Guinness Brownie Sundae

A rich fudgy Guiness brownie topped with french vanilla ice cream and drunken sugared peanuts makes for the ultimate St. Patrick's Day Sundae. 

I am not a beer drinker. My boyfriend was shocked when I asked him to pick me up some Guinness but I knew I wanted to make an alcoholic treat for St. Patrick's Day this year. I took my inspiration from one of our favourite restaurants in town who makes a delicious beer brownie.  It is served warm with vanilla ice cream and beer nuts. The first time I had it I was equally shocked by how you could and couldn't taste the beer. Meaning I was surprised that I liked the brownie since I dislike beer. There was a hint of beer flavour right at the end of your bite - it was the perfect amount so subtle that you might miss it. In fact my beer loving boyfriend thought I was crazy in saying that I could actually taste the beer in the brownie over the delicious chocolate flavour. That hint of beer flavour continues to make their brownie dessert one of my favourite, I love the complexity of the flavours. Plus who doesn't love a brownie topped with ice cream? This Guinness Brownie Sundae is my take on their Beer Brownie. 

Guinness Brownies

Ingredients

3/4 c butter, cut into cubes 

1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips (or 4oz semi sweet chocolate chopped)

1 c flour 

1/2 c cocoa powder 

1 tsp salt 

1/2 c Guinness or other stout beer 

1 1/2 c sugar

3 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x9 inch pan and coat with cocoa powder, set aside 

In a medium bowl, place butter and chocolate chips, set aside. In a separate medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt, set aside 

In a small heavy bottom sauce pan, over medium to high heat, heat Guinness until reduced by half .Once reduced poor Guinness over butter and sugar, whisk until butter and chocolate are melted and mixture is smooth. Whisk sugar into Guinness chocolate mixture. Whisk eggs into mixture one at a time until just incorporated. Whisk in vanilla.With a rubber spatula fold flour mixture into Guinness chocolate mixture. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan, bake for 35-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean (a few fudgy crumbs are okay)

Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares

The Brownie Sundae

The brownie is rich in flavour with a fudgy texture and it is delicious all on its own. That being said, if you want to take it to the next level, I highly suggest you serve it as brownie sundae. In order to really bring out the Guinness flavour I make some drunken peanuts - peanuts glazed in sugar and Guinness to top my sundae. The sundae has layers of flavours and various textures really play well off each other and create the perfect bite.

Drunken Peanuts

Ingredients

1/3 c Guinness or other stout beer 

1/2 c peanuts 

1/8 c sugar 

Directions

In a small pan, reduce Guinness until it reaches a thick syrupy like texture -should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir peanuts into reduced Guinness and coat. Toss peanuts in sugar to coat.

Assembling Your Sundae

I recommend serving your Guinness brownies warm with a generous scope of french vanilla ice cream and topped with drunken peanuts. 

Lemon Raspberry Layered Cake

“Brighten your day with this cheery lemon raspberry layered cake”

Do you ever get that feeling where you just need to make a cake? You have a million and a half other things to do but you can't seem to rid that nagging feeling of I just really need to bake this cake. No, just me? I opened my fridge the other day and staring at me was a bag of lemons I had bough from the grocery store and I knew I had to make a lemon cake. It seemed a little bit silly to want to make a Lemon Raspberry cake in the middle of February since I typically associate both flavours with spring or summer but here we are. This cake is bright in flavour and definitely brightens up the dark winter days that we have been having. I think I was drawn to the lemons because I needed some sunshine in my life after days of over cast skies.  

I love the pop of pink that the raspberry cream cheese filling provides in the middle of the cake. It is a nice surprise to cut into the cake and see such a vibrant pink colour. It definitely adds to the cheeriness!  The cream cheese frosting takes this cake to the next level. As you know my cream cheese frosting is very popular. It pairs nicely with both the raspberry and the lemon.  I decided to decorate this cake in a simple rosette design. It is fairly simple to do and creates a stunning looking cake. 

Lemon Cake

Makes: One 6 inch cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c butter, at room temperature

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1 lemon, zest & juice separate

1/2 c milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 6 inch round baking pan, set aside

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium-high speed beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Beat in eggs and lemon zest until incorporated. Scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in lemon juice.

