Oatmeal Stout Cakes

In March, we look forward to drinking Irish beer, to eating corned beef and cabbage and to the promise that spring is almost in sight. A little known fact: St. Patrick was actually born in Scotland, a country with a long history of cooking with oatmeal. So, in St. Patrick's honor, this month my focus turns to oatmeal stout cake.

This recipe calls for some of my favorite baking ingredients: beer, butter and dulce de leche. I've been baking this cake since my days working at Sidney Street Cafe in St. Louis, and I love it so much. The batter can be baked into 9 inch round torte or, as we serve it at the bakery, into tiny tea cakes. The baked tea cakes freeze beautifully or the batter can be made ahead of time and chilled if party planning leads to last minute crunch time. A neat Scotch is the best pairing with this cake, which has just the right about of sweetness. I adapted the recipe from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daly and look forward to sharing it this month and the bakery - though it always tastes a little sweeter on St. Patrick's Day.

When making oatmeal stout cakes at the bakery, I like to use milk stout from Civil Life Brewing Co. in St. Louis, but any stout beer will work well. If you can't find dulce de leche and don't want to make your own at home, the same proportion of sweetened condensed milk will also work. For the 9 inch round torte version of the recipe, visit feastmagazine.com

Oatmeal Stout Cakes

Stout Cake

1 cup rolled oats

1¼ cups stout beer

nonstick cooking spray

1 cup room temperature unsalted butter

1 cup tightly packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

½ tsp kosher salt

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla extract

1¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

pinch ground cloves

pinch ground cardamom

½ orange, zested (optional)

Crunchy Goodness

½ cup room temperature unsalted butter

½ cup tightly packed brown sugar

¼ cup dulce de leche

¾ tsp kosher salt

½ cup rolled oats

½ cup sliced toasted almonds

| Preparation – Cake Batter |

In a medium bowl, combine oats and beer. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours to steep.

Spray the bottom of a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray and flour the bottom and sides of each cup.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape well before adding eggs, 1 by 1, and vanilla. Mix again until super fluffy and pale. Sift the dry ingredients and reserve.

Strain the steeped oats-beer mixture, reserving each. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the beer in 3 additions to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Scrape well and fold in reserved oats and orange zest until fully incorporated.

| Preparation – Crunchy Goodness |

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream first four ingredients until just smooth. Add oats and almonds and mix until evenly combined. Set aside.

| Assembly |

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Scoop ¼-cup batter into each prepared cup of muffin tin (until no more than 2/3 full). Bake until the centers spring back to the touch, but are still a bit moist, and cakes are a dark, toasty brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes before adding the crunchy goodness topping.

Scoop approximately 1 Tbsp crunchy goodness onto the top of each tea cake. Transfer pan back to the oven to bake for 8 minutes more, until the tops begins to bubble and brown around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve.