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Spice Cake and Vanilla Ice Cream with Guinness Toffee Sauce

Posted on | April 13, 2009 | 6 Comments

Webster’s dictionary defines decadent as being characterized by or appealing to self indulgence. Reading this in a dictionary, and absent the presence of a beguiling gustatory temptress, one might understand this definition to carry with it negative connotations; for the very essence of indulgence applied inwardly implies a certain imperfect longing for sinful experience.

But when you get right down to it, words like longing, indulgence, and sin transform into virtuous labels when applied to a dish that appeals precisely to one’s notion of what any good dessert should really be.

I am not a dessert fan, and so when I hear the words decadent applied to this course, I often dismiss it as hyperbole.

Such was not the case with root – the raison de etre – of the dish in the above picture: Guinness Toffee Sauce. Say it again, slowly, sounding out each syllable of each word. That’s how it tastes.

I first saw it one morning, embedded in a note that The Daily Spud had kindly delivered to my inbox, notifying me of a recipe that the Online Pastry Chef – Jenni – had passed on to her. The Spudmeistress, knowing of my particular affinity to cooking with Guinness – really, just an excuse to imbibe it in some way shape or form – thought I might want to give this recipe a try. Her instinct was spot on.

For those of you thinking that Guinness doesn’t sound particularly appetizing as dessert, think again. Stouts are basically strong beers that take on their flavor and coloring from the process of roasting the ingredients – commonly barley, hops, malt, etc. This roasting process gives the beer a dry, nutty almost coffee-like flavor; a flavor profile particularly attuned to dessert duty.

On her blog,  Jenni recounted an experience in which she’d served this particular sauce over malted ice cream. She’d heaped high praise on it, and while it sounded incredible, I wasn’t sure i had the time to recreate it exactly.

I was on the spot for a family Easter dinner dessert and I needed something simple that would play well across an age, and palate, range of 55 years.

What came to mind was a simple spice cake and plain-Jane vanilla ice cream, brought to the level of indulgence via this bitter-sweet, ever-so-salty, stout toffee sauce.

My aunt, through some pre-meditated brilliance of dessert presentation, had set out over-sized wine goblets in which to serve the mixture. I placed two-by-two inch squares of the spice cake, and one scoop of vanilla ice cream into the glass and then topped with four tablespoons of the Guinness Toffee sauce.

It was, quite simply, one of the most decadent desserts I’ve ever had.

I won’t recount the recipe here, as Jenni’s instructions are precise and easy to follow. As Jeni often writes on her site, when you begin with sound processes and ingredients, with a strong foundation rooted in solid fundamentals, the possibilities for the application of any given food are endless. My application of this sauce was admittedly modest, but believe me when I write that the potential for this sauce, both savory and sweet, is vast.

For those of you out there who feel adventurous, and want to experiment taking this sauce to some new heights, please write to me recounting your experience and I’ll post it here on Recipe Play.

Stout Toffee Sauce from Online Pastry Chef

Enjoy,

Will

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