9/26/2005 - A Dark Lady with some even Darker Secrets

If I told you that this was what I had for breakfast on my birthday last Saturday, you probably wouldn't believe it.  However, it's true and the story behind this most decadent of breakfasts starts with something I saw in Nigella Lawson's newest cookbook Feast.  In the chapter whimsically titled The Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame, there is a recipe for a Chocolate Guinness Cake.  I kept thinking, What fun!  A cake made with dark beer - of all things!

The idea sort of stuck in my mind for the next few weeks until I saw this Irish chef (No, I don't remember his name.  All I remember is that he was this skinny redhead who looked and acted pretty much like Globe Trekker's Ian Wright.) on the BBC Food channel.  (It's the UK's reply to The Food Network.  If your cable provider is Cablelink, it's channel 51.)  The guy shwed the procedure for making the cake, and I guess that pretty much hooked me for good.

I refer to this particular chocolate cake as La Dama Negra; that's Spanish for The Dark Lady.  The name is reminiscent of Goya's Maja paintings: a ravishing Spanish beauty with a rather secretive expression on her face.  In this case, the secrets have something to do with the sheer decadence of this cake's ingredients: three-quarters of a cup of cocoa powder, sour cream, dark beer, butter, and eggs!  The texture is also heavy and dense; the flavor dusky without the cloying sweetness of so many commercially-prepared cakes.   It's enough to give both dieters and dietitians alike nightmares.  Moreover, this is a very grown-up cake as it is too rich and dark for children's palates.  Moreover, anyone who doesn't like or is allergic to chocolate (a most deplorable affliction, really), should stay away from this cake at all cost.  But for the rest of us indulgent sybarites, here's the recipe:

La Dama Negra

• 1 cup dark beer ( I used San Miguel Cerveza Negra.)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees/Gas Mark 4.  Butter a 9-inch springform pan.  Heat the beer in a heavy saucepan, adding the butter in slices until it melts.  Whisk in the cocoa and sugar.  Beat together the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla; add this to the cocoa mixture.  Whisk in the flour and baking soda until well-combined.  Bake for 45 to 60 minutes.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.  Remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a rack.  Frost the top only with your favorite dark chocolate frosting.  (I used the one from the Silver Palate Desserts cookbook.)  Serve with tall, frosty glasses of well-chilled milk for a very satisfying birthday breakfast. ^_^

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