
Check out our other St. Patty’s Day favorites, from Guinness-Marinated Steak to Green Eggs & Ham, here.
Short of soda bread, colcannon, and, well, booze, I came up short when brainstorming ideas for St. Patrick’s Day cooking. In the past, we’ve featured the above-mentioned egg sandwiches, made green with homemade pesto. This year, we decided to incorporate the St. Patty’s Day standby–alcohol–into our meals. Today, I’m baking. Tomorrow Phoebe will be posting about something more savory.

I read recipes, trying to research the effects of adding alcohol to baked goods. But I didn’t find much. Over and over, this chocolate stout cake recipe came up–there were variations aplenty but they all led back to Bon Appetit. I didn’t feel much like making chocolate cake–I wanted something earthier. Giving up on the internet, I improvised, thinking back to 1, 2, 3 Cake and its proportions. I messed around until I’d incorporated oatmeal, stout, and apples into this rich, caramel-y cake. I still can’t tell you exactly how the beer is functioning here, but I can tell you that the cake that results is wholly worthwhile.
From my kitchen, albeit small, to yours,
Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK
**Recipe**

Oatmeal Stout Cake with Apples & Whisky Cream
Makes 1 loaf
The whisky is optional, as is the cream. The cake is wonderful with and without ‘em.
Ingredients
1 cup oats
11/2 cups oatmeal stout or other dark stout beer
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¾ cup neutral oil
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch dice
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1-2 tablespoons whisky
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
Put the oats in a bowl and pour the stout over. Set aside for 1-2 hours, until the oats have absorbed much of the beer.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Oil a loaf pan and cover the bottom with parchment.
Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl.
In a medium bowl, beat the oil, sugars, and eggs together until well-combined and slightly creamy. Add the vanilla extract and stir.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix in. Add ½ of the oatmeal-stout mixture and combine. Repeat, ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the apples.
Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate or rack. Dust the loaf with powdered sugar.
Make the whisky whipped cream by beating the cream, whisky, and powdered sugar together until lifting up the beaters leaves a soft peak. Taste, adding more whisky or sugar as desired.
Cut the loaf into thick slices. Dust with more powdered sugar and top with the cream cream.


















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