superfine sugar

What makes these cookies truly “perfect” isn’t anything radical; it’s simply an attention to detail. The pastry chef Ravneet Gill was meticulous in developing her recipe, and all of her instructions exist for a reason. When she tells you to chill your dough overnight, don’t think you can skip over that. (If you do, your cookies will spread.) When she instructs you to roll the dough into balls before transferring them to the fridge to rest, do as she says, and you’ll get a nice plump, domed cookie instead of a sad flat one. Don’t go swapping in milk chocolate for dark, and chop the chocolate into large chunks for those dramatic, dense puddles of goo. One allowance: If you don’t have Maldon salt, another flaky salt or even kosher salt will do.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks), softened

dark brown sugar

all-purpose flour

baking powder

baking soda

kosher salt)

dark (bittersweet) chocolate, chopped into large chunks

Put the butter and both sugars in a stand mixer or mixing bowl. Cream together using a paddle attachment on medium speed, a handheld electric whisk or a wooden spoon for 1 to 2 minutes until paler but not fluffy. (Do not mix for too long; if you beat the mixture until super light and fluffy, that will cause the cookie to deflate later when cooking.)

Add the egg and beat over medium speed until evenly combined.

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (all the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt), then fold into the butter mixture using a rubber spatula until combined.

Add the chopped chocolate and fold into the dough until evenly distributed.

Immediately scoop out heaping 1/4-cup portions (about 60 grams), roll into balls and place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 12 hours. (If space is tight, you can condense them on one sheet before refrigerating then redistribute among two sheets before baking.)

The next day, heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make sure the dough balls are evenly spaced out among two baking sheets, as they will spread. Bake the cookies for 13 minutes (or 15 minutes if baking from frozen), until the cookies are puffed and golden at the edges. You want the middle to be ever so slightly not-quite set.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet; they will continue firming up as they cool. Once cooled, eat! (These cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The balls of dough will keep for up to 2 days in the fridge or 2 weeks in the freezer.)

Just east of Bologna, Italy, the walled city of Ferrara is known for la torta tenerina, a kind of chocolate cake with an almost creamy interior and a thin, crisp crust. It’s a simple confection, and even still, it’s said that every baker and home cook has his or her own recipe. This version comes from Eleonora Masiero and Ennio Occhiali at Cusina e Butega, a combination bakery and restaurant.

Italian Flourless Chocolate Cake

unsalted butter

70 percent “top quality” dark chocolate

eggs,

potato starch

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch cake pan. Line bottom with parchment.

In a large bowl, using a mixer or by hand, beat the 7 tablespoons butter with the confectioners’ sugar until smooth and creamy. Melt chocolate in a pan on top of stove. Pour warm chocolate over the butter and sugar mixture and beat until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Stir in potato starch.

In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in superfine sugar and continue beating until firm peaks develop. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture.

Scrape the batter out of the bowl, and spread it in the pan. Bake for 18 minutes. Cake will rise and top will look dry and a little crackly. Remove pan from oven, place on a rack and allow to cool completely, about 2 hours. Cake will sink a bit.

Unmold cake, peel off parchment, then invert onto a serving dish so the crackly surface is on top. Generously sift confectioners’ sugar over the top, then serve.

With only a little practice you’ll produce lovely little mounds of meringue with curls like chocolate kisses on top. And when you grow tired of pale white ones, add a couple of drops of food coloring, or follow the recipe modification for cocoa-flavored meringues.

Vanilla Meringues

egg whites,

cream of tartar

salt

vanilla bean, seeds scraped vanilla extract

superfine sugar.

Heat oven to 200 degrees. Use an electric mixer to beat egg whites with cream of tartar, salt and vanilla. When whites begin to hold stiff peaks, gradually add half the sugar. When peaks become glossy, gently fold in remaining sugar.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and use a pastry bag with a star tip or a Ziploc bag with a corner cut out to form small mounds of meringue mixture, each about an inch wide and tall.

