Chocolate Guinness Cake

I found this cake on pinterest.  I had Rumchata frosting in the freezer from a previous cake and decided to use that for the frosting!  The Cake is delicious!  Heavy and tasty!  The frosting adds a ton of flavor!

Chocolate Guinness Cake
The icing on the top of the cake resembles the famously frothy head that sits on top of a pint of stout!

for the cake:
1 cup Guinness
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed or sliced (I used salted)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

for the topping:
11 oz  Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar (icing sugar)
1/2 cup heavy cream (double or whipping cream)

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9 inch springform tin.

Pour the Guinness into a large pot. Add the butter cubes or slices and heat until the butter melts, then whisk in the cocoa and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then pour into the beer and butter mixture. Lastly, whisk in the flour and baking soda. Pour the cake batter into the greased tin and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it’s quite a damp cake.

When the cake is completely cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand to ice it. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the confectioners’ (icing) sugar and then beat them both together. (Alternatively, you can do this in a food processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first, and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.) Add the cream and beat again until it’s a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef & Cabbage

Since we couldn't be in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day like we were 2 years ago, we needed to find a way to celebrate it at home!  Paul wanted Corned Beef.  Oh Yum (NOT! - I had boneless chicken wings).  We invited the "Neighbors" over to celebrate and help Paul eat the Corned Beef & Cabbage.  The main recipe came from Allrecipes.com and then he added a few minor changes.  Penny & Jeff brought us a wonderful bottle of Jameson to enjoy with Gingerale & Lime Juice.  We also had wine and Guinness Beer.  And a Guinness Cake! 

The recipe for the Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage is:

Original recipe makes 8 servings

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick pieces

10 baby red potatoes, quartered

1onion, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

4 cups water

1 (4 pound) corned beef brisket with spice packet

6 ounces beer

1/2 headcabbage, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Place the carrots, potatoes, and onion into the bottom of a slow cooker, pour in the water, and place the brisket on top of the vegetables. Pour the beer over the brisket. Sprinkle on the spices from the packet, cover, and set the cooker on High.
2. Cook the brisket for about 8 hours. An hour before serving, stir in the cabbage and cook for 1 more hour.

My last new recipe for Saturday was - Vermont Cheddar Bread and Carmalized Onion Bread.  Both recipes come from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day!.  I am not going to type the recipes as they are too long - but Those that liked Onions - enjoyed the buns.  I did leave the onions off of several for cheddar buns and I also made plain white buns with a white bread recipe in the bread machine.  here are the pictures for them. 

These bars are absolutely delicious!  I found 3 different recipes with 3 different names but the same ingredients!  Except one had pecans in the crust!  If you want a very sweet dessert - try these!

Nieman Marcus - Chess Squares - Bayou Brownies

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
4 cups (1 lb) powdered sugar

1 cup chopped pecans (this was in the recipe named Bayou Brownies)

 

Preheat oven to 300 and spray a 9×13 dish with cooking spray. Mix cake mix, melted butter and one egg to a soft dough (add pecans here if you want pecans). Press into the bottom of the pan. Mix powdered sugar, softened cream cheese and remaining two eggs until smooth, about 1-2 mins. Pour on top of crust. Bake at 300 for 40-50 minutes until top is golden brown.

Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Next recipe that I have been wanting to try.... Pumpkin Crumb Cake!  This was delicious.  Next time I would put it in a 9x9 pan.  There were too many crumbs for the loaf pan plus it took longer to back! 

Cake Batter
1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour    
1 1⁄2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
       (or 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp cloves)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1⁄4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⁄3 cup milk
3⁄4 cup chopped walnuts (optional) - I skipped this!

Topping
2⁄3 cup plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions
・ Preheat oven to 350°F.
・ Grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
・ To make the topping, combine 2⁄3 cup oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in processor. Add butter and cut in until crumbly. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons oats. Set to one side.
・ Sift the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
・ In a separate bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar and 1 egg at a time.
・ Add the pumpkin and vanilla extract to the wet batter mix.
・ Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the batter. Slowly add the milk and stir in the walnuts (optional). Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread with the topping.
・ Bake the loaf cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
・ Turn the cake out onto a rack and cool completely.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Apricot Bourbon Barbeque Sauce

Wow - it has been a while since I have cooked anything new and since I have blogged!  The holiday's, puppy and Kiefer's graduation from Navy Bootcamp have just pre-occupied me!  Well this past saturday was the chance to try out a ton of new recipes!  Kim and Dave came for a wonderful visit and they got to sample the recipes. 

The first recipe came from a co-worker of Paul's.  Of course I had to alter it a bit.  No onions, no garlic and no chile pepper!  Next time I will also cook the pork the way I normally do.  In the crockpot with no Dr. Pepper.  It seem to make the pork tougher.  hmmmm.  The recipe was great!  :) 

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Apricot Bourbon Barbeque Sauce

For the pork:
2-3 lb pork tenderloin (I used about 4 pounds)
2 cans of Dr. Pepper

For the Sauce
2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large jar (18 oz) apricot preserves
1 cup (12 oz) Heinz chili sauce
2 T molasses
1/2 cup plus 1 T bourbon
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4  cup packed light brown sugar
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T mustard (Dijon, spicy or whole grain preferably)
½ - 1 medium serrano or jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped

Preparation
To make pork:
1.  Put the tenderloin into a crockpot and cover with the Dr. Pepper.  Cook on low 7-8 hours.  (If you want to cook over night - put on lowest setting and cook for 10 hours).  
2.  Remove the pork from crockpot.  Dispose of Dr. Pepper.  Allow to cool a bit until it can be handled.
3.  Using 2 forks, shred the meat.  If it does not come apart easily, cook longer.

To make sauce:
1.  Melt the butter in a 3 qt heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Add the chopped onions and saute for at least 5 minutes until they start to brown.
2.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Approximately 1 minute.  
3.  Add the remainder of the ingredients except for 1 T of bourbon.  Cook for 20-30 minutes on low until well blended and thickened.  Remove from heat and add remaining 1 tablespoon of bourbon.  Mix well.  4.  Cool slightly and add to the shredded pork.  Depending on how much pork you have, you may have extra sauce.  

Cinnamon French Toast Bake

With the holidays being so chaotic - I almost forgot this recipe I made on Christmas Morning!  it was yummy!  I only used 2 eggs and added a little more cinnamon and nutmeg.  Oh and of course - left off the pecans!  

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 cans (12.4 oz each) Pillsbury flaky cinnamon rolls
4 eggs
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (half & half works too)
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Icing from cinnamon rolls
Powdered sugar, if desired

1. Melt butter and pour into 9x12 baking dish.
2. Open cinnamon rolls, slice into eighths and place in buttered dish.
3. Beat eggs with cream, cinnamon, nutmeg (optional) and vanilla and pour over cinnamon rolls.
4. Sprinkle with pecans and then bake on 375˚ on lower rack for 30-35 minutes.
5. Remove bake from oven. Warm icing in microwave for 30 seconds and pour over bake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.