While beer has been a staple at the Charterhouse since the middle ages, we think our Kitchen Team has found its finest use yet –  in a decadent chocolate cake!

This wonderful Guinness and Chocolate cake is a firm favourite for special occasions and is usually enjoyed with afternoon tea. While our residents still enjoy an occasional Guinness today, we haven’t yet discovered a historic connection to dark ales, stouts, or porters on this site. However, we do know that its earlier incarnation, beer, has been a part of life here since medieval times.

A Monastic Brew

The Carthusians of the London Charterhouse maintained a brewhouse on the west side of the Little Cloister, where Wash-house Court was later built and still stands today. We know this from our oldest water map; though the edges have deteriorated, the brewery’s blue pipe, tap, and round water tank are still just about visible. Records show that after 1531, the brewhouse was moved into one of the buildings within Wash-house Court itself.

Detail of Water Map c1450 showing the round brewhouse

Tudor Tastes

During Tudor times, cheap beer and un-hopped ale were daily staples due to the poor quality of water especially in urban area. Weathly individuals such as Lord North and the Duke of Norfolk however would have also consumed and served wine, especially at the grand banquets they would have held. The Tudors often flavoured their beers with herbs and spices as well as using smoky woodfire-dried malt, which resulted in a darker colour and a sweet, herbal, or smoky profile – so a precursor to the dark ales and porters.

A Right to Daily Beer

After Thomas Sutton established his charity in 1611, the statutes of 1627 mandated that Brothers, scholars, officers, and staff all be provided with bread and beer at meals.

The distribution was managed by the butlers, and our archives contain evidence of the Brothers’ frequent dissatisfaction. Assembly meeting minutes from the 1620s reveal regular complaints that the beer was being watered down. Gerald Davies, Master at the Charterhouse from 1908–27, noted that Brothers were still voicing the exact same complaints nearly 300 years later!

A “Humble” Request for Better Beer

We also hold a fantastic document in our archive which is a petition written in the 1740s from the Brothers to the Governors regarding the poor quality of the beer. In fact, it was reportedly so terrible that they were forced to resort to drinking water. It is signed by around 40 Brothers and addressed:

“To the Right Honourable Governors of the Charterhouse: The humble petition of the poor pensioners of the said house.”

While the quality of daily beer is no longer a primary concern at the Charterhouse, the Kitchen Team regularly incorporates stout and ale into their recipes. Perhaps this Guinness cake is simply the latest evolution of Charterhouse culinary history!

Petion against bad beer, c1740s

 To make the cake:

• 250ml Guinness (or other stout/dark ale)
• 250g butter
• 75g cocoa powder
• 400g caster sugar
• 150ml sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 275g plain flour
• 2 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

 Cream Cheese Icing & Toasted Hazelnuts:

• 300g cream cheese
• 150g icing sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 125g double cream
• 100g hazelnuts (or any nuts as preferred)

 Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Butter and line a ½ gastro tray (or similar deep baking tin e.g. 9×13 inch tray) with parchment paper.
2. Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan and add the butter. Heat until the butter has melted, then whisk in the cocoa powder and caster sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla. Pour this into the Guinness and butter mixture.
4. Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda over the liquid ingredients and whisk until combined.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 – 60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin. Once cold, remove and portion into long rectangular slices.

For the topping:

1. Whip the cream cheese in a mixer until smooth. Sieve the icing sugar and cornflour into the cheese and beat to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, whip the double cream to stiff peaks, then gently fold it into the cream cheese mixture. Tip: Leave the icing to firm up in the fridge for a few hours before piping.
3. Split the hazelnuts in half (a blunt knife helps catch the natural seam) and toast at 170°C for about 12 minutes until golden.
4. Apply the icing to the cake slices. You can use a fork for a rustic look or use a teardrop piping nozzle. For the best effect, pipe along the length of the cake with the wider part of the nozzle at the bottom, moving side-to-side in a gentle wave.
5. Finish by dotting the toasted hazelnut halves along the icing (or crush them for a more textured topping).

Notes

• Serves: 10–12
• Make Ahead: The cake can be made a day in advance; store in an airtight container to keep it moist. The icing is actually better if made the night before and left to set in the fridge.