Chocolate Guinness Cake Queries

Asked by ppaulcarson. Answered on 5th April 2015

Full question

Can I use flat Guinness stout in the Chocolate Guinness Cake? Thank you for your help with this.

I made the Chocolate Guinness Cake last night. I followed the recipe and directions - when I tested the cake a fork came out clean so Iremoved it from the oven and left to cool. I iced it and set it in the fridge over night. This morning when I cut the cake I found that the texture was not very sponge like and the cake very dense in the middle. I haven't make this cake before so I would like to know if it is normal for the middle of the cake to be so fudge like? Thanks, Kadisha Trim

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) is made with Guinness but could also be made with other brands of stout. When the Guinness is heated with the butter some of the carbonation will be knocked out of the stout, though a little carbonation will help the cake to rise. If your Guinness has a little fizz left then it should be fine. If it is very flat then you could still use it, though the cake may be very slightly denser.

The texture of the Chocolate Guinness Cake is closer to a sticky gingerbread cake than to a traditional sponge cake. However the cake should be fairly evenly baked and not particularly fudge-like in the centre. We suspect that the cake could have been a little under-baked in the centre. We note that a fork was used to test the cake and we would suggest that a metal or wooden skewer or cake tester is used instead as it is easier to reach the centre of the cake with one of these. It is possible that the tines of the fork did not reach the centre of the cake and so it would be more difficult to check if the cake was fully baked.