Since I began startcooking.com, chocolate cake has been in the “Top 5 List” of the most requested recipes. Finally I have discovered the perfect chocolate cake recipe for beginner cooks. This moist, rich, dense, chocolate cake is one that you will want to make again and again. Many thanks to Nigella Lawson for this perfect recipe!

There are six steps to making this cake

1. Prepare the Pan
2. Prepare the Ingredients
3. Mixing the Ingredients
4. Baking the Cake
5. Removing the Cake from the Pan
6. Making the Frosting

Let’s startcooking!

1. Preparing the Pan

This cake is baked in a 9-inch wide (and 2 1/2 -3 inches high) “springform” pan. This type of baking pan has a hinge on the side that expands. This allows you to remove the bottom of the pan from the sides, making removing the cake from the pan really easy.

To begin, the (closed!) pan needs to get “greased” (putting a layer of grease or shortening on the bottom of the pan.) You can grease the pan with butter, shortening, or a non-stick spray. (I used the non-stick spray.)

Then you need to line the pan with parchment paper. Cut the parchment paper to match the size of the pan.

Press the parchment paper to the bottom and sides of the pan. The grease will make it stick.

Be sure to get the pan prepared before you begin mixing the ingredients!

Go and pre-heat your oven to 350 F. degrees (or 180C., Gas mark 4)

2. Preparing the Ingredients

If your measuring is not exact when you are making soups or stews, it will not totally throw off the recipe. However, with baking, measuring must be really accurate! Get all of your ingredients assembled and measured before you start mixing anything together.

I am making this cake using the standard US measuring techniques, but I am listing the metric amounts as well.

Nine ingredients are needed to make the cake. (Don’t make the frosting until the cake is baked, and stone cold.) Measure all the cake ingredients and set them aside:

First, there’s the surprise ingredient that makes this cake so rich - 8 ounces (250 ml) of Guinness stout beer!! (I promise, there is no beer taste to this cake!)

Second ingredient: 1 stick (250gr) of butter, unsalted and cut into slices

Third ingredient: 3/4 cups (75gr) of unsweetened cocoa powder (this is not the same as instant hot chocolate!)

Fourth ingredient: 2 cups granulated of sugar (400gr caster sugar)

Fifth ingredient: 3/4 cups of sour cream (1 x 142ml pot)

Sixth ingredient: 2 eggs

Seventh ingredient: 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract (15 ml vanilla essence)

Eighth ingredient: 2 cups of white flour (275gr plain flour)

Finally, the ninth ingredient: 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda (12.5 ml bicarbonate of soda)

3. Mixing the Ingredients

Part one: the basic chocolate mixture.

Pour the Guinness stout into a 4 quart saucepan…

…add the butter…

…and (over medium heat) stir or whisk until the butter has melted.

Whisk in the cocoa powder…

…and the sugar.

Once the sugar has melted, remove the pan from heat.

Part Two: The egg mixture

Crack the eggs into a small dish, check for shells, and then put the egg into a medium bowl.

Add the vanilla extract…

…and the sour cream.

Whisk these three ingredients together.

Pour the egg mixture into the chocolate.

Whisking until…

…it is well blended.

Part Three: Finishing the Batter

Now add the flour…

…and the baking soda.

Whisk everything together until it is totally blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Be sure to scrape the pan clean with a silicone spatula.

4. Baking the cake

Put the cake into the pre-heated 350 F. degrees (or 180C., Gas mark 4) oven.

Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake…

…comes out clean.

Check the cake after 45 minutes. This should be done while the cake is still in the oven! I did it on the counter top just for demonstration purposes. Even though my cake looks like it is not quite cooked in the very center, the pick came out clean so I know it is cooked.

Set the cake on a wire rack to cool completely. Do not remove the cake from the pan until it is cold!

5. Removing the Cake from the Pan

Don’t even think about making the frosting until the cake is stone cold!! This will take a couple of hours for the cake to cool completely.

To remove the cake from the pan, first pop the hinge.

Then just lift the ring off the cake.

The parchment paper will be stuck to the cake. Gently peel off the parchment paper.

If this were a cheesecake, you would just serve it right on top of the metal base of the pan.

This is such a sturdy, moist cake that the bottom of the pan can easily be removed. First put the cooling rack on top of the cake…

…and the bottom of the pan slides right off.

Remove the paper.

Flip your cake dish so that the right side of the dish is facing the bottom of the cake.

The cake will be sandwiched between the cooling rack and the cake dish. Flip the whole thing!

Remove the rack and the cake is ready to frost!

6. Frosting the Cake

Once frosted, this cake is supposed to be reminiscent of a pint of stout – a dense, dark bottom with a frothy white top.

