Irish Car Bombs & Cooking Playlist

Cooking can be so relaxing with the soothing repetition of chopping or stirring and a little Michael Buble or Jack Johnson in the background. Or at least that's the image that inspires and motivates me to get in the kitchen. But when the knives and pans come out, the hips start to move all on their own. Could it be the music I actually choose? Indeed. I'd love for cooking to be this mellow time, but instead, I'm inspired by a faster tempo with a lots of old school and cheese thrown in. Sometimes, the cheesier the tuneage, the better the kitchen action. Today it looked a bit like this...

1. Mama Said Knock You Out-LL Cool J
2. The Other Side-Aerosmith
3. The Seed-The Roots
4. Gold Digger-Kanye West
5. Don't Go Away Mad-Motley Crue
6. Go Girl-Pitbull
7. All Summer Long-Kid Rock
8. Hips Don't Lie-Shakira
9. Let's Go Crazy-Prince
10. It's My Life-Jon Bon Jovi
11. Sweet Child O'Mine-Guns N' Roses
12. Beast of Burden- Rolling Stones
13. Stronger-Kanye
14. U Can't Touch This--because any song that can instaneously take you back to high school and softball season, deserves respect

The results of hours in the kitchen with this playlist is a bit of cardio and a recipe experiment. I'd made Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness cake many, many times by request. In fact, when I pick up the cookbook "Feast," it falls open to this recipe. The balance of chocolate and Guinness makes a cake that is actually only slightly sweet which is perfect as the frosting quickly sends one into sugar shock.

Making a cake I've made numerous times before is not the experiment. My friend is having a "beer party" next week, with instructions to bring anything but PBR, Coors, Miller, or Bud. Not being a beer/lager/ale fan, and knowing that bringing my Guinness AGAIN was not really thinking outside the box, I asked if Irish Car Bombs counted as beer. Seemingly they don't, but that got my mind wondering about topping off a Guinness cake with a bit of Bailey's. I substituted Baileys for the heavy cream in the frosting and had a sort of Irish Car Bomb Cake. I know it's missing Jamesons and Car Bombs don't have chocolate. It's more Irish Car Bomb in spirit, but what a wee fine Irish spirit it is.




Chocolate Guinness Cake
Adapted from Nigella Lawson Feast

1 cup Guinness stout
1 stick unsalted butter, sliced
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 cups sugar
¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2.5 teaspoons baking soda

Baileys frosting
-8 ounce cream cheese
-1 cup confectioners’ sugar
½ cup Baileys

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. Pour Guinness into a large saucepan, add butter and heat until melted. Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat sour cream with eggs and vanilla and then pour into brown, buttery, beery mixture and finally whisk in flour and baking soda.
3. Pour cake batter into greased and line pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack.
4. When cake is cold, gently peel off parchment paper and transfer to a platter or cake stand.
5. Place cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a mixing bowl, and whip with an electric beater, until smooth
6. Add cream and beat again until you have a spreadable consistency.
7. Ice top of cake, starting at middle and fanning out, so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.