Beer chocolate cake with orange & caramel

Time for another cake! I found a chocolate beer the other day, and just had to try it out in one of my cakes, so chocolate cake it is!

This one is delicious and gooey, and the taste of beer is more moderate than in the wheet beer mousse cake that I posted recently.

I was inspired by this chocolate cake recipe, which I've used a couple of times before - it's delicious! However, I made a few changes and, of course, added beer. And it turned out pretty great!

What you need:

For the cake:
260 grams of flour
400 grams of sugar
60 grams of unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1.5 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
200 grams of oil (not olive oil!)
100 grams of melted dark chocolate
2 eggs
0.5 liter of chocolate ale (or any dark beer)
Zest and juice of one organic orange

For the caramel:
100 grams of dark beer
110 grams of sugar
140 grams of syrup
120 grams of cream
150 grams of butter

How to make it

The cake:
Mix together flour, cugar, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the oil and stir. When the oil is evenly mixed with the dry goods, add the melted chocolate and stir once again. Then beat in the eggs (remember, when adding eggs to a cake batter, always mix in one at a time). Once everything is mixed well together, add the beer.

Start out by stirring gently and then beat on high speed for a minute or two. Finally, add the orange juice and zest and stir together.

Split the batter into two and bake at 175 degrees (C) for 30 minutes. I use the same form, and bake it in two rounds. Leave to cool (beware, the cake is sticky! Cooling it on parchment paper sprinkled with sugar or greased with a bit of oil will make it easier for you when removing it later)

The caramel:
Bring beer, sugar and syrup to a boil and leave it for a couple of minutes (without stirring) before adding the cream. Bring it to a boil again and add the butter. Then again, bring it to boil and leave it for about five minutes. The texture should have thickened and the colour should be golden - if not, leave it a while longer. When it's done, leave it to cool.

When the cake and the caramel has cooled, pour over about half of the caramel on top of the first chocolate layer.

Place the second half on top of the first (yes, the caramel will run over, so make sure that the cake stand has a little ekstra room), and pour over the remaining caramel. This can be done hours before serving, so that the cake absorbs some of the caramel and turns ekstra gooey!

Chopped chocolate and orange peel can be sprinkled on top to pretty it up, or you can just eat the cake as it is.

Enjoy - and let me know how it turns out for you!

Lots of Love,
Becks

Dark beer & orange juice cocktail

Finally, a cocktail recipe! I will not be giving exact measurements, as the output depends on whether you prefer your cocktail bitter, sweet, strong etc. Thus, trust your own tastebuds!
(btw, sorry about the quality of the pictures - my phone is not psyched about unnatural light!)

What you will need:

Syrup (you can use homemade beer syrup! If not, any other syrup will do)
Fresh ginger
Rum
Orange
Dark beer
Fresh mint leaves
Ice

How to make it:

Start by grating some fresh ginger into a glass (I used beer glasses). Then, add syrup and a bit of rum - I added about two centiliters. Base the amount of syrup and rum own your own preferences - if you like sweet cocktails, use lots of syrup. If you like it strong, use lots of rum! Or perhaps both. Remember that you can adjust along the way.
Then add fresh orange juice; I used the juice of a small orange for each glass. Some people really don't like pulp - that's not me. I add as much pulp as possible! If you don't want pulp in your cocktail, just use a sieve. Add some ice and top off with dark beer. I used about the same amount of beer as orange juice. Finally, rub mint leaves against each other to release the flavor and put it in the cocktail. Remember to taste it before serving!

That's it - nice and easy. Let me know what you think!

Lots of Love,
Becks

Wheat beer mousse cake

Finally, a recipe for cake! I'm usually only in the kitchen to make cakes, which makes it a bit unusual that I've added four posts so far, none of them about cake!

So, here we go. It's a wheat beer mousse on top of a digestive crust with dark chocolate ganache. It's a bit of an unusual cake, so if you have guests that are usually picky, this one may not be a safe choice. But it's a very interesting combo for those interested in experimenting a bit!
I made it for my dear web designer to thank her for making the gorgeous design for my blog!

What you need:

For the mousse:
250 grams of wheat beer
(if you prefer to tone down the taste of beer, less will do)
Juice of 3 limes (if it's organic, add some zest as well!)
4 egg yolks
130 grams of sugar
7 gelatin sheets
400 grams of whipping cream
A big handful of fresh mint leaves

For the crust:
300 grams of Digestives
125 grams of butter

For the ganache:
50 grams of finely chopped dark chocolate
50 grams of whipping cream

For the decoration:
A small handful of mint leaves
A bit of icing sugar

How to make it:

The mousse:
First of all, you need to chop the big handful of mint leaves and pour over the 400 grams of cream. Leave it in the fridge for at least (!) a couple of hours. You will want the cream to draw as much flavor as possible from the mint. Leaving it overnight is a great option!

Then heat up the beer with the lime juice (and zest, if it's organic). Meanwhile, whisk the yolks with the sugar. Spend at least a couple of minutes on this - you will want the yolks to turn (almost) white.