The frosting is made with confectioners sugar, heavy cream (or milk), cream cheese, and vanilla.

Cut 8 ounces (300gr) of cream cheese into cubes and set them in a medium mixing bowl.

Soften the cream cheese in the microwave for about 15 seconds. You do not want to melt the cream cheese, just soften it a bit.

Sift 1 cup of confectioners' sugar (150gr icing sugar) on top of the cream cheese.

Sifting the powdered sugar gets rid of any lumps.

Using an electric mixer, whip the cheese and sugar together until it is fluffy and smooth.

Whip in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Add up to 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream (or milk) in small amounts…

…beating after each addition…

…until you have a spreadable consistency.

(NOTE: This is a lot less heavy cream than indicated in the English-metric version of this recipe. English double cream is much thicker than heavy cream and has a consistency of something close to American sour cream.)

Spread the frosting on the top of cake, starting at middle and fanning out to the top edge of the cake.

The sides of the cake do not get frosted.

Although if you love frosting, double the frosting recipe and frost the sides as well! (I wish I had done that!)

WOW! We did it! Want a slice? Or two?

Adapted from:
Feast by Nigella Lawson

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Brisket is the name of a particular “cut” of beef, which tells you what part of the cow it came from.  Corned Beef is is a cut of meat (brisket) that has been cured (or pickled) in a seasoned brine.  For this recipe you will need to purchase a corned beef brisket. 

Cow Drawing Source: Wikipedia

Buying and cooking big pieces of meat like a roast or even a whole chicken can seem daunting if you have never done it before.

You may also be thinking: “That’s way too much meat for me to cook at once.” But cooking large pieces of meat or a whole chicken can, in the long run, be a huge time saver. Leftovers can be used for tomorrow’s dinner, or you can freeze them for future use.

Flat Cut Brisket

Corned beef brisket, (also known as salt beef if you live in the UK) is great when served with potatoes and your favorite vegetable. (Some people cook everything in the same pot. The beef cooking water gets really fatty and I think it's better to cook the potatoes and vegetables separtely.) Be sure to buy some rye bread as well, because the leftovers make GREAT sandwiches.

This recipe is REALLY simple. All you need to do to cook a corned beef brisket are three things:

1. Put the corned beef brisket in a large pot
2. Cover it with water
3. Bring it to a boil then simmer for 3-5 hours

When buying a brisket you can choose between a point cut and a flat (or plank) cut.

The point cut is a rounder, thicker cut with more fat on it then the flat cut.

This photo of the leaner flat cut shows off the grain of the meat beautifully. This is really important when it comes time to cut the brisket. It MUST be cut across the grain or it will be just about impossible to chew!

Briskets come shrink-wrapped. It’s best to cut open the shrink wrap packaging in your (CLEAN!) sink. Although this flat cut brisket had very little juice in it, the point cut package was filled with brine which you don’t want all over your counter tops! Rinse the meat off with cool running water.

The point cut I bought came with its own packet of spices. (It didn’t say what spices, but they did smell really good!)

Since the flat cut didn’t come with its own spices, I decided to add about 10 peppercorns and about 1/8 teaspoon of cloves to the flat cut.

Each of these briskets weighs about 3 pounds. That should be enough to feed about 4-6 people.

When cooking large pieces of meat you have to make sure you are choosing the correct cooking method that is appropriate to the cut of meat.

Corn beef brisket requires long, slow, moist cooking, either on the stove top or in the oven. (How to Cook Like Your Grandmother has an excellent photo-tutorial on cooking corned beef in the oven.)   I’ll show you the stove-top version.

Set the brisket in a large heavy pot with a lid.

Cover the brisket with water.

Cover the pot and bring it to a boil.

Then reduce the heat to simmer and let simmer about 4 hours.

By then it should be really tender. The meat will have also shrunk by about a third!

Point Cut - Cooked

Plank/Flat Cut - Cooked

Again, remember that when you are slicing the brisket, be sure to slice the meat across the grain! 

If you cook your brisket the day before you are planning on eating it, it will be much easier to cut perfect slices.  After slicing your corned beef brisket it will then reheat beautifully in the microwave.

Cutting Point Cut

Cutting Flat Cut

At the grocery store, while buying my corned beef brisket, I met a college student planning to cook a St Patrick’s Day feast for 15 of his friends.

Sean Carr, a 20 year old civil engineering student at Northeastern University, cooks his corn beef brisket in a covered roasting pan with 2 inches of water at 325 degrees for 5-5.5 hours.

If you are cooking several briskets for a party, this is actually a very clever way to do it. I would add that you should lay the meat in the pan with the fattiest side up. Set the pan on middle rack in the oven. Carefully pour boiling water around the briskets and seal the pan with a tin foil cover.

