Flat Stout? Make a Chocolate Stout Cake!

This is always a party pleaser! I got the idea to do this cake when we were planning on celebrating a friend's birthday. She isn't a big dessert person but does love beer... best solution for a birthday cake is to make a beer cake!

This recipe also comes in handy when someone brings you a few bottles or a growler of dark beer and no one in your house drinks it. :(

CAUTION: the recipe can get tricky with the icing and I have yet to cook a cake this this recipe (or variations of it) that doesn't severely stick to the pan. I should probably also warn you that this cake will not be a tall cake.

With that said.... good luck!

Chocolate Stout Cake:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup stout beer
8 TB butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup soft butter
1/4 cup stout beer
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease down  two 8 inch pans or line it with baking parchment.
2. Cream butter and sugar together. Gradually add in eggs.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and baking powder. Put this bowl aside.
4.In a separate bowl, stir stout and cocoa together. Alternate pouring your flour mixture and stout mixture in the egg bowl.
5. Evenly pour the final mixture into the two pans and cook for 30 minutes.
6. This is where I have problems in the several times I've tried to make this cake. Typically, you let the cake cool in the pan then flip it onto a cooling rack. My cake sticks so I do whatever I have to get the cake out when it's hot because it's harder to get out later. Unless of course you are smart and use baking parchment.
7. For the icing, beat the powdered sugar and butter. Then add the stout. I am always generous on the stout so I find myself adding more powdered sugar or chocolate chips (later) to balance the liquidity.
8. Melt the chocolate chips and add it into the mixture. Then pour between and on your cake.

Bon appetit!

Salmon Burgers (from a former crab cake fan!)

As a former Marylander, I love seafood... especially when it is shaped like a patty (mmmm crab cakes)! This is probably due to the decreased chance of bones or crab shells.

With that said, I've morphed my favorite crab cake recipe to fit Alaskan tastes. Depending on your preference, you can use this recipe for salmon patties or smaller salmon cakes for a fancy appetizer.

A word of caution, this recipe is very flexible. If you feel like you need to add less or more of something, feel free to. I create my recipes based on feel.

3 Salmon fillets
Olive oil
Lemon Juice (optional)
2 slices of dried crumbled bread (or 1 cup of bread crumbs)
3 eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper depending on preferences
2 tsp Old Bay
2 tbsp Dill

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook the salmon fillets with a little bit of olive oil, lemon juice, and dill  for 20 minutes or until flaky. Allow to cool.
3. If you turned off the oven, turn it back on to 350. Break the salmon into a bowl with eggs, mayonnaise, salt, cayenne pepper, dill, and old bay. Mix together then add bread crumbs.
4. Form patties about the width of a softball. You can also take the opportunity to make smaller salmon cakes, depending on your preference. Place on a greased pan and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Pull out of the oven and flip the salmon patties to bake on the other side for 15 minutes.

Enjoy! My sister likes to put fried eggs on her salmon patties!