Chocolate Stout Cake

I think my tallest cake ever.

So you guys all voted in a landslide victory last week for a beer-related cake of some sort and I would hate to disappoint you.

But let me just warn you. This recipe is evil. It’s easy to make given it’s crazy tallness and is, hands down, one of the richest things I’ve ever made. Trust me. That’s quite a statement. But seriously, packed into this delicious dark thing is a pound of butter, a pound of chocolate, a pint of cream, some sour cream, and almost two bottles of delicious oatmeal stout.

This cake, you see, is for professional chocolate lovers only.

Chocolate Stout Cake (Adapted from a Bon Appétit recipe)
Serves 10-12 depending on slices.

- 2 Cups rich stout beer. I used an oatmeal stout.
- 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 Cups cocoa powder
- 4 Cups all-purpose flour
- 4 Cups sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/3 Cups sour cream
- 1 3 ounce bar chocolate (for optional garnish)

Frosting:
- 2 Cups heavy cream
- 1 pound bittersweet chocolate

Helpful Equipment:
- Digital Scale
- Wire Racks
- Round Cake Tins

Making the Frosting. I was a bit skeptical of this frosting recipe. Only two ingredients? No powdered sugar? What’s the deal?

Well, the deal is that it’s really easy to make and very rich. The end frosting is super-thick and is about as choco-packed as a frosting can be.

To make it, just add the cream and chocolate to a medium saucepan and put it over fairly low heat.

A really simple frosting.

Cook this, stirring continuously, until the liquid is steaming (but definitely not boiling) and the cream and chocolate are completely incorporated in a nice smooth mix.

Nice and creamy.

Pour this into a bowl and move it to the fridge to chill out and harden slightly. It probably needs to chill for 90 minutes or so. Give it a stir every once in awhile just to keep it nice and smooth.

Easy breezy frosting though.

Making the cake. If you’ve never made a layered cake before, have no fear. I’ve only made like two in my life and I was able to get it right (with one small mess-up).

There’s only a few ingredients, but there are a lot of all of them!

A stout cake.

To start the batter, combine the stout and butter in a sauce pan over low heat. I realize this is a strange way to start a batter, but it works like a charm. So go with it.

Butter beer!

When the butter is melted whisk in all the cocoa powder until the mixture is smooth. It’ll be pretty thick because it’s a lot of cocoa powder. Once the cocoa powder is combined, turn off the heat to let it cool for a bit.

Meanwhile, whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda) and the eggs and sour cream in a very large bowl.

Once the sour cream and eggs are combined, slowly whisk in the warm chocolate stout mixture.

Once that and the egg mixture is thoroughly combined, whisk in the flour in a few batches. Try not to over-mix the batter but make sure there’s no flour showing.

This will be a thick and very rich batter.

If you’re me, have a spoonful of it before you proceed.

Pretty easy batter actually.

Baking the Cakes. You need three round cake tins to make these cakes. I only have two so I had to re-use one which is fine.

The key things to remember about baking these guys are:

1) Butter and flour the pans really well before you pour in the batter so the cakes don’t stick.

2) Weigh your batter with a scale if you can to make sure it’s evenly distributed.

3) Bake them at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

If you don’t have a scale, you can eyeball the cakes, but weighing the batter will ensure that each cake is the same. You’ll want to fill up the tins about 3/4 full.

If you care about even cakes...

When the cakes come out of the oven, cool them on a wire rack if you have some and once the pan is cool enough to touch (5 minutes maybe), carefully remove the cake out of the tin. I did this by flipping the tin onto a plate.

If you mess this up, it’s not a bit deal. Just do your best to get the cakes out cleanly. Using a butter knife to go around the edges really helps.

I kind of mutilated my first one…

OOPS!

Frosting the Cake. The important thing about frosting layered cakes is to slice off the top of each cake to get them as level as possible. I use a serrated bread knife for this which works like a charm.

The only other thing to remember about frosting the cakes is to make sure they are completely cool before frosting them.

Once the cakes are level and cool, slap on about 1/4 of the frosting per layer and go to town. That leaves 1/2 of the frosting for the edges and top.

Thick and heavy...

The layers should stack pretty evenly and the frosting holds everything together.

This is a pretty serious cake people.

Not shabby!

Finish the frosting by getting all the sides and top really well covered.

As an added touch, I shaved some fresh chocolate and sprinkled it on top. I figured that would distract from my sub-par frosting job.

BAM.

This was by far the most decadent thing I’ve ever made. It was rich and moist and completely out of this world chocolatey. I don’t even like chocolate, but I couldn’t stop eating it.

And seriously. It’s not that hard to make. It’s a way easier cake recipe than some I’ve seen.

If you want to seriously impress some people or just sabotage a few diets, this is the thing for you.

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