A tasty cake

I said I'd help you create exciting and experimental things with beer, so if you like cake, and beer, then read on.

I was given a bottle of Rohrbachs bottle conditioned beer from work in the hope that I'd stick it in some food and produce something a) tasty and b) saleable. After tasting a little, I decided to take advantage of the gingery tang and carbonation from the conditioning to make an easy peasy cake which traditionally uses milk. I know, I'm not sure what possessed me to do it either but it turned out dead tasty (even though it does have a bit of an odd grey tinge to it!).

It's not vital that you find a beer with a gingery note, although that does help, and a bottle conditioned one isn't essential either. Just make sure you find one which isn't too heavy on the hops or you might get some odd flowery notes which clash with your exotic ingredients, and make sure it's on the sweet rather than bitter side as beers which are already bitter might go really nasty when you cook them! So, I'd recommend selecting a couple and trying them before you stick one in the cake.

Oh and difficulty level is about 2/10, so fairly safe to do after testing your beers, providing you turn the oven off don't burn the house down. Alternatively, in Blue Peter style, find a sober adult to supervise.

Kelham Island beer, ginger, lime and coconut cake

Ingredients:
150g butter
170g caster sugar
zest 1 lime
2 eggs
55g crystallised ginger - chopped really small
215g self raising flour
45g dessicated coconut
185ml beer of your choice

Cooking:
180°C for about 50 mins or until a knife comes out clean

Method:

1. Grease a normal 2lb loaf tin, or use one of those brilliant squashy silicone ones
   
2. Beat butter, sugar and zest in a bowl with an electric whisk if you've got one
   
3. Beat in both eggs, one at a time
   
4. Add your beer, just by stirring it in so you don't get rid of all the potential bubbles
   
5. Fold in the flour and coconut
6. Pour into your loaf tin and cook
7. Enjoy hot with some ice cream or cold

If you make this cake, let me know what you think. In all honesty, we liked it better than the version made with milk because the beer complimented the flavours of ginger and lime, and the texture was all together lighter and more airy. Yummy.