Sean said his briskets “came out tender, juicy and delicious!”! He also said, “Most college students survive on Mac and Cheese and Ramen (noodles), but I do my best to break away from that mold”. Good for you, Sean! Maybe between you and startcooking.com your roommates will learn to cook by the time you all graduate!

Cheers!

P.S.: Looking for more  meat recipes?  My beef stew is a great stew for beginner cooks to make!

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Most of us depend on rice, pasta and potatoes as side-dish standbys.

However, there’s a world of other interesting grains out there to explore: couscous, quinoa, barley and bulghur, for example. They provide that carbohydrate kick with a twist, and a different texture or flavor is always worth a try. This guide will explain the differences between various grains, and try to inspire you to try something new.

Bulghur

Bulghur, a form of wheat, is the base of taboule salad.

A Middle-Eastern staple and the base of taboule salad, Bulghur refers to wheat kernels that have been boiled, dried and crushed. It is available in fine, medium and coarse grinds.

How to cook it: Put one cup of bulghur in a small pot with one and a half cups of water. Bring to a boil and then cover and turn heat down to a low setting. Cook for 15 minutes.

How to use it: Bulghur is good in salads, pilafs and meat and vegetable dishes.

Couscous

The spongy texture of couscous goes well with stews and saucy dishes.

Native to North African countries, couscous is a grain that’s often served with meat and vegetable stews. Its soft, spongy texture really absorbs sauce or liquid. Couscous granules come from semolina, which is the form of wheat that goes into making pasta. The great thing about couscous is that it takes six minutes to cook. Here’s startcooking.com's tutorial on How to Make Couscous.

Quinoa

Quinoa is great in savory dishes and as an alternative to oatmeal.
Photo courtesy of Susan at Feasts and Fotos.

A grain native to the Andes, quinoa grains are actually the seeds of a leafy plant. Quinoa has a distinctive crunchy texture, and a slightly nutty flavor. In terms of nutrition, quinoa is rich in protein and it’s gluten-free. Look for quinoa in health food stores.

How to cook it: Bring one part of quinoa and two parts of liquid to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until the grains are transparent.

How to use it: Quinoa is great as a warm side dish, mixed with seasonings and beans. It’s also good in salads, like this Quinoa and Black Bean Salad. For those looking for a change from oatmeal, here’s a recipe for Quinoa Porridge.

Barley (also known as groats)

Barley can be used as a base for many side dishes, including Pea Barley Risotto.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Lynch at Closet Cooking.

This grain, which comes from the grass family, is well known for its high fiber and health benefits. It’s important to remember to buy whole barley (or hulled barley), as opposed to pearl barley, which has been processed and is not considered to be whole grain.  Barley is well-known as an addition to soups and stews, but its chewy texture also makes it a great side dish.

How to Cook it: Use 2.5 to 3 cups of water per cup of hulled barley. Bring the water to a boil, then add the barley, cover the pot, reduce heat to low and cook for about 1.5 hours.

This Beef, Leek and Barley Soup from Smitten Kitchen, delicious!

Grandma's Grain Recipe, makes a big batch of mixed, cooked grains that you can use to make hot cereal, or as a savory side dish.

Rice

Brown rice is chewier, nuttier and healthier than white rice.

Startcooking has tutorials on making white rice, brown rice and fried rice on the stove. It’s also possible to bake rice in the oven, as this recipe for Oven-baked Brown and wild Rice demonstrates. Keep in mind that brown rice is the healthiest choice.

Wild Rice

This is actually a kind of seed, rather than a grain. It’s got a hearty, chewy texture and is even healthier than brown rice, containing lots of protein, calcium, iron and potassium.

How to cook it: Cook one cup of wild rice with three cups of water. Bring the water to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for 35 to 55 minutes (or until the water is absorbed).

How to Use it: Wild rice makes an excellent warm side dish, and is also delicious in cold salads. Pioneer Woman serves up an excellent tutorial for Fresh Corn With Wild Rice – a side dish she recommends for Thanksgiving.

What are Whole Grains?

Eating grains in their whole grain form (as opposed to their processed form) has been shown to have a host of health benefits. Studies report that regular consumption of whole grains reduces risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and obesity. Refining processes typically remove 25 per cent of the typical grain's protein and many other nutrients are lost.

Tips on Cooking Grains

• Although most grains will have cooking instructions on the package, here’s a handy guide to grain cooking times.
• Toasting grains before cooking will make them more flavorful. To toast the grains, spread them out in an even layer in a frying pan and heat for a few minutes. Stir them so that they don’t burn.
• Grains can be cooked in water or broth, or a combination of the two.
• Cooked grains keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
• You can freeze any leftovers to use later.

Enjoy!

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