Oh. My. Double Yum.
The St. Patrick’s Day that keeps on giving! Or the one that would never end. Depending, of course, on your perspective.
Somehow … I cannot figure this one out … I did not learn of the delectableness that is a chocolate stout cake until now – my ??st year on this earth. How can that be?!?
Not to worry the wrong has been righted and I am in a better place now.
In general, I am not a huge fan of cake. I tend to prefer chocolate over dessert. For me, any sort of flour-based confection takes far too much of the spotlight off of the superstar (chocolate), making it unworthy of the extra, generally unnecessary calories.
I would say that this chocolate stout cake is as close as I’ll ever get to expressing any cake-love. The fam declared it “the best cake that you have ever made.” It is that good.
So good, in fact, that I made this chocolate stout cake cake two times in three days. Yes. Yes, I did. And we have half in the freezer, lying in wait for that day when everyone really wants cake again … which is really everyday.
I made the cake with the intention of serving it with a Bailey’s cream cheese frosting. Knowing that the picky cake lovers in this house would likely not enjoy the addition of the Bailey’s, I also made a vanilla cream cheese frosting.
The Man said that the icing almost took too much away from the deliciousness of the cake, so when I made it the second time, I tried a ganache. I can’t believe that I’m going to say this, but the chocolate in the ganache just took too much away from the cake.
We I recommend the vanilla cream cheese (recipe is included below).
- 1 cup stout beer, such as Guinness extra stout
- ¾ cup butter
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
- 1½ cups non-GMO sugar
- ½ tablespoon molasses
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces of cream cheese
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar (or less, depending on how sweet you prefer it)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease a 8 or 9-inch springform pan (I used butter) and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Combine beer and butter in a large saucepan.
- Cook over medium-high heat until the butter is melted.
- Add the cocoa powder, sugar, and molasses and whisk together. Transfer mixture to a glass bowl and allow to come to room temperature.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract until no lumps remain.
- Add to the butter-beer mixture and whisk together.
- In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Add to the cooled beer-butter mixture and whisk until it just comes together.
- Pour into the prepared pan and let sit so that the air bubbles can mostly rise to the top. Gently spread a spatula over the top of the batter to pop the bubbles. I couldn't get them all out but that's because I'm impatient.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edge to separate the cake from the pan and pop the ring off the springform.
- Let the butter and cream cheese soften at room temperature.
- Cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla.
- Gradually add in the powdered sugar ¼ cup at at time, until fully blended and smooth.
Adapted from Simply Recipes and smitten kitchen.
Even if you’re not a St. Patty’s Day fan(atic), I recommend that you make this cake.
Or don’t. But that’s your loss.
Do you have any recipes that you have wished you had discovered sooner?