guinness as the star ingredient in it. So I thought, cake with guinness? Spells hubby's name in it.  

The verdict? We got a winner!  I've never blushed so much with compliments and raves with the other cakes I did compared to this one.  Even the coldest person I know expressed his ravings about THE cake.  So there's no way I'm not gonna share this to the world wide web.  TRY. THIS.  You can thank me later.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

250g cake flour (regular flour should be ok too)

75g of unsweetened chocolate powder

400g sugar (I used 350g)

2tsp sodium bicarbonate

250ml of stout beer (guinness for e.g.)

250g butter

150g heavy cream

2 eggs

For the topping:

300g cream cheese

150g sugar confectioner

350g heavy cream

How to for the cake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, powdered chocolate, sugar and sodium bicarbonate.

2. In a pot, heat the dark beer.  Don't let it boil.  Once the beer is hot enough, put the butter in chunks and stir slowly until beer and butter is thoroughly mixed.  The original recipe where I copied it from, has a different way for this step but I've seen other recipes and this one is easier and more convenient for me.  And it worked quite well :)

3.  Remove the butter and beer mix and put it in a mixing bowl.  Add the beaten egg and the heavy cream and mix.

4. Then slowly add the mixed dry ingredients.  The recipe didn't mention about using electric mixer so at the beginning, I just tried to mix it with my spatula but figured it might take me forever before getting a homogenous mixture so I ended up using the electric hand mixer.

5. Take the mixing bowl with your two hand, stand near the oven and ask your hubby or anyone from the house hold who knows how to operate a camera to take a picture of you and your raw masterpiece.

Ok, this step is optional.

6.  Put the batter in a molder. I used a 23cm round pan.

See the rich color?  Black beauty.

7.  Bake for 50 minutes.

8. After 50 mins, take it out from the oven and let it cool down before removing from the molder.  And then be happy and be very excited and admire your work!

The silly smile can be omitted.

How to for the topping:

1.  Using a wire whisk, mix the cream cheese and sugar confectioner until they are totally mixed and smooth.  Tip:  Use cream cheese in room temperature.

2. Whip the heavy cream and carefully mix this with the cream cheese and sugar confectioner.  Tip:  If you want a voluptuous topping,  do not completely mix whipped cream and the cream cheese mixture.  

left: whipped cream.  right: cream cheese mixed with sugar confectioner 

The blog where I copied this recipe from, has this cake with a majestic beautiful topping in it... all cloud-like and spongey.  At first, I thought I was able to achieve it but then later on,  the topping kind of settled down a bit.  I blame it on the room temperature so I immediately put the whole cake inside the refrigerator.  It kind of stopped it from flatting out.  Then again, I looked at other recipes and pictures of this cake and almost all of them has the toppings kind of flat and some look like a melted cheese on top of the cake.   So I was already happy with how mine turned out.

This was how it was at the beginning.

After a few minutes it turned out to this.  Still not bad.

Reminds me of a foamy dark beer in a glass.

photo source

 Seriously I didn't expect the cake to be THIS good.  Its darkness is magnificent.  It's thick and moist and has a certain tang that can make one just ask for more.  The topping completes the cake.  They're soulmates.  So perfect for each other.   Although the cake itself can stand out on its own.  If one is watching the calories, the cake is just the same majestically yummy on its own.  It got me hooked.  I know this black beauty will frequent our household from now on.

And it got me those you should-put-up-a-business comments.  Plus hubby was really happy about it.  It's love.  Wait till you see the other details I add to complete his birthday cake.  Tacky.  Corny.  But I tell you it's love :)

We celebrated hubby's birthday last Saturday although his birthday is still on Tuesday, August 30.  Weekend is the best day to celebrate birthdays, agree?  We were in the countryside near the mountains and it was perfect for barbecue as well.  We had a blast.  

see? isn't it obvious that the candles and the happy birthday card are DIY? 

They're like child's work ha. ha. 

A birthday cake wouldn't be complete without a candle and a happy birthday card, yes?


p.s.
The cake's original recipe is called chocolate guinness cake

Feeding and Fiddling

Little Spanish Pinay has developed this habit of fiddling or twiddling with the one bobbie while she's feeding from the other boobie.  I don't remember exactly when did this start but perhaps a couple of months ago.  I've learned that this is a common/normal behavior of older babies during extended breastfeeding period.  I also learned that babies naturally learn to fiddle or twiddle the other breast as this helps faster letdown.  Babies are really downright smart, aren't they?  While I am not bothered about it while we nurse at home (though sometimes it hurts when she pinches me), it does make me uncomfortable if we are breastfeeding in public for obvious reasons.  There are also times that she would pinch me while she twiddles.  Such a handful.

When she does this, I'd try to distract her by playing with her hand, biting, tickling, singing to her but sometimes she's just way to persistent and is determine to continue her twiddling.  That's when I'd hold her hand firmly but gently clasping it on my chest and tell her no she should not do it and that it hurst mami.  Sometimes she would cry - a slow soft cry that is too cute.  But I'd explain her mami is not angry but doesn't like to be pinched or that she should not twiddle because we are in public.  Then I'll offer her to nurse again. 

I've read that on extended period of breastfeeding, older babies naturally develop their different manners of breastfeeding they are all normal but we can always "redirect" them if a particular manner bothers us, mommies especially when we are in public.  Babies are naturally smart and understanding so with the right tone and patience, they'll learn what we want them to learn.

See, twiddling is an ancient phenomenon!

The picture above is a mother and child portrait of Luis de Morales, a Spanish painter born in Badajoz, Extremadura.  The period was around 1500.  And based on this portrait, babies during this time were also twiddling.  So it is something natural and doesn't have to be a reason to be embarrassing.  Sadly, with our culture now, being embarrassed by it or feeling uncomfortable when toddlers do this during nursing time in the public is inevitable.  But there are ways to avoid or stop this - in a respectful way to your babies.  Kelly Mom has a great article about it.

As of my Little Spanish Pinay, I do hope she'd outgrow this very soon as there are times I couldn't divert her attention to doing something else other than twiddling. Sigh.