The night she met him he was standing under the halo of a street lamp, on a lonely road, smoking a cigarette, his dark hair was thick and mildly curled, his eyes had the colour of unripe hazelnuts, his lips seemed to call for long kissing. She knew all of a sudden that she would never forget him. She started baking because he loved everything sweet with a cup of tea, so she was baking every day, even on Sundays. Today, decades have gone by far. She became a good cook, a very appreciated one. If she could, she would bake this for him, a delightful, luscious, bittersweet chocolate cake, dark like a night without moon, topped with the most luxurious cream.

You’ll need a baking tin of 18 cm wide and 10cm high or use a 20 cm one. I like when the cake comes out rather high, though for these photos, I used the 20 cm, why? Just got it wrong!

Preheat the oven at 170° without a fan (convection oven)

Ingredients for the cake

300 ml of Guinness beer, the best kind is the Original, anyway what you can find, best in a bottle than a tin 170 gr of all-purpose flour

170 gr of butter, diced

170 of caster sugar

170gr all-purpose flour; for a gluten-free version, use 25 gr of coconut flour and 70 gr of corn starch.

75 gr of unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon of grounded ginger

One teaspoon of baking powder

A pinch of salt

Three medium eggs

For the icing:

300 ml of whipping cream,

100 gr of mascarpone,

One tablespoon of Whisky or coffee

30 gr of confectioner sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170° / 340 F/ 4 gas mark convection mode

2. Prepare and weigh all ingredients, and sift the flour and baking powder together.

3. Butter the cake tin. I also cover the bottom and the sides with parchment paper for better results.

4. Sift the cocoa powder into a saucepan, add 1/3 of the beer and start mixing, then add the rest until the cocoa has dissolved. After that, add the diced butter and warm gently till it is melted. Set aside to cool.

5. Whisk the eggs in a big bowl with the sugar till they start to make bubbles, add the pinch of salt and the ginger, then start folding in half of the dried ingredients, followed by half of the liquid mixture, and repeat with the remaining. The batter will be running, don’t worry, it’s normal.

6. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and cook for about 45/60 minutes. After 45 minutes, you can test it with a skewer or a toothpick; it should come out clean. Take the cake out of the oven, cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. This cake is good eaten cold so…..wait! Before serving, whisk the cream, mascarpone, Whisky or coffee, vanilla and sugar together till it forms steady picks, decorate the top of the cake and serve.