Tired of fruitcake? Try one with Guinness
For the last three weeks Ann-Marie has been in hot pursuit of all things Belizean to celebrate the Christmas. Tonight, she makes a slight departure from her usual itinerary and finds herself in the company of one man’s very personal holiday tradition, a delicacy known as Guinness Cake.
Ann-Marie Williams
“Your recipe has been in your family for over thirty years…”
Stewart Krohn
“Well, there is a story behind this recipe.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Tell me how it came about?”
Stewart Krohn
“I was a student in London back in 1970 and like most students, I didn’t have much money and I didn’t eat properly. But one thing I did do was drink a lot of Guinness because it was good for you, so I had Guinness and cheese and crackers and bread, the usual kind of thing. Christmas of 1970, I was reading the London Times and I saw a recipe called Mr. Guinness’ Fruitcake.
We start with eight ounces of butter and you will cream it with eight ounces of brown sugar, about a cup and a half. While you’re creaming that, we will use the foil to grease the pan. You can use a regular cake pan.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy, gradually beat in the eggs. We have four eggs here and it just calls for lightly beating them.
Next thing is the flour. We use ten ounces of plain flour. Ten ounces is about two and a half cups. Before we put the flour in, we have to put in two teaspoons of what the British would call “mixed spice”, what the Americans call “pumpkin pie spice.” This is somewhat difficult to find, but this is very crucial to the cake. It is two level teaspoons. Actually, these should be sifted together.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“I think we need to say since the cake doesn’t have baking powder, it’s important to sieve the flour because it traps the air to help the cake to rise. But the egg is a raising agent too.”
Stewart Krohn
“You mixed the spice in with the flour and we will gradually fold in the flour. It’s a technique, you cut and fold.
Next we add raisins, sultanas, mixed fruit and walnuts. This is always the heart of a fruitcake. You’ve got eight ounces of raisins. Raisins are always a problem in Belize because they’re very expensive. I tend to buy the ones that they sell at the supermarket in bulk and they repack them, rather than the ones in the fancy boxes like the Sun Maid, where you have to mortgage your house to buy them.
Then you also add golden raisins, also known as sultanas. These are unfortunately the expensive ones because they don’t come bulk. So it’s another eight ounces of those.
Then we also add four ounces of chopped walnuts. Personally, I like nuts, so I’m using about six ounces. And we add four ounces of mixed peel. This gives it a nice little flavour.
The reason they call it a Guinness cake is because it is flavoured with Guinness. It takes four tablespoons in the batter and you need to save the rest because you’re going to use it later on the cake. So you mix that.
Ann, I think it’s ready to go into the pan and then into the oven, which by the way was preheated.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“What’s the temperature?”
Stewart Krohn
“Three hundred and twenty-five degrees for an hour and then a next hour and a half at three-twenty. Perhaps you could tell us why we reduce the temperature.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Well it usually because when the cake is cooking through, you don’t want the cake to be at the level as you put it in, because the cake will burn outside and won’t cook inside. So it has to be slower so it could soak.”
Stewart Krohn
“Ann, that’s the best looking Guinness cake batter I’ve ever seen. And we will proceed to put it in the oven. Two and a half hours later, through the magic if television, we have our finished Guinness cake. (removed cake from pan)
Now, what we do is poke holes in the top of the cake with this little handy skewer. The nice thing about this cake, is that it stays moist for a long, long time.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“You were telling me that for best results this cake shouldn’t be consumed right away.”
Stewart Krohn
“The instructions says that you are supposed to wait a week before you eat this cake. How much Guinness you pour over the cake is your own choice. I usually like to star with a bottle, pour some on, drink some, pour some on, drink some. So a half bottle in your cake and a half bottle in your stomach is about right.
“Once again through the magic of television, one week have elapsed. Since you don’t drink Guinness Ann, you will get the bite of this Guinness cake.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Stewart indeed, it’s like eating dreams.”
