Chocolate Beer Cake

For those of you who know me well, you know I like my beer.  Unfortunately, on the meds I’m currently prescribed, I can’t drink beer…boo (although I did find a way around it…O’Douls is actually pretty darn good!  It just doesn't pack a punch like alcoholic beer).  I decided that if I can’t drink it, I might as well use it to bake with!  Last night I played around in the kitchen and with a little bit of flour, cocoa powder, sugar and BEER, I made the most delicious cake and frosting!  Yes, there was even beer in the frosting! 

I found a recipe on Pinterest that looked pretty good, but it must have been from somewhere over the pond, because I surely didn’t understand the measurements!  Luckily my husband is smart when it comes to math and he was able to help me out.  When I realized that I didn’t have all the ingredients needed (and I wanted chocolate BAD), I improvised.  This is a test kitchen blog isn’t it? 

The original recipe can be found here: http://baking.food.com/recipe/chocolate-beer-cake-219846

Here’s how my recipe goes:

Chocolate Beer Cake with Beer (yes Beer) Frosting

Cake Ingredients
4 Eggs

2 Sticks Soft Butter

2/3 Cup Brown Sugar

2/3 Cup Splenda

2/3 Cup Cocoa Powder

¼ Cup melted chocolate (I used milk chocolate for making candy)

½ Tsp. Baking Powder

2 Tsp. Baking Soda

14 oz. Dark Beer (I used Pyramid Snow Cap Winter Warmer Ale…it is what was in the fridge)

1 ½ Cups Flour               

Frosting Ingredients

1 Stick Butter

½ Cup (or remaining beer in bottle) Beer

1 Cup Confectioners’ Sugar

½ Cup Cocoa Powder

Directions for Cake

1.) Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.
2.) Grease two 9in round pans.
3.) Cream soft butter, Splenda (or sugar) and brown sugar together. 
4.) Once that is nice and fluffy, add in the eggs and continue mixing. 
5.) Add in the cocoa powder and you’ve got it, continue mixing.
6.)Mix the flour, baking soda and baking powder together in a bowl.  Slowly add this to the mixture. 
7.) In the microwave, melt chocolate with a splash or so of beer.
8.) Once melted, pour into the mixture, mix well and then add remaining beer.  The mixture should have the consistency of well, cake batter.
9.) I use my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, so I throw everything in there at once and let it mix while I do other things.  Great technique, eh?
10.) Distribute the batter evenly between the two pans. 
11.) Bake for 30-35 minutes.
12.) Remove from oven and let cool

Directions for Frosting
1.) In all honesty, I threw this together, only taking slight suggestions from the original recipe, but hey, it turned out amazing!
2.) Cream 1 stick of soft butter in the mixer.
3.) Add 1 cup of confection sugar.
4.) Once that is mixed, slowly add ½ cup of cocoa powder.
5.) Stir in the beer.

Once the cakes are baked and cooled, remove them from the pans.  Put a layer of frosting on one cake, then lay the second cake on top and spread remaining frosting.  Top cake with whatever your little heart desires.  Mine?  Fresh strawberries and Fat Free Cool Whip (with such a decadent cake, I had to go with the fat free). 

Overall, the cake was a success.  I did find that when I baked the cake, I tried to put in the ingredients as stated in the original recipe, however I found that the cake was very thin (of course I was baking it in a 11in cheesecake pan :).  I have doubled the recipe posting on this blog so that you can get 2 full 9in cakes.  I think the type of beer used also affects the flavor of the cake.  The Pyramid Snow Cap Winter Ale worked out fantastic.  When my husband and I were discussing the recipe, we decided that Guinness or possibly a chocolate stout (like Rogue Chocolate Stout) would be incredible in this cake.  Other than that, it was delicious!  I’m ready for dessert…again!

 

Sugar Cookie Cheesecake Topped with Fresh Fruit

Here is the first recipe I have created…and I do believe it was an overwhelming success J

Sugar Cookie Cheesecake with Fresh Fruit

 Ingredients

Crust

1 roll of pre-made sugar cookie dough
(You can substitute this for your favorite sugar cookie recipe.  I simply opted for the easy way out because I was in a bit of a hurry)
 

Cheesecake Filling

1 brick of cream cheese

·         It helps to leave the cream cheese out of the fridge for a bit before trying to mix it.  When it’s soft, it is MUCH easier to mix!

