Stout - even the name is robust: broad-mouthed and curtly clipped at the end. The drink tastes just as the name sounds, with a full-bodied warmth and bold flavour. It's a thoroughly British ale in history and in spirit. What sets stout apart from other ales is a commitment to the darker, heavier side of things, with malty, chocolate and roasted notes stealing the show. It can split opinion (so appalled was I upon my first ever sip of a Guinness that I promptly washed the taste away with two cheap lagers) but it's precisely this boldness that makes stout such a natural candidate for baking. Pale ale might leave a cake unpalatably bitter or brown ale too beery, but stout - the unlikely Goldilocks of the bunch - gets the balance just right: strong enough to lend depth of flavour, but smooth enough not to clash. It's surprisingly subtle for a heavyweight brew.
Chocolate stout pudding (above)
Admittedly, with summer creeping in and temperatures rising, it's hardly pudding season.But I'm a firm believer in the restorative powers of stodge, and I'd hate for the pleasures of pudding - steamed sponges, sticky toffee, spotted dick and custard - to be out of bounds for part of the year. With that in mind, this pudding is a compromise between heart-stoppingly rich suet puddings and the featherweight desserts usually wheeled out during the summer months. It's light and spongy, but bolstered with the clout of stout and rich chocolate sauce. gives the best texture and helps to keep the pudding moist. But if you're short on time or nervous about steaming, you can bake it instead. Prepare the pudding basin and batter as below, and cover with baking parchment as instructed (even in the oven, this will help to keep some moisture in). Bake at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for 35-45 minutes.
Serves 6
For the pudding
50g dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter, softened
125g dark brown soft sugar
1 large egg
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tbsp cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
125ml stout
For the sauce
50g dark chocolate
100g dark brown soft sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
50ml double cream
50ml stout
A pinch of salt
1 First prepare the steamer: if you have a "real" steamer, set it up. To improvise a stove-top steamer, fill a large pan with a 5-6cm of water and place a trivet or an inverted saucer in it (to keep the pudding basin from touching the base of the pan). Grease a 1-litre pudding basin and place a circle of baking parchment in the bottom, to help with demoulding later. Have a couple of sheets of parchment and a length of string to hand.
2 Melt the chocolate gently in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water, then set aside to cool slightly. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until fluffy. Stir in the melted chocolate and the egg.
3 In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder and salt. Lightly fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Once they're almost combined, add the stout. Whisk gently until the batter is smooth. Pour into the prepared pudding basin. Layer two sheets of baking parchment, then fold a wide pleat into them. Perch this double-thickness of parchment on top of the pudding basin, with the pleat running across the middle (this will give the pudding room to expand as it cooks). Fold the edges of the baking parchment down over the rim of the basin. Use a piece of string to fix it tightly around the rim.
4 Turn on the steamer or place your improvised steaming pan over a medium heat. Lower the pudding basin into it and cover tightly with a lid. Let the water begin to simmer, then steam for 1¼-1¾ hours, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the pudding comes out with no more than a couple of crumbs clinging to it. Remember to top up the water in the steamer regularly throughout the cooking time.
5 As the pudding approaches the end of its cooking time, prepare the sauce. Finely chop the chocolate, then set it aside. Heat the sugar, cocoa powder, double cream, stout and salt in a small pan until scalding. Pour this mix over the chopped chocolate, let sit for a moment, then stir to combine.
Stout, apple and ginger cake with cream cheese icing
A hearty fruit cake, laced with stout and fiery ginger. This is a versatile recipe, so adapt it according to your own needs and preferences: swap around the dried fruit, omit the icing, or even doll it up with layers of marzipan and fondant - a summer take on Christmas cake, perhaps? You could also bake this in a loaf tin (extending the baking time, as necessary) for a tea loaf version to serve, in thick slices, with butter.
Serves 8
75g unsalted butter
250ml stout
100g dark brown soft sugar
2 large eggs
150g raisins
100g dried apple rings, coarsely chopped
50g glace ginger
225g plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
200g full-fat cream cheese
1 tsp ground ginger
30g icing sugar
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease and line a deep 20cm‑diameter cake tin.
2 Melt the butter over a low heat or in the microwave. Whisk the stout into the melted butter, followed by the sugar, eggs, raisins, apple and glace ginger. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt, then add this to the stout mixture and fold the ingredients together.
3 Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for around 45 minutes, or . Once cooked, demould the cake from its tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
4 For the icing, stir together the cream cheese, ground ginger and icing sugar, then spread liberally over the top of the cooled cake.
This chocolate stout pudding is light and spongy, but with the clout of a hearty ale and the full-bodied richness of cocoa. Photography: Jill Mead for the Guardian