Chef Catherine Fulvio shares her recipe for fruit cake slices topped off with a Guinness cream sauce.

"This is my take on the traditional sticky toffee pudding recipe, adding a truly Irish dimension with the addition of the Guinness," says Chef Fulvio.

"We make this in our cookery school to great applause, though we find that the measurements of Guinness can be a bit heavy-handed!"

Fruit cake Guinness slice recipe

Ingredients (makes 9 squares):

For the slices:

  • 5oz pitted dates
  • 4oz dried apricots, chopped
  • 5fl.oz Guinness
  • 4fl.oz water
  • 2.5fl.oz whiskey
  • 1tbsp bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)
  • 6oz Demerara sugar
  • 3oz butter, softened
  • 3 medium eggs, beaten
  • 6.5oz self-raising flour
  • 3.5oz chopped walnuts 

For the sauce:

  • 2.5oz butter
  • 2.5fl.oz Guinness
  • 2.5fl.oz double cream
  • 2 tbsp runny honey

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line an 8-inch square brownie tin with parchment paper.

Put the dates, apricots, Guinness, water, whiskey, and bread soda in a saucepan. Place over a gentle heat until the dates soften and break down, stirring occasionally. This should take about 4–5 minutes. Leave to cool.

Using an electric mixer, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs.

Fold the flour, walnuts and the cooled date mixture into the egg mix and transfer to the prepared tin. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out on a cooling rack. Cut into 9 squares.

To make the sauce, place the butter, Guinness, cream, and honey in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat until the honey has dissolved and the sauce has thickened. Serve warm drizzled over the slices.

This sauce is delicious with ice cream and it freezes well too.

If you want to read more recipes from Catherine, have a look at her online store. 

* Originally published in 2016.

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