Chocolate stout cake Recipe
To all my chocolate lovers, I promise you’ll love this recipe and don’t be scared to use stout as an ingredient; the dessert world is filled with recipes that call for rum, stout, whisky, black coffee, black beans and many other “weird” ingredients.
The first time someone told me to try using black coffee for my chocolate desserts I thought all the dish was going to taste like pure coffee. Now, I can’t stop using it! The stout used is a dark beer with a heavy finish.
Pick your favorite high quality chocolate and the best stout you can find for this wonderful cake that will blow your mind.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 cup of Rainforest Cocoa Powder, sifted
- ¾ cup of butter, room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups of white sugar
- 1 cup of stout
- 1 cup of sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp of black coffee, brewed
- 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
- 2 tsp of baking soda
- A pinch of salt
For the ganache:
- 500 g of Swiss dark chocolate
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- ½ cup of stout
- A pinch of salt
Instructions:
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine the butter, brewed coffee and stout. Stir until the butter is completely melted and set aside to cool down.
- In a large bowl, add the white sugar and sifted Red cocoa powder.
- Pour the stout mixture into the sugar and cocoa. Whisk to combine well. You’ll get a thick chocolate mixture.
- Make sure the mixture is room temperature and then add the sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda and pinch of salt.Give it a good whisk, either with an electric mixer or by hand.
- Sift in the all-purpose flour and using a spatula fold it into the mixture until you get a thick cake batter.
- Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and pour the cake batter. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to flat the mixture.
- Bake the cake for about 50 minutes or until risen and firm.
- When ready, place it in a cooling rack to let it cool down before starting to decorate it.
For the ganache:
- In a large bowl, add the Swiss dark chocolate.
- In a medium saucepan, over low heat, add the heavy cream, stout and pinch of salt.
- After about 2 – 3 minutes, until you start to see bubbles around the edges, turn the heat off and pour it the bowl filled with chocolate.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes so the heat can melt the chocolate.
- After the 5 minutes, stir to get a smooth chocolate ganache.
- Place the ganache in the refrigerator for 1 hour or until it gets a spreadable texture.
To assemble the cake:
- Using a cake leveler or a sharp knife, divide your chocolate cake into three layers. It’s important to wait until the cake is cooled down before cutting it.
- Split the ganache into three portions; make one of the portions a little larger than the other ones.
- The two same size portions are the one you’ll use to fill the cake.
- Spread one of the ganache portions on the first cake layer and place the second layer on top. Repeat the same process with the second layer, make sure to spread the ganache evenly.
- The third ganache portion is the larger one and it will cover the cake to decorate it. Spread it all over covering the cake completely.
- Refrigerate the cake at least 1 hour before cutting to get a cleaner cut.
- Enjoy!
