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I'd like to bake a Guinness flavored cocoa cake. My direction say to start by beating room temperature butter with brown sugar, then eggs and a mixture of flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Finally, incorporate the Guinness as it is. The picture show also the foam.

My question is: I'd like to heat the beer beforehand in order to have the alcohol evaporate; bring it back to room temperature and then incorporate it.

Do you think it will affect a good raising/cooking and the texture of the cake?

paparazzo
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David P
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  • Baking the cake itself will help evaporate some of the alcohol. (also see other answer) – Max Mar 08 '17 at 19:36
  • Also note that any sourdough bread has some alcohol, as do overripe bananas and various other foods. – Robert Mar 08 '17 at 20:19
  • You are going to lose like two parts alcohol to one part water to even boil it down from 4.3% to 2%. – paparazzo Mar 08 '17 at 20:48

1 Answers1

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Alcohol never all evaporates unless you evaporate all the water as well. The actual amount per slice is minimal anyway - equivalent to about a shot of beer in a portion, in the recipe I use. If even that's too much for you, start with de-alcoholised beer. You may have trouble finding alcohol-free stout.

From the USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors Release 6 quoted in merl's answer to a related question, baking reduces the alcohol to 25% in an hour and 10% in 2 hours. Quite a lot of water will evaporate as well during that time.

Community
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Chris H
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