Recipe Flash: Oatmeal Stout Cake with Apples & Whisky Cream

Check out our other St. Patty’s Day favorites, from Guinness-Marinated Steak to Green Eggs & Ham, here.

Short of soda bread, colcannon, and, well, booze, I came up short when brainstorming ideas for St. Patrick’s Day cooking. In the past, we’ve featured the above-mentioned egg sandwiches, made green with homemade pesto. This year, we decided to incorporate the St. Patty’s Day standby-alcohol-into our meals. Today, I’m baking. Tomorrow Phoebe will be posting about something more savory.

I read recipes, trying to research the effects of adding alcohol to baked goods. But I didn’t find much. Over and over, this chocolate stout cake recipe came up-there were variations aplenty but they all led back to Bon Appetit. I didn’t feel much like making chocolate cake-I wanted something earthier. Giving up on the internet, I improvised, thinking back to 1, 2, 3 Cake and its proportions. I messed around until I’d incorporated oatmeal, stout, and apples into this rich, caramel-y cake. I still can’t tell you exactly how the beer is functioning here, but I can tell you that the cake that results is wholly worthwhile.

From my kitchen, albeit small, to yours,

Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipe**

Oatmeal Stout Cake with Apples & Whisky Cream
Makes 1 loaf

The whisky is optional, as is the cream. The cake is wonderful with and without ‘em.

Ingredients
1 cup oats
11/2 cups oatmeal stout or other dark stout beer
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¾ cup neutral oil
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch dice
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1-2 tablespoons whisky
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for dusting

Put the oats in a bowl and pour the stout over. Set aside for 1-2 hours, until the oats have absorbed much of the beer.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Oil a loaf pan and cover the bottom with parchment.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, beat the oil, sugars, and eggs together until well-combined and slightly creamy. Add the vanilla extract and stir.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix in. Add ½ of the oatmeal-stout mixture and combine. Repeat, ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the apples.

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate or rack. Dust the loaf with powdered sugar.

Make the whisky whipped cream by beating the cream, whisky, and powdered sugar together until lifting up the beaters leaves a soft peak. Taste, adding more whisky or sugar as desired.

Cut the loaf into thick slices. Dust with more powdered sugar and top with the cream cream.