Meganr’s Guinness Cake

It’s fine to enjoy a special high calorie treat every now and then. The great thing is to know the calories and serve a measured amount. Most 8 inch cakes serve 8, so with calorie counters in mind, I've set the nutrition facts for 10 servings. If you make the icing in the photo, you will need to adjust your calories way up! The nutrition facts for this awesome cake were made at Calorie Count!

With icing instead of confectioners sugar

 Meganr’s Guinness Cake

Ingredients:

¾ cup Guinness (or other stout)

10 tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 2 tbsp)

½ cup cocoa powder

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 large whole egg plus 1 yolk

2/3 cup sour cream

confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Butter 8 inch round cake pan.  Line with parchment or wax paper, then butter paper.

Bring stout and 10 T butter to a simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Add cocoa; whisk until smooth.  Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar baking soda and salt in large bowl and mix well; set aside.

Beat egg, yolk and sour cream with electric mixer in another large bowl. 

Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture, and beat to combine.

Add flour mixture and beat 30 seconds on slowest speed. 

Fold batter using rubber spatula until completely combined; pour into prepared pan.

Bake about 50 to 55 minutes or until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean.  Leave the cake in the pan, but place it on a rack to cool 10 minutes.  Run small sharp knife around edge of cake to loosen and turn cake out onto rack; cool completely.

Sift confectioners’ sugar over top, transfer to platter and serve.

Meganr's Black Bean Chili with Tempeh and Dark Ale

Meganr created this using a 2009 Vegetarian Times recipe as a starter. The nutrition facts for this outstanding chili were made at Calorie Count!

Black Bean Chili with Dark Ale

Ingredients:

(Makes 4 servings)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce

2 tbsp cumin

1 1/2 cups onion, chopped fine

1 medium red bell pepper, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups black beans, cooked or from can

1 1/2 pints dark ale

1 1/2 cups tomatoes, chopped

1 cup corn

4 ounces tempeh, diced

Directions:

Heat oil in 3-qt pot over medium heat.

Add chipotles and cumin. Cook 1 minutes, or until fragrant.

Stir in onion, bell pepper, and garlic and sauté 5 to 7 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.

Stir in beans, beer, tomatoes and corn and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered 45 minutes or until thick.

Serve