My adorable five year old niece was once spotted demolishing the icing off a cupcake, leaving most of the cake behind. When it was pointed out to her by her disapproving mother, she exclaimed, “But I love cream!”. Uttered in her small, high-pitched voice, we found this quote so priceless, that B and I have since adopted it as our catchphrase. So now when I admonish B about his butter : toast ratio, he replies in a mock squeaky tone, “But I love butter!”

As for the dessert above, it started out as a slab of Guinness stout ginger cake. The recipe is by Claudia Fleming and is an absolute stunner. Assisted by the Guinness and molasses, this cake is unbelievably moist and has great depth of flavour with the perfect amount of spice.

In the mood for something a little different, I dried slices of the cake in the oven until crisp and sandwiched them between vanilla ice-cream (because I love ice-cream sandwiches). The sandwich was paired with accents of dry caramel and chocolate, dollops of espresso pudding (a recipe from the Alinea cookbook) and a frothy leatherwood honey milk which tasted malty and earthy : just like the gingerbread. There was also a small amount of smoked orange syrup drizzled on the plate, though not quite visible from the pictures.

Guinness stout ginger cake? I love it, and think you will too!

Guinness Stout Ginger Cake :
(serves 8; recipe from The Last Course by Claudia Fleming)

1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup molasses
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
3 large eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup grapeseed or vegetable oil
2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh gingerroot

Preheat the oven to 175’C. Butter a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, line the bottom and sides with parchment, and grease the parchment. Alternatively, butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan.

In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the stout and molasses and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the baking soda. Allow to sit until the foam dissipates.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the eggs and both sugars. Whisk in the oil.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom.

Combine the stout mixture with the egg mixture, then whisk this liquid into the flour mixture, half at a time. Add the fresh ginger and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, or until the top springs back when gently pressed. Do not open the oven until the gingerbread is almost done or the center may fall slightly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I feel I owe apologies to a lot of people, of late.

Firstly, to my neighbour, who complained to me about my constant ‘loud walking’. (I suppose it didn’t help that a couple of days ago, B and I ran whooping around the coffee table, to celebrate Macheda’s goal in the final minutes of stoppage time during the Man U vs Aston Villa match).

Sorry to my dear friend M for cancelling our lunch date, on account of my cold. An equally heartfelt sorry to my mom for missing out on a lunch with her, due to the same cold.

Sorry also to the lonely packet of figs that had been lying untouched in my fridge for over a week, and sorry to myself, for wasting valuable money buying food I didn’t need. (Situation now rectified, as pictured above)

Finally, apologies to everyone who has been hounding me for the banoffee teacake recipe. I hadn’t really forgotten, honest. Well, maybe a little. I made some bite sized ones recently, which I think are more fun to serve to friends. Definitely didn’t forget the recipe this time, so hopefully all is forgiven!

Mini Banoffee Teacakes :

Caramel :
(This caramel is essentially the filling you get in a caramel slice, but baked without the biscuit base. The total yield is more than you will require for 20 mini banoffee teacakes, but I find the leftover caramel useful for all sorts of things – as a macaron or cake filling, or even spread on toast, if you are that way inclined. You can skip this step and use dulce de leche instead, if you have it.)

40g unsalted butter
50g golden syrup
325g sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 125’C.

Place all ingredients in a pot. Heat on a medium-low flame, until completely melted and homogenous. Stir gently while heating with a spatula to prevent the mixture from catching. Pour into a baking dish or baking ramekin roughly 12 x 18 x 3cm in size. Bake for 15 – 17 minutes until the caramel mixture sets. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before using. You can make this ahead and store it in the fridge until required.

Teacakes :
(makes 20 mini-muffin-sized cakes; recipe by Tartlette)
67g caster sugar
2 large eggs
56.5g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
58gr sour cream
62.5g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 176’C. Grease mini muffin tin well.

In a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale and thick, about 2 – 3 minutes. Add the butter and sour cream. Whisk well and then fold in the sifted flour. Divide the mixture evenly between the holes of the muffin tin. The mixture should come up to about 3/4 of the way up each hole. (Tip : Use a measuring tablespoon to scoop the mix)

Bake for 8 – 9 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of a teacake comes out clean. Allow to cool on wire rack then remove each cake carefully with a small spatula. (Tip : If you do not have a big enough mini muffin tin, you can bake this in batches.)

To assemble :

1 medium banana
200g whipped cream
dark chocolate shavings or curls, to garnish

Slice the banana into thin rounds. Place a slice on each teacake. Fill a piping bag with the caramel. Pipe about 1 teaspoon-worth of caramel on top of the banana. Pipe whipped cream on top and decorate with chocolate shavings.