Just Because My Tia Married an Irishman

My Tia married an Irishman last December. He is a great man and we all love him. I don't think anyone who has ever known him can say an unkind thing about him. When they first started dating, my brother began calling him T.G.B. (Tia's Gringo Boyfriend). We have thought of changing his name to T.I.H (Tia's Irish Husband), but that doesn't sound right so we are sort of stuck on T.G.B.

Most of us in the family found this whole wedding thing hilarious. It's not that we are unconventional, but they had been dating for over a decade and my Tia had sworn that she would never marry again. Over the decade of dating, whenever anyone asked her when she would marry T.G.B, Tia always said that they could just be like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. I guess the "Why screw up something that worked so well?" was her mentality. It was also amusing that they would be doing the whole Church wedding since the bride and the groom are both in their fifties. The groom often commented that they had to hurry up and get married before it became a "Medicare wedding". We had bridal showers, rehearsals, rehearsal dinners, and a lovely wedding reception. Most of the things that she had managed to avoid the first time down the aisle. But we all had a lovely time and now we have this whole Irish clan to call family.
I personally found Tia marrying T.G.B. hysterical for another reason. Many years ago when I was dating people with last names like Smith, Baker, Johnson, Armstrong, my aunt took me aside and told me..."You can date all the gringos you'd like, but I think that when you decide to marry you should look for someone Cuban, because gringos just don't understand us." I guess she did find a gringo who understands us.

So in honor of the newest members of our family, I am making a Chocolate and Guinness cake to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.


Here is what you will need for the cake batter.

In a large pot melt the butter in the beer over medium heat. When it is all melted, remove from the heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes.

Add in the sugar and sift the cocoa.

In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla.

Mix it all up.

Add in flour and baking soda and whisk until it is combined.

I decided to add a few chocolate chips. Sift them with a dash of two of cocoa powder so that they don't sink to the bottom of the pan.

Mix in the chocolate chips.

Butter and flour a round spring form pan, and pour in the batter. Place the pan in an oven preheated to 350˚.

The baking time depends on the size of your pan. A regular 9 inch spring form pan would be about 40 minutes. I used small, individual spring form pans. The cooking time was about 25 minutes. Let the cake cool completely.

This is what you will need for the frosting. (Oops, I forgot the butter.)

Whip the heavy whipping cream.

Combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla, until blended. Add the confectioner's sugar and mix in.

Fold in the whipped cream.

Add a thick layer of frosting. The frosting should look like beer head so don't smooth it out or try to get too fancy. So I will have a slice of cake and raise a glass of Guinness to honor our new Irish family.

GUINNESS & CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

• 1 cup Guinness
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips.)

Preparation

1. In a large pot, melt the butter in the beer. When it is melted add the sugar and sift in the cocoa powder. Remove from the heat and let cool for a couple of minutes.
2. In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Add that to the pot with the beer mixture and mix.
3. Add the flour and baking soda, and whisk until combined.
4. Add the chocolate chips. Mix until combined.
5. Butter and flour a round spring form pan and pour in the batter. Place the pan in an oven preheated to 350˚. Bake for about 40 minutes. The baking time depends on the size of the pan. Let the cake cool for a little while before removing the spring form.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup of heavy whipping cream

Preparation

1. In a bowl whip the heavy whipping cream.
2. In a separate bowl combine the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract.
3. Add the confectioner's sugar to the bowl with the cream cheese mixture and mix until well combined.
4. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
5. Glob some of the frosting on top of the cake. It should look like beer head so don't get fancy.