Slowly alternate adding in the milk and flour mixture, ending with the dry. Mix until just incorporated

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45minutes - 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean

Raspberry Filling

Ingredients:

1 c frozen raspberries

1/2 c sugar

1 tbsp corn starch

1 cup cream cheese frosting, recipe below

Directions:

In a small pot, over medium heat add frozen raspberries and sugar. Stir occasionally until the raspberries have broken down and sugar has dissolved

Allow the mixture to come to a light boil. Stir in corn starch to thicken mixture. Bring mixture to a light boil once more and allow to cook for an additional 3-5 minutes

Let raspberry filling cool completely. In a small bowl, combine raspberry filling with about one cup of cream cheese frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 c butter, room temperature

16 oz cream cheese, room temperature

8 c icing sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream (optional)

Directions:

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes)

Reduce speed to low and add in icing sugar one cup at a time. Mix until combined. Add in vanilla. Whip frosting on medium - high speed until light, fluffy and pale in colour

If you would prefer a thinner frosting, add in whipping cream until desired consistency is reached

Assembling the Cake

1. Once the cake has cooled completely, torte into 3 layers. Use a small amount of cream cheese frosting to secure the bottom layer to a 8 inch cake board. 
2. Using an off set spatula spread the raspberry cream cheese filling between each layer. Until cake is fully stacked. Chill cake in fridge for 30 minutes. 
3. Crumb coat your stacked cake and chill.
4. Frost with cream cheese buttercream as desired. I used a Wilton 2D tip to create this rosette effect.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Crowd pleasing moist red velvet cupcakes with rich and velvety cream cheese frosting

Red velvet cupcakes are a strange phenomenon. They aren’t quite chocolate but they aren’t vanilla either. That being said, there is just something about them that everyone loves. Red velvet is always a crowd pleaser! The combination of the moist cake paired with rich and creamy cream cheese frosting is hard to resist. These cupcakes are some of my most requested by friends and family. Whenever I am unsure of what to make and I ask for suggestions these are almost always near the top of the list (although these might start to edge out red velvet for most requested). Not only do they taste great but they are a beautiful looking cupcake. I love the deep rich red colour against the pale frosting. Of course like most cupcakes these are best topped with sprinkles. 

Red Velvet Cupcake

In my mind, a red velvet cupcake needs to be two things: 

1. Deep Red in Colour

2. Moist

This cupcake definitely hits the nail on the head. To achieve a deep red colour, I used a gel food colouring. I added small amounts of red gel until it reached my desired colour.  Keep in mind, I find that the batter tends to lose its colour as it bakes, so if you want a redder cupcake add more food colouring then you think you need. You can also use liquid food colouring but I find it takes a lot of liquid food colouring to achieve a deep red colour. 

You will notice that these cupcakes use mix of butter, oil and sour milk. This in addition to using cake flour instead of all purpose flour makes for a moist cupcakes. If you do not have cake flour on hand, for every 1 cup of all purpose flour remove 2 tablespoons and replace with 2 table spoons of corn starch. Make sure you sift well to insure the corn starch is evenly distributed. A lot of red velvet recipes call for buttermilk, since I rarely have buttermilk on hand I decided to use sour milk (milk with vinegar added and allowed to sit for 5 minutes or so).  The acidity in the sour milk, along with the additional vinegar in the batter reacts with the baking soda to allow the cupcake to rise. These cupcakes bake up with a lovely little dome. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is everything! I think the real reason most people love red velvet cupcake is because of the cream cheese frosting. One of my best friends tells me it doesn’t matter what I make as long as it has my cream cheese frosting. Red velvet, carrot cake, lemon cake she doesn’t care. It’s all about the frosting. This cream cheese frosting is tangy and sweet. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1.5 c cake flour

2 tbsp coco powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 c butter

3/4 c sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 c canola oil

1 tsp vinegar

red food colouring

1/2 c sour milk (1/2 c milk + 2 tsp vinegar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with liners, set aside.

In a medium bowl sift together dry ingredients: flour, coco powder and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. To the butter and sugar add egg and vanilla. Beat until combined. On low speed, beat in oil, vinegar and food colouring until combined. Add half of the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients alternating with the sour milk until all has been combined.

Evenly divide batter between cupcake liners. Fill each 2/3s full. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 c butter, room temperature

8oz cream cheese, room temperature

4 c icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream (optional)

Directions

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes).

Reduce speed to low and add in icing sugar one cup at a time. Mix until combined. Add in vanilla. Whip frosting on medium - high speed until light, fluffy and pale in colour. If you would prefer a thinner frosting, add in whipping cream until desired consistency is reached. Frost cupcakes as desired.