Baking with Beer.....YES PLEASE!!!!!

I have cooked with beer before. I love adding it to things like chili and beer, and one of my favorite soup recipes calls for 12 oz of beer. I had never thought of baking with it though.
Yesterday it was very cold and rainy and I really wanted some gingerbread. Not cookies, but gingerbread cake. So I began searching through the recipes on foodnetwork.com. I kept running into the problem that I didn't have any crystallized ginger in the house.
Then I found a recipe from Emeril. I read down the list of ingredients and was surprised to see a cup of Guiness. Now Guiness is one of my favorite beers and we have even paired it with chocolate icecream with wonderful results, so I decided to give it a try.
I did change the original recipe a little. I didn't have any raw sugar, so I substituted a 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. The cake came out moist and light and perfect with a nice hot cup of tea. I just sprinkled the top with a little powdered sugar. It would also taste really good paired with some cinnamon applesauce.

Ingredients

* 1 stick unsalted butter
* 1 cup turbinado sugar (1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar)
* 3 large eggs
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1 cup molasses
* 1 cup Guinness, or other dark beer
* Spiced Creme Anglaise, recipe follows
* Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and nutmeg. In a third bowl, combine the molasses and beer and stir to dissolve. Add the dry ingredients and beer mixture alternately to the egg mixture, beating after the addition of each.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake until puffed and set, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle top with some powdered sugar before serving.

Spiced Creme Anglaise:

* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
* 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
* 3 large egg yolks
* 1/4 cup sugar

Combine the cream, the zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and frothy, about 2 minutes. Slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of the hot cream, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to warm milk and stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thick, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve warm. (Or, to serve chilled, place in an ice bath to cool, then cover with plastic wrap, pressing down against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours.)

Yield: 2 cups Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 6 minutes Inactive Prep Time: if chilled, 2 hours