This month, Bon Appétit’s Bake Club is putting a spin on a classic. Listen in as Jesse Szewczyk breaks down his popular recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake.

“The cake came to me rather easily. I had a vision. I got lucky,” Jesse explains to co-host Shilpa Uskokovic. But the challenge came when it was time to develop the frosting. “I feel like everyone in the Test Kitchen had an opinion on what it should be…I definitely tried at least 10 different frostings.”

Ultimately, Jesse landed on a brown butter frosting as the perfect topper, not just for taste but also because it matched the visual of an expertly poured Guinness, with its creamy head. “It’s reinforced with just a tad of Guinness, two tablespoons,” says Jesse. “I found it important to have Guinness in both places.”

Jesse and Shilpa also dive deep into the mailbag and answer questions about the cake and troubleshoot issues listeners encountered.

Plus, baker and psychologist Helen Goh stops by in our “Baker You Should Know” segment. Helen confesses that she has been living a double life for years and explains how she juggled working with the acclaimed Yotam Ottolenghi on developing sweet treats while seeing patients in her psychology practice. Her latest book, Baking & the Meaning of Life, bridges the gap between the two worlds.

As always, we’d love to hear from you! To send your questions to Bon Appétit Bake Club, subscribe to us on Substack, or send us a voice memo to [email protected].