I tried to like beer for years. People tell me I just haven’t met the right beer yet and that when I do, I will fall in love with its hoppy goodness. But they’re wrong. It’s not as though I’ve only tried Bud Light or the crappy keg beer you drink out of solo cups at frat parties—I’ve had plenty of hipster micro-brewed beer, too. Pale ales and stouts are equally unbearable to me. One tiny sip is enough to trigger my gag reflex.

Recently, however, I’ve become the biggest consumer of beer in my five-person apartment. Although drinking beer remains unthinkable to me, cooking with it has become my standard.

For some reason, cooking with beer makes every recipe taste better. It gives dishes richer, fuller flavors. Beer can be a perfect complement to the comforting, stick-to-your-bones kind of food that is necessary for chilly—or even hurricane-y—autumn nights.

My beer addiction started with an Irish beef stew I made a few weeks back. I have a crockpot, which, after penicillin and Netflix, is the best invention ever. My crockpot lets me put a bunch of ingredients together, leave it sitting there all day, and voila! have a stew. Beer is a traditional and essential ingredient of Irish beef stew, and, although I originally cringed a little at the smell of the beer in the uncooked stew, I had to admit, seven hours later when the stew was ready, beer plus meat equals magic.

Since then, beer has been my go-to ingredient for recipes. When my apartment’s double share of fruit and veggie co-op landed us with some intimidatingly huge cabbages, I braised them in beer and butter. I also prepared chopped bacon, sausages, onion, and potatoes, which I eventually stirred into the cabbage and beer mixture. I ended up with one hearty Eastern European-style meal and, in doing so, discovered that this variation on my beer-plus-meat equation—with bacon and sausage as the meat—equals a dish that cannot fail (although I’m pretty sure plenty of people have figured that out already).

Just before Sandy popped in for a visit, my roommates and I were trying to defrost and cook all of the food in our freezer, in case the power went out and everything spoiled before we had a chance to cook it. I had a whole roasting chicken in there (because I get really sad if I have to go too long without roasting a chicken), so I decided to test a new hypothesis—beer plus chicken.

Why not? I marinated the chicken in beer, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil and then roasted it for about two hours. The result of my experiment was delicious.

Beer truly does seem to be amazing in everything, except in a glass. My most recent adventure involved beer and dessert—this was a most excellent adventure. My roommate studied abroad in Ireland last semester, so for her birthday I decided to make a chocolate-stout Bundt cake featuring imported Guinness beer. The cake was scrumptiously bittersweet and appropriately grown up. My suspicions were confirmed: Guinness plus chocolate equals a match made in heaven.

 

Chocolate-Stout Bundt Cake with Chocolate-Coffee Ganache

Adapted from smittenkitchen.com

Makes one Bundt cake

 

Ingredients:

1 cup stout beer (such as Guinness)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips

6 tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Bundt pan (if you don’t have a Bundt pan, the batter will fit in a 12-inch round pan. Alternatively, double the recipe and it will fit in three 8-inch round pans.)

 

Directions for cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Butter or spray a Bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies (some people even go so far as to brush the inside of their Bundt pans with melted butter—you cannot be too careful!).

3. Bring one cup stout and one cup butter to simmer in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Let cool slightly.

4. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl to blend.

5. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add the stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat until they have just combined. Next, add the flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed.

6. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a tester (such as a fork or toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean—about 35 minutes.

7. Transfer cake to rack; cool completely in the pan, then turn cake out onto the rack and drizzle on the ganache.

 

Directions for ganache:

1. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double-boiler over simmering water, until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. If you don’t have a double boiler, use a round mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water.

2. Drizzle ganache over the top of the cooled cake.

3. Let ganache cool and enjoy your boozy chocolate Bundt cake!