Cooking with beer is rapidly becoming an accepted fashion. Beer improves the flavor of many other ingredients.

Chocolate Stout Cake

Ingredients:

¼ cup cocoa powder to dust the baking pans

2 sticks butter or margarine

1 cup stout or porter

2/3 scant cup Dutch-process dark cocoa powder

1 scant tsp salt

2 cups unbleached flour

2 cups sugar

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

2 extra-large eggs

½ cup sour cream

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly dust 2 greased 8-inch pans with cocoa powder.

In a heavy saucepan or microwave oven, heat butter, beer, and cocoa powder until butter melts. Cool.

Sift dry ingredients together, add the beer-cocoa mixture and beat thoroughly on medium speed for 1 minute.

Add eggs and sour cream and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 24 to 30 minutes.

Place pans on wire rack to cool.

Spread each layer with a thin coat of chocolate frosting.

Stack the layers and cover the sides with frosting.

Serve.

Citrus Lager Marinade (Perfect for fish or chicken)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup lager

1 tsp cracked black pepper

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 stalk lemon grass

Pinch of salt

Instructions:

Slice lemongrass length-wise and remove center stalk and discard outer, fibrous husk.

Coarsely chop stalk and place in food processor with ingredients.

Blend well.

When settled, marinate fish or chicken up to two hours – no longer for fish because the citric acids will cure the fish.

Well these recipes sure do sound delicious but so do these chocolate cupcake recipes and these cupcake frosting recipes.