Bake meringues until hard, about 2 hours. Meringues are ready when they release from parchment paper. Turn oven off, prop door open and allow meringues to sit in oven for another hour or so.

A pavlova is among the best desserts to serve at a dinner party, as it brings the wow factor but is also very forgiving. If the meringue cracks in places, you don’t need to fuss as you’ll be covering it with cream and fruit. You can play with the flavoring of the cream and change up the fruits. If you can’t find kumquats, feel free to swap them out for muscat or green seedless grapes, or an orange, peeled and sliced into rounds. You can make the meringue base up to two days in advance, as long as you let it cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Keep it in the coolest part of your kitchen, away from direct sunlight, to avoid any humidity. 

Sunset Pavlova With Sweet Vinegar and Rosemary

superfine (caster) sugar

cornstarch

apple cider vinegar

orange juice

rosemary sprigs,

lemon juice

whipping cream

mascarpone

cardamom

large ripe but firm nectarines

ripe but firm yellow or red plums

kumquats

seedless muscat grapes

passion fruits, halved and insides scraped, or ¼ cup passion fruit purée

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Prepare the meringue: Add the egg whites to the base of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment in place and beat on medium-high speed until firm peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. With the machine running, add the superfine sugar, a spoonful at a time, until the meringue is stiff and glossy, about 4 minutes more. 

Use a spatula to gently fold the cornstarch and vinegar into the meringue until evenly mixed through. Transfer the meringue to your prepared baking sheet and use a spatula to spread it into an oblong shape that’s roughly 14 inches long and 10 inches wide. Use your spatula to create spiky peaks across the surface of the meringue for a more rustic look. 

Place the meringue in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 1 hour, until dry on the outside but chewy through the center. Leave to cool at room temperature, about 30 minutes. Don’t worry if it cracks in places.

Meanwhile, make the syrup: Add the orange juice, vinegar, rosemary sprigs and superfine sugar to a small saucepan and place it over a medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, then cook for 6 to 7 minutes, until reduced by about half. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and set aside to cool completely. It’ll thicken to a maple syrup consistency as it cools.

Make the cream: Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment in place. Beat on medium-high speed until soft-medium peaks form, 1½ to 2 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the fruit topping: Use a mandoline to finely shave one side of the nectarine to get very thin rounds until you hit the pit, then shave the opposite side. Chop off the narrower ends and save these to snack on. Repeat with the plums. Set both aside on a large plate, separately. Use a small serrated knife to finely slice the grapes and the kumquats into thin rounds of around the same thickness. Set the sliced kumquats on the same plate, discarding the pits. 

To assemble, use the parchment paper to help you transfer the meringue to a large serving platter or board. (Alternatively, you can serve it right from the sheet pan.) Top the cooled meringue with the cream by dolloping and spreading it across the meringue using the back of a spoon, leaving a 1-inch gap from the edges. Artfully top with the nectarines, plums, grapes and kumquats. Dot with the passion fruit. Remove the rosemary sprigs from the syrup and place these on top of the fruit then pour the syrup all over the fruit. Lastly, sprinkle with the extra chopped rosemary. Serve right away, or within the hour, as the meringue will soften as it sits.

Bibingka is a Filipino cake traditionally made with rice flour and coconut milk and baked to supreme fluffiness over banana leaves in a terra-cotta oven. These versions are built to fit in the palm of the hand. Ray Luna, who ran the much loved coffee shop Mountain Province in Brooklyn, adapted the recipe from his lola (grandmother), using self-rising flour instead of rice flour and coconut cream for extra richness. The cakes are delicious when made with just the requisite five ingredients, but for a touch of refinement, follow Luna’s lead and bake in banana leaves, to infuse a green-tea scent. The final touch: macapuno, opalescent strands from rare, prized coconuts with jellylike flesh.