·         You can substitute for lowfat or Neufchatel cheese.  I did!

2/3 cup sugar

·         Again, you can substitute this straight across for Spelnda or another sweetener.  I used Splenda and it was fabulous!

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

Topping

Cool Whip

Fresh fruit 

Preparation

·         Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

·         Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and eggs in a bowl until well blended.  I threw it all in the Kitchen-Aid and let it whip!

·         The fun part!  Press the sugar cookie dough into the pans!  I used the Pampered Chef Mini Tart Pans and the Mini Tart Shaper.  The tart shaper was incredibly helpful in pushing the dough down.   Make sure the dough covers the bottom and some up the side of the pan…but don’t put in too much!  I overfilled 1 of the pans and the cookie expanded out of the tart pan when baked. 

·         After the sugar cookie dough is prepped, fill up the tart pans with cheesecake filling!  The cheesecake does cook down a bit, so you can overfill the crusts a bit.

·         Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  My oven runs cool, so I actually baked at 355 for 35 minutes.  At least check it at 30 minutes.  If you stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean, you’re good!

·         Cool the cakes for at least an hour.  I let mine sit on the counter for about 20 minutes, then I put them in the fridge.

·         While I was letting the cakes cool, I sliced up some fresh fruit.  My fruits of choice were strawberries (they’re killer good right now!), blueberries and kiwi.

·         After the cakes have cooled, top with a dollop of Cool Whip, top with fruit and serve!

·         Pat yourself on the back as you listen to your guests ooh and aah over the aaaaamazing taste of these cakes!

 

Happy Cooking!

Heather

www.pamperedchef.biz/heathergeranen

Just me :)

First off, I want to give you a little insight into me and how this blog came about.  I'm a newlywed!  YAY!  We got married on October 13, 2012 in gorgeous Park City, Utah.  On the down side, it's been a rough couple months since the wedding.  BOO!  I was a working woman in Oregon, met the man of my dreams, got married, left my job and moved to Idaho in December to join him.  After moving to Idaho to join my husband and being on the hunt for a job for a good month or so, I became sick...very, very, VERY sick.  A ride on LifeFlight, some time in ICU, a good week in CCU, a huge hospital bill and recoup time at home, I am finally on the mend and headed in the right direction.  Slowly but surely.  But now I find myself feeling a bit better, but not quite able to work.  I am sometimes bored out of my gourd.  I needed something to keep me busy while my husband is at work. 

Of course, spending many days on the couch, I spent many, MANY hours on Pinterest finding recipes that I would like to try, but that I thought I could change to mix it up a bit.  So here I am.  Off the couch and in the kitchen.  I’ve had a lot of fun over the past couple weeks, creating masterpieces (or at least what I think are masterpieces) in the kitchen.  I tend to look at a recipe, then change everything about it.  I try to add my own flavor, my own vibe. 

For my bridal shower, the maid of honor (my sister) hosted a Pampered Chef Bridal Shower.  I simply picked out stuff I wanted, let the consultant know, then guests showed up to the party and shopped off of my wish list.  Simple.  Awesome.  Not to mention, when all was said and done, I got the party...that meant that I got all the specials and cool deals given to people who host.  What a great way to start out a marriage than with a kitchen FULL of amazing Pampered Chef stuff!  Since I can't quite work outside the home, I wracked my brain to find something I could do to help out the hubby with the household bills.  I decided to take on Pampered Chef because I love the products and well, the bridal shower was awesome.  I signed on in March of 2013, became a consultant and have enjoyed every second of it.  I've had a lot more fun in the kitchen since I started to sell Pampered Chef products.  It opened my world to a whole new way to use my kitchen and the tools available!  Not to mention, I have almost a fully outfitted Pampered Chef kitchen (did I mention my bridal shower was awesome???).

I thought I would start a blog to showcase my experiments and product use.  Trust me, some experiments have been overwhelmingly successful while others have been a total bust.  Live and learn, right?  So, welcome one and all!  I hope I can inspire others to cook and experiment. 

Happy Cooking!

Heather

www.pamperedchef.biz/heathergeranen