[Edited to take out links which are now ‘dead’]
I never hear the call to make things that involve coconut, that’s because I don’t have it in the cupboard. However I do have chocolate, cocoa, flour, golden syrup, vanilla, butter, oats, raisins, egg, soft brown sugar, and one tin of stout left over from bun making – yes, all present – so I don’t have to go shopping for some obscure ingredient.
It’s not that I like chocolate…
This is the first time I have mixed a cake entirely in a saucepan; so the kitchen was disappointingly tidy all the way through, unlike when I make bread.
Mackeson’s stout is a classic, sweet and creamy black beer made with milk lactose and whey. I Googled it to find out what was in it. Wikipedia inform me that is why there is a milk churn on the tin. I never notice things like that unless they are pointed out to me; I thought it was a rook from a chess set.
It feels a bit crazy pouring a can of beer into a saucepan and boiling it up with oats and cocoa as the first stage of a cake – cocoa beer porridge – reminded me of Babette’s Feast where the sister is making ale-bread soup. But I have already used stout in Dan’s new Easter bun recipe so I was on familiar territory. I am quite proud of my home made vanilla essence, something I learnt from Celia at Figjamandlimecordial which also features in this slice.
What’s it like? It is soft and moist with the oats and the stout, not as dense as you might think either, goes very well with a nice cup of tea on a sunny but chilly Friday afternoon. The cake part is chocolatey, juicy with raisins, creamy….and not too sweet – I am not good at describing taste but I am sure you get the idea. The icing is sweeter, as icing should be, but you could always make a different icing if you want less sugar. I am not going to write out the recipe here, it is only a click away after all! [Edit: this recipe is no longer available on the internet as far as I know, if I see it in a new Dan Lepard book I will update again]
Zeb Bakes 
Hahaha…I thought it was a rook as well! Who but the British would put a milk churn on the label of their beer? :)
Gorgeous looking slice, Jo. I love the combination of stout and chocolate – trust Dan the Man to come up with the goods.. :)
Celia, you know how we grumble about the bowl count for these recipes, well this one is just the saucepan, the tin, wash the saucepan out for the icing
and a bowl for that if you have to!
This looks very good, I can’t understand why I’ve missed the recipe so far! What size baking tin did you use? I can’t see a size mentioned in the recipe.
PS – I like the look of Dan’s Guardian recipe today(17th April) – I said before that if anyone can tempt me to bake bread, then he can!
Suelle, I used a 20 cm (8 inch) square tin with a drop out base and lined the bottom with baking parchment and buttered the sides. The recipe
is on the front of Dan’s site in the Recipes in colour section, if you know what I mean! Haven’t got the Guardian yet… :)
Suelle, all I can say is that if anyone could bake bread successfully, it would be you! :D
Another recipe to add to my list to make! That looks so moist and delicious. Chocolate and raisins are a superb match.
Really good with a big dollop of sour cream for a pudding, Cittyhippy!
Ah ha, now I know to which “porridge recipe” you were referring! Certainly looks like one I would like to try and I like the idea of it being all in one pan. Brownies and flapjacks are the only things I’ve achieved this for (I think).
Try it out Choclette!
I was thinking maybe a creme fraiche and dark chocolate ganache might work well with this rather than the butter icing, but it was delicious and kept well thanks
to the oats and stout.
Joanna, I made this yesterday and have to say it was a resounding success. I didn’t have any stout so used a bottle of real ale instead, but it certainly gave good results. Am getting horribly behind with my posting at the moment so this may take a while to appear on my blog.
Choclette, I’m happy to hear it worked for you! I take no credit for it, only for my enthusiasm :) Speaking of Dan Lepard recipes, there are some amazing new ones he has just put on his site for cakes with tamarind in them – hope to try them sometime soon!
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