Mini Bibingka

banana leaf

unsalted butter, melted,

coconut cream

eggs

self-rising flour

macapuno (coconut sport), optional (see Tip)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and dry the banana leaf, if using. Cut into 24 5-inch squares and use the squares to line 2 (12-cup) standard muffin tins. If not using banana leaf, drizzle a little melted butter in each muffin cup and coat the cups with it.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the 9 tablespoons of melted butter and half the coconut cream. In a separate, larger mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the superfine sugar until lighter in color.

Sift the flour into a medium bowl. Add about a third of the flour to the eggs and fold in by gently running a flexible spatula through and around the mixture until everything is combined. Then, fold in a third of the coconut cream mixture. Alternate folding in the flour and the coconut cream, making sure not to overmix and ending with the coconut cream. 

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until set along the circumference but still loose at the center. Take the tins out of the oven and raise the temperature to 375 degrees. Top each cake with a couple strands of macapuno, if using (see Tip). 

Return the tins to the oven and bake for another 4 to 7 minutes, until golden at the edges and springy at the center when lightly pressed. Cool and serve.

For me, a chocolate cake is the basic unit of celebration. The chocolate Guinness cake here is simple but deeply pleasurable, and has earned its place as a stand-alone treat.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Butter,

Guinness stout

(1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter (see Tip)

cocoa

sugar

sour cream

vanilla extract

confectioners' sugar

cream cheese

heavy cream

NYT Cooking

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/15/multimedia/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.jpg

Sang An for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/15/multimedia/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf-googleFourByThree-v2.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/15/multimedia/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/15/multimedia/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf/NL-Chocolate-Guiness-Cake1-gblf-facebookJumbo.jpg

For the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

My wife, a chocolate cake connoisseur, insists that I make this every year for her birthday. It’s the family fave.

I gave it five stars just after tasting the batter

Easy to make and I loved the flavor of this cake but I wish I’d been told to take it out when the middle was still”wobbly” as I overbaked it- it just seemed underdone at the time (toothpick and it just JIGGLED) It’s great with a flavored whipped cream-I mixed cranberry sauce into mine for thanksgiving and it was bright and a great contrast to the dark cake. Will make again and take it out while still a little”loose”.

@Gloria
Make the icing ahead and bring it with you. Put it on maybe an hour before serving.

I’d like to take this cake to a relative’s home on Christmas Eve.  Should I make the icing there for serving?  Appreciate suggestions.

Delicious cake!!  Love the topping that goes with it.

Made it in  a bundt cake pan and it turned out great. Used Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout instead of Guinness.

This is a great chocolate cake, moist and decadent. You can't really taste the Guinness, but somehow it really does make the flavor better than any other chocolate cake I've had. The presentation is beautiful with the frosting piled on top, like a frothy Guinness! Use the springform pan if you have one. As recommended, I added a touch of Irish Cream to the frosting.  Note: I used the amount of butter in the recipe (did not double it per the "tip"), and would make it the same way again.

Delicious! Made in a 9x13 glass pyrex dish and it was enough batter to fill perfectly. One comment suggested 25 min for using a 9x13 (perhaps they were using a metal pan), but I found 40-45 min at 350 worked well in the glass dish.

Roast chicken is my ultimate comfort food and this recipe is perfect. Works fine on a quarter sheet pan if you don’t have cast iron.

I have noticed several comments that the cake, though fully baked, sinks just a bit in the middle (not a "fall", just not a full rise - as if someone punched down the middle a scoch with their fist).

The cake slices in the photo also reflect this depression.  So, ought we conclude that this is a feature, and not a bug?

It's up to you.  This recipe calls for 10.  The note simply say that the source recipe in Lawson's cookbook calls for 18.  NYTimes sometimes tweaks source recipes to better suit its readers tastes and nutritional priorities. NYTimes notes the change (for the sake of full disclosure) and then leaves it up to you how much butter within that range would suit you.  10? 18? Or something in between?

So how much butter should I use? Recipe amount different than the Tip. 10 or 18 tablespoons?

