Bread, cake spiked with beer for St. Pat's

(Anise-Olive Oil Beer Bread is great dipped in olive oil with a side of roasted fennel)

Today is St. Patrick's Day, a time when everyone is a little bit Irish.
I am celebrating my better half today, who is a proud Irishman.
Embrace your Irish side, eat plenty of greens and raise a glass of beer to toast the day.
Or better yet, pour a can of beer into this mix for a quick and tasty bread that will be ready from start to finish in about an hour and 15 minutes.

There are plenty of recipes spiked with beer for St. Patrick's Day. Today's Busy Cook in the Poughkeepsie Journal features a sampling of some.

And, of course, the day would not be complete without a Guinness Chocolate Cake, a recipe I make every year for this festive occasion. I reposted the recipe below for your eating enjoyment. This cake is so delicious, the stout definitely adds a velvety finish to it. Be sure to use dark cocoa powder, too, for a deep, chocolate taste. Top it off with a chocolate ganache to bring out the smiles in those Irish eyes.

Back to the beer bread, this recipe is quite nice, especially when you want a quick loaf of bread. The recipe called for fennel seeds, but I only had anise seeds and substituted them instead. I had fresh fennel I was going to roast anyway, so the tops, or fronds, came in handy.

The recipe is adapted from "Olive Oil; From Tree to Table" by Peggy Knickerbocker, who credits it to one of her favorite cooks, Nancy Barbour.

Anise-Olive Oil Beer Bread

1. 3 cups all-purpose flour
2. 4 teaspoons baking powder
3. 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4. 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
5. 1 tablespoon crushed anise seed
6. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh fennel fronds
7. 1 can (12 ounces) light beer
8. 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

(Fresh fennel fronds, anise seeds and light brown sugar are added to the flour mixture)

• Oil a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with olive oil.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, anise seeds and fennel tops.
• Add the beer and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
• Pour into the prepared loaf pan; pour the olive oil evenly over the top of the loaf.
• Set the loaf pan on a baking sheet (this helps to catch the oil that drips during baking).
• Bake until the top is golden, about 50-55 minutes.
• Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.
• Carefully remove from the pan and finish cooling on the rack.

(The beer acts as a leavening agent in this quick bread recipe)

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Guinness Chocolate Cake

1. 1/4 cup cocoa powder to dust the baking pans
2. 2 sticks unsalted butter
3. 1 cup Guinness Stout (the bottles of draught are 11.2 ounces, so once you take a sip you'll have just the right amount for the cake!)
4. 2/3 cup Dutch process dark cocoa powder
5. 3/4 teaspoon salt
6. 1 teaspoon baking powder
7. 1 teaspoon baking soda
8. 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
9. 2 cups unbleached flour
10. 1 3/4 cups sugar
11. 2 large eggs
12. 1/2 cup sour cream
13. 1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease two 9-inch cake pans with butter and dust with cocoa powder.
In a heavy saucepan, heat butter, stout and cocoa powder until butter melts and the mixture comes together (give it a stir with a whisk). Let cool. Add the vanilla.
Sift dry ingredients together in the big bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment.
Add the stout-cocoa mixture and beat thoroughly for 1 minute on medium speed.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and the sour cream; beat 2 minutes on medium speed.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack while you prepare the ganache.

For the ganache:

1. 16 ounces of heavy cream
2. 16 ounces of semi-sweet chips
3. Bring the cream to a simmer in a heavy saucepan.
4. Add the chips, lower the heat, and let it all melt together.
5. Give it a stir with a whisk.
6. Remove from heat and let cool. Leave in refrigerator to cool completely. Give it a whip with a hand-held mixture until it fluffs up a bit.
7. Spread evenly on the first cake layer; top with the second layer and continue frosting sides and top.