When the beer/lime juice mix boils, pour it over the yolks while whisking. Start adding just a bit of the warm beer at a time, in order for the texture to become smooth. Add the rest of the beer and pour it back into the casserole/pan and leave the heat on low volume. Meanwhile, soak the gelatin in cold water. Slowly heat it up to 85 degrees (C) while stirring once in a while. When it has reached 85 degrees, pour it into a clean bowl, squeeze the gelatin and stir it into the mixture.

While you're waiting, make the crust and the ganache!

Leave it to cool, stirring from time to time. When it has reached a temperature of about 36-40 degrees, it's ready to be mixed with the cream. I usually just check and see if it's about the same temperature as my finger! Pour the cream through a sieve to remove the mint leaves. Add 50 grams of cream directly into the mixture and stir. Whisk the remaining cream until it has soft peaks, and gently fold in the beer mixture.

The crust:
Chop the digestives in a food processor or the like. Melt the butter and mix it thoroughly with the chopped biscuits. Press it evenly into a spring form pan (approximately 24 cm.).

The ganache:
Heat up the cream and finely chop the dark chocolate. Pour the warm cream over the chocolate and leave it for a few minutes. Then gently stir the mixture until combined (I just love the look of a fresh ganache, don't you?)

Spread the ganache over the digestive crust. It can be quite a hassle, as the biscuit crumbs will stick to the spoon! One way to reduce the risk of this is by putting the crust in the freezer for 10 minutes before covering it with the ganache.

When the ganache has been spread evenly on top of the cake, pour over the mousse over the crust and ganache, and leave it in the fridge to settle. It will need at least a couple of hours; overnight would do as well!
Before serving, sprinkle with chopped mint leaves and icing sugar.

That's it! Enjoy, and let me know how it works out for you!

Lots of Love,
Becks

Porter lasagna with ricotta cheese

Here we go again! A recipe for one of my favorite things in the world: lasagna. I added porter beer to the meat sauce, and beer syrup and habanero chili to the bechamel sauce. And yes, you need to make your own bechamel sauce. Buying it pre-made is just.... wrong.
This recipe is a bit more time consuming than the recipes I've posted so far, but it's worth it!

What you will need:

For the meat sauce:
Two packages of minced meat
Veggies! I used 3 onions, 4 carrots, 4 tomatoes, a bit of sun dried tomatoes as well as a mixed bowl of frozen veggies. I usually just look for whatever is in the fridge and the freezer.
1-2 cans of tomato paste
Ketchup
A large bottle of porter beer (approximately 0.5L)

For the bechamel sauce:
50 grams of butter
50 grams of flour
680 grams of milk
Salt and pepper
Beer syrup
A small, chopped habanero chili
(the syrup and chili can be substituted by sweet chili sauce)

For assembling:
Lasagna sheets (I used whole wheat, but regular ones will do as well)
Fresh basil
Ricotta cheese
Fresh mozzarella

How to make it

The meat sauce:
Start by frying the onions (in oil, butter or whatever suits you best) until they are soft and shiny. Add the meat. As soon as the meat is browned, add the veggies and then the tomato paste and a good squeeze of ketchup. Stir it and add the porter beer. Turn down the heat on the stove and let it simmer until the meat sauce is firm.

The bechamel sauce:
Melt the butter in a casserole and then add the flour. Stir until it's even and then add a bit of milk. Again, stir until it's even. Continue this process until you've added all the milk. Yes, it takes a while, but a good bechamel sauce is worth the hassle! In the beginning, it's important just to add dashes at a time. The more milk you've added and the more liquid it gets, the more milk you can add without making lumps. If you do make lumps, just keep stirring and the sauce will smoothen out. Do not add more milk until it's smooth.
When you've added all the milk, you can spice it up with beer syrup, chopped chili and lots of salt and pepper. Add a bit at a time and taste it before you add more.

Assembling:
Heat up the oven to 175 C.
Put lasagna sheets at the bottom of a baking dish in a single layer. Add a bit of meat sauce (I like to have a lot of layers, so I make the layers thin!), a bit of bechamel sauce and add dashes of ricotta cheese and fresh basil. Repeat until you run out of space and/or you run out of sheets or meat sauce!

Finish off by layering lasagna sheets, add a bit of bechamel sauce and top with fresh mozzarella cheese.
As the meat sauce is dry and the sheets need to be cooked, I pour about 300 grams of water in the edges of the baking dish. This will allow the sheets to cook without making the meat sauce wet.
Bake in the oven for about half an hour (depends on the oven). The lasagna is finished when the mozzarrella cheese is crunchy and the sheets are al dente, i.e. that it's cooked but with a bit of bite (use a fork to check). I like it to cool just a little bit so that you can really taste all the flavors, but if you can't wait, then go ahead!

That's it! Bon appetit - let me know how it works out for you!

Lots of Love,
Becks

Grilled beer chicken

Yesterday I was invited to dine with the neighbors. They were making grilled beer chicken, so I thought that it was suitable to go on the blog!
It was incredibly tasty - I will highly recommend you to try it out!

What you will need:

1 can of beer
1 chicken

How to make it:

The first thing you need to do it open the beer and drink half of it. Tough job, I know! Then place the chicken on top of the beer (i.e. you need to shove the beer into the chicken) - easier said than done!