This cake is super easy and delicious but I struggled with icing. It just wouldn’t set up for me. In the end I gave up and just whipped cream. While I love a good cream cheese frosting, frankly I don’t think this cake needs it.   A big hit all around!

I was only able to find Guinness Draught, not the original. I think the Draught has less carbonation. Has anyone used the Draught? Do you think it will make a difference?

@Katrina that is super helpful re the sugar, thank you!!

By volume, a 9" springform pan is 10 cups. You can use 2 "standard" 8" or 9" pans instead. Or make 18-24 cup cakes. I used a 9" square pan and made 6 cupcakes as well (the 9" square has a volume of about 8 cups). I baked the cupcakes for about 25 minutes and the cake for 45.

We make this cake one day in advance. It tastes better and it's a little more moist. We release the spring form after about an hour in the cooling process so the sides don't stick the next day. We prepare the frosting the day we plan to serve. In a side by side taste test with my family of 19 tasters... this was a clear winner over the epicurious three layer Guinness cake.

Love this cake. I do think a little Bailey's in the frosting does wonders.

I bought a 6-pack of Guinness and used one cup for the cake.  Drank the rest while I proceeded, because I don't like to waste anything. I don't recall anything after that.

It's better with 1) a half-teaspoon of kosher salt added to the dry ingredients, and 2) a better stout than Guinness - preferably a chocolate stout.

Please list ingredients by weight, not by volume.

Made this cake for the folks. They loved it! Didn’t notice the Guinness in the cake, but I noticed there was leftover beer in the bottle, so it was a win for the cook.

For those of you asking for weight. You can find it on Nigella's website <a href="http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086" title="http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086" target="_blank">http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086</a>

I make this with the above-noted changes (salt, a better stout) in a Bundt pan, rather than a springform, and don't frost it at all.  Dusting with a mix of confectioner's sugar and cocoa is all it needs, not a thick gloppy frosting.

Made cake as stated.  I used about 3 oz. of goat cheese in the topping in place of cream cheese.  To accompany the cake I use a jar of Morrelo cherries simmered in a bit of sugar and ruby port.  Served it on a plate and put the cake on top.  It was a warm syrupy mixture that set off the deep chocolate cake.  It was awesome and pretty.

This was superb and so easy to make! Not too sweet (I used ordinary sugar, not superfine, and didn't adjust quantity). Came out perfectly. Icing was easy too, and frosted beautifully. My husband loved the deep flavor of chocolate with a hint of bitterness. Looked gorgeous as well! Did I mention how easy it was to make? :)

I have made this over and over since it was first published and think it is the best in the world!  Last one I used a cherry ale instead of Guinness.  Also tossed in a coupla handfuls of frozen Bing cherries and added more chopped cherries to the frosting and a bit more powdered sugar to thicken.  The cake was grand and gone in one day.  I am going to keep experimenting with the recipe as my go-to base for chocolate cake.

And a few more notes on making and baking the cake: I let the butter-Guinness-sugars-cocoa mixture cool to room temp before adding to batter. After filling the pan, I rapped it on the counter a few times to shake out any air pockets. I used an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness: 200 degrees F in center (don't start testing too early and deflate the cake).

I made it in Denver (5280', folks, if you had forgotten!) and it didn't fall! Changes: 9oz stout 6.25 oz sugar: 2cups minus 2T 10.25 oz flour: added 2T to the 2cups 2 tsp baking soda (not 2.5) Baked at 375 (actually in my convection oven, 350 which is 375 in normal ovens) for 35 mins. I should have checked at 30 mins. Also, I food-processed the sugar and cream cheese, then added the whipping cream just until I liked the texture. Quite yummy

My go-to chocolate cake, always wins raves. It's what I think a chocolate cake should be: intensely chocolate-y, not overly sweet, and fairly dense. Occasionally I save other chocolate cake recipes but then I think, "Why bother?"

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