Crystallised Ginger and Beer Cake

I've missed joining in Random Recipes for a few months now for various reasons so I'm really pleased that I managed to bake something for it this month. Dom from Belleau Kitchen set us the task of using the internet to do a random recipe search and his only criteria is that the recipe is something sweet. I  knew what ingredient I wanted to start with as I found 2 bags of crystallised ginger which I bought ages ago and it seems the perfect time of the year for a ginger cake. I also wanted to incorporate beer as Kate from What Kate Baked recently posted a Honey, Ginger and Beer Cake which I've bookmarked to try. So with that in mind, I typed "crystallised ginger and beer cake" into google and this is the first image result. My cake looks nothing like the picture but it definitely tasted good. 

I made a few changes to the recipe - I used black treacle instead of light molasses and I added in chopped crystallised ginger to the cake for extra flavour and texture. I didn't get to try any of the cake as J took it to work and I'm not a huge fan of ginger. His colleagues claim that this is the best cake so far which is high praise indeed. The cake was moist, sticky and very gingery. They particularly liked the bits of ginger in the cake and in the icing itself. They couldn't really taste the beer as the predominant flavour was ginger so I may have to tweak the recipe a little. Overall, a huge success and I am sure I'll be baking this again particularly in the colder, winter months. I am also quite keen to try a slice despite my dislike of ginger after the positive comments! 

As mentioned, I'm entering this to Random Recipes hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen. The theme is random internet search for something sweet. 

It also fits in nicely with Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber Jabber UK as the theme this month is 'dark'. 

 adding the dark treacle 

 adding chopped crystallised ginger 

 lovely dark cake - you can see the bits of ginger in it

 add whipped cream frosting 

 decorate with more crystallised ginger 

Recipe adapted from bon appetit

For the cake

225g butter

200g brown sugar

315g plain flour

2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

350g dark treacle 

250mls Guinness stout 

150g chopped crystallised ginger 

For the frosting

3 x 300mls whipping cream

45g icing sugar, sifted

approximately 10 pieces of crystallised ginger, chopped and extra for decoration

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Cream the butter and sugar for a few minutes
• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing between each addition.
• Add in the treacle and mix.
• Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.
• Pour 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by the stout and continue alternating the dry and wet ingredients until it's all incorporated.
• Finally stir in the chopped crystallised ginger.
• Divide the mixture evenly between 2 sandwich tins and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until cooked and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (I couldn't find my second tin so I baked mine in 1 large tin which took about 75 minutes to cook) 
• Allow the cakes to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
• Make the frosting by placing the whipping cream and icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.
• Mix until the cream holds it's own shape - this takes quite a while due to the volume of cream. 
• Stir in the chopped crystallised ginger.
• Place 1 cake on a cake board or serving plate and spread a generous amount of frosting on top. Place the second cake on top and cover the top and sides with remaining frosting. 
• Decorate with chopped crystallised ginger as shown or as desired.