Then you place the chicken on the grill and wait. It needs to stand up so that the beer does not tip - it may need some support. Put the lid on the grill  to keep in the heat (I know, the picture does not show the grill with the lid on, but a picture of a grill it itself where you cannot see the food it quite boring).

We were six people in total, so we grilled two chickens. However, the grill we used was too small for cooking both of them at the same time. It was supposed to take around 60-70 minutes, but they were nowhere near done at that time. So we ended up putting it in the oven for the remaining time until it was tanned and crispy.
Fortunately, it was freakin' delicious! Definitely worth the wait.

The chicken was served with a tasty salad and fries made using carrots and parsnips instead of potatoes, but chicken pretty much goes with anything.

Let me know if you try it out!

Happy weekend to all y'all!

Lots of Love,
Becks

Beer syrup

Beer syrup. It may sound simple. And it is. It's actually just simple syrup made with beer instead of water. That means two ingredients: beer and sugar.

However, brought together they create an interesting product that can be used for pretty much everything! Put it in your tea, cocktails (e.g. in an Irish Coffee instead of brown sugar), in your food, in your cakes... Ok, it's pretty much like simple syrup, but the taste is really a lot more interesting than the traditional one!
You can also substitute the sugar in the bacon/beer/cheddar bread with this little fellah and add even more beer to the recipe! 

I used the Nordic Beer from Carlsberg. I had leftovers from a six-pack I purchased, and as it's a light beer, they haven't been consumed by my BF, haha! You can use pretty much any beer. Darker beers tend to bring a heavier flavor, and can easily be spiced up by being boiled with e.g. cinammon or orange peel.

What you will need:

1 beer (approximately 33 cl.)
330 grams of sugar

I usually do about the same amount of liquid and sugar. If I need to speed things up, I sometimes add more sugar to make it thicker more quickly.

How to make it:

Put the sugar and the beer in a casserole and bring it to boil. Once it boils, turn down the heat and let it simmer. Leave it for a while, but keep an eye on it. Mine boiled over like three times, leaving a lot of the golden, delicious syrup to waste (woops).
The longer it boils, the thicker it gets. You can pretty much use it as soon as the sugar is dissolved, but I prefer it a bit thicker. I wouldn't want it to be thick as molasses or caramel either, as it makes it harder to work with.

I usually leave it until the bubbles thicken and the syrup has gotten a slightly thicker texture. One way to test it is to check that the syrup sticks to the spoon after stirring it! Also, remember that the syrup will thicken further as it cools.

Finally, I pour it into an old glass bottle with an attachable lid. Pretty much any container suitable for food would do, though. Just make sure to cool it to room temperature if you are using a plastic container!

That's it! Let me know how it goes and how you are using your delicious syrup!

Lots of Love,

Becks

Bacon/beer/cheddar bread!

Ok, everyone! Here goes my first blog-post! And it's good. It will show you how to make the best ever hangover treat.

I originally found it on Chocolate, Chocolate & More. However, I've translated the measurements to metrics (i.e. grams) and added some sweet chili sauce, #yummy! Next time I will add more chili, as I would like for the bread to give me a little burn. Also, I don't have easy access to self-raising flour, so I adjusted the recipe to include flour, salt and bakingpowder (i.e. homemade self-raising flour).

Oh yeah, and I doubled the recipe! Haha. It's actually so good that I tripled the recipe once. My BF was bringing it to game-night and I wanted to make sure that there were enough for me as well!

Concerning the beer; I've tried using different kinds, and each time the bread turns out GREAT! So go ahead, use whatever you'd like.

What you will need:

760 grams of flour

1.5 teaspoons of salt

7.5 teaspoons of baking powder

6 tablespoons of sugar

2 beers (of approximately 33 centiliters)

2 packages of fried bacon (I fry mine until it's crunchy and almost burned, 'cause that's how I prefer it!)

2 pakcages of cheddar cheese

A dash of sweet chili sauce or some chopped fresh chili (optional)

100 grams of melted butter

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 190 C (375 F). 

Mix flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Add the beer.

 Mix the dough until it's firm and even. I just use a spoon; no need to spend lots of energy here. Add the bacon, cheese and chili and stir it evenly into the dough.

Pour it into a greased pan (I like to use a pot, but that's because it has room for a lot more dough, haha!)

Bake it for 45 minutes. Pour over the melted butter and bake it for additionally 10 minutes.

Take it out of the oven, let it cool slightly, but have a piece while it's still warm! Perhaps with a glas of cold beer.

That one time where I tripled the recipe (i.e. 1.5 times this recipe), it needed longer time in the oven, about 10 minutes. I sliced the bread in half and saw that it was not completely baked through. I just threw it back into the pot and gave it 10 minutes more.

If the pan is deep and narrow, allow for a little more time! But if it's wide and shallow, 30 minutes will do. Keep and eye on it. In any case, I'm sure it will taste fantastic.

Enjoy! If you try it out, please comment and let me know how it worked out for you :-)

Lots of Love,

Becks