Black Beer Gingerbread

Asked by ronselles. Answered on 28th December 2010

Full question

I wanted your "Black Beer Gingerbread" recipe, which was in the Dec22nd programme on BBC2. Unfortunately the BBC website only shows 3 of those recipes, which does not include the Gingerbread. Regards, Eileen Sells

I would like to bake that Gingerbread, but I can't use Blackbeer. Is it possible to use milk instead? Or anything else non-alcoholic? Thank you! mahamane

Our answer

The Black Beer Gingerbread appears in Nigella's new book, KITCHEN, as Guinness Gingerbread - p305-6. The recipe was also featured in The Mail on Sunday's You magazine at the beginning of December.

The Guinness in the gingerbread provides a certain bitterness and tang which makes the gingerbread so delicious and not too sweet. If you are unable to use Guinness or other alcoholic beverages then we would suggest that instead you try Nigella's Sticky Gingerbread from CHRISTMAS - p201. This recipe uses milk and molasses instead of stout and is as good as the Guinness version. It also contains grated fresh ginger as well as ground ginger, though you omit the fresh ginger if you wanted a slightly milder ginger hit.