Chocolate & Black Garlic Guinness Cake

Cake might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cooking with garlic, but the natural sweetness of caramelised Black Garlic pairs beautifully with chocolate (if you've ever had our in-house speciality Black Garlic & Chocolate Brownie Sundae, you'll already know this!). Black Garlic Puree is perfect for baking with, as you don't have to worry about chopping the cloves finely enough to make a flawlessly smooth batter. Together with dark chocolate and cream, we've used it to ice a deliciously decadent Chocolate Guinness cake.

Ingredients for cake

200g soft, unsalted butter, chopped into small cubes

160g caster sugar

160g soft dark brown sugar

4 large eggs 

240g self-raising flour

50g cocoa powder

1.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon of pure chocolate extract such as this, or good quality vanilla essence

Pinch of fine sea-salt

240g Guinness or other stout (or fans could try Black Garlic Beer!)

150g sour cream

Black Garlic ganache

200g best quality dark chocolate, chopped finely

250g tub of mascarpone

3 tbsp of Black Garlic Puree

Whipped cream to decorate

You will also need two 20cm cake tins and some baking paper.

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170C.
2. Line two cake tins with baking paper and grease the sides with a little butter or baking spray.
3. Cream the soft butter and both types of sugar together - ideally with an electric mixer to ensure a really well-combined, aerated batter.
4. Add the eggs, one by one, stirring in between additions to combine them with the batter.
5. Now add the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda, sea-salt, and chocolate or vanilla extract. Mix well.
6. Pour in the Guinness and sour cream, and combine well to create a smooth batter.
7. Divide evenly into the two cake tins, and bake for 30-35 minutes, testing with a skewer to check the cake is cooked all the way through (it should come out completely cleanly - if not, pop back in the oven for a further five minutes) .
8. After removing from the oven, leave cakes in their tins for five minutes, then ease out and cool them on a raised cake rack.
9. Meanwhile make the ganache. Finely chop the chocolate, and melt it over just-simmering water in a Bain Marie.
10. Once melted, mix the chocolate with the mascarpone, add two-three tablespoons of Black Garlic Puree, and whisk together to combine.
11. When the cakes are completely cool, use a third of the ganache to ice one cake. You could also add some mashed raspberries here to dial up the flavour.
12. Carefully lay the second cake on top of the iced layer, and cover the top and sides of the whole cake with Black Garlic chocolate ganache. Place the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes to set the icing, then remove it and ice with a second layer of ganache.
13. Finally, decorate with whipped cream to resemble an authentically frothy pint of Guinness.