life & style // 16

Chocolate stout cake with
coffee ganache Icing

» A decadent classic for grown-ups

Sophie Isbister

_ Life & Style Editor
Mlifeandstyle

@theotherpress.ca

 

he coming of winter (and

holidays) signifies the start
of baking season—and what
better thing to bake than a rich,

chocolatey, elaborate cake? This

recipe is a classic favourite of
mine, one I like to break out of
my bookmarks when one of my

bolder friends has a birthday
party. It’s made with cocoa and

Guinness and is perfectly moist.

It’s so perfect and delicious,

it kind of reminds me of the
chocolate cake from the book
(and movie) Matilda, the one
that Mrs. Trunchbull fed to
Bruce Bogtrotter; he ate the
whole thing, and you probably
will too.

A note on cocoa: this
recipe calls for Dutch-process
cocoa powder. The basic
difference between the two is
that Dutch-process is darker,
and has been processed to have
acid stripped from it. It’s the
superdark kind of cocoa that
will give this cake a specific
richness, but if you don’t have
it, then the other style of cocoa
(natural) will suffice. Dutched
cocoa is pretty easy to find
though; if you have a can of
Fry’s cocoa in your pantry, you
have yourself some Dutched
cocoa.

CHOCOLATE
STOUT CAKE (with files
from SmittenKitchen.com)

You will need:

A Bundt pan and plenty of
pan-spray

1cup stout (such as
Guinness)

1cup (2 sticks) unsalted
butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
powder (preferably Dutch-
process)

2. cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

11/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 Cup sour cream

For the icing:

6 ounces good semisweet
chocolate chips

6 tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 teaspoon instant coffee
granules

It’s made with cocoa
and Guinness and is
perfectly moist.

: mixture is smooth, and then set
: it aside to cool a bit.

In a separate bowl, mix

your dry ingredients (flour,

: sugar, baking soda, and salt).

: In yet another bowl, mix the

: eggs with the sour cream using
: a hand mixer or electric beater.
Make sure this egg mixture’s

: bowl is the biggest, because

: the next step is to pour the

: stout and butter mixture into

: the egg bowl and stir until it’s

: just combined. Add your dry

: ingredients and fold the batter
: with a spatula to combine all
the ingredients.

Pour your batter into the

: pan and bake for about 35

: minutes. Test it with a toothpick
: or skewer. Allow the cake to

: cool completely before you try
to remove it from the pan.

Preparing the ganache

icing is a lot simpler. Using a
: double boiler, simply melt the
: chocolate chips, butter, and

ih ream over medium
To make the cake, preheat : eavy cream over mediu

: your oven to 350 degrees. Spray
: or grease your Bundt pan very

: well and set it aside. Put the

: stout and the butter in a heavy
: saucepan and bring it toa

: simmer on the stove. Mixinthe :
: cocoa powder until the whole

> heat until smooth. When you

: have your cake on its serving

: plate, drizzle the icing on top.
: For an extra Christmassy look,
: decorate the top of your cake

: with silver balls, or put some

: sprigs of holly in the centre.

: Serve to grown-ups, and enjoy!

 

theotherpress.ca

 

Diary of astarter novelist

» Week four: Some progress, but same old struggles

Patrick Vaillancourt
Senior Columnist

Patrick Vaillancourt is a political
essayist and seasoned in the arts
of non-fiction writing. His first
book, a memortr, is scheduled
for publication later this year.
He is participating in National
Novel Writing Month, otherwise
known as NaNoWriMo, for the
first time.

his past month, I have

discovered that writing a
novel is really quite difficult. I
consider myself to be a decent
writer, but coming up with
characters and a plot through

of the pen.

Tam also resigned to the

: fact that, unless I write like a

: madman for the next week, I

: probably will not make it to

: the 50,000-word mark required
: to “win” NaNoWriMo. The

: fact remains that many of the

: main concepts for this project

: have not been wholly thought

: out, and while some of it is

: written, the task becomes more
: daunting when you have no

: secondary plots or conflicts to

: give to your characters.

Despite being behind,

: I will keep working on the

: project, with the hope that a

: breakthrough will simply take
: place and that I'll be able to

: hammer out the details before

one’s own imagination is a work : the end of the month.

of the mind more so thana work :

One of the major tasks this

: week was in getting to really

: know my characters. Getting
: to know them not only helps

: with keeping them consistent
: throughout the project, but

: also gives the writer much more :
: flexibility in terms of writing
: about them. It has proven to
: bean effective way to pad the
: word count while also giving the :
: reader a better sense of who the
: characters in the novel really

: are.

Whether your character has

: an obsession with blueberry

: jam or has it out for their high
: school math teacher, these

: kinds of tidbits of information
: will allow those who read your
: novel to better appreciate

: your story. Readers like to be
able to relate, and so the more

: detail you include about your
: characters, the more likely a

: reader is to read and say to

: themselves “Oh! I’m like that
: too!”

Finally, the one thing I

: will be putting to use in the
: final week is to basically get
: everything on the page, from

every ill-conceived idea to every

: unfinished snippet of dialogue.
: Some seasoned participants may
: beall-too-aware of this trick,

: but the first-time novelist does
: not, and that has been slowing
: my progress considerably. I

: need to keep reminding myself
: that the goal isn’t to have a

: finished product by the end of
: November, but simply a 50,000
: word framework from which to
build a finished product.

One of the major
tasks this week
Was in getting to
really know my
characters

WORDS WRITTEN:
6,614

WORDS REMAINING:
50,000

DAYS LEFT TO
COMPLETE:

5