25 September 2009

Chocolate Stout Cake

photo of the chocolate stout cake
image courtesy of... Bon Appétit

This is a cake I made for a birthday party at my wife's work. I thought it was rather strange to add stout to a cake, but I must say that it got rave reviews at her work. I found this recipe in Bon Appétit magazine. If you wish to see the original recipe, please click on the link to Bon Appétit below the picture.


What you need

Cake


  • 2 nine-inch diameter cake pans

  • Parchment paper

  • Off-set spatula

  • 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

  • 2 tsp. baking powder

  • ½ tsp baking soda

  • ½ tsp salt

  • 14 Tbsp (1 ¾ sticks) of salted butter, room temperature

  • 1 ¼ cups, plus 3 Tbsp of sugar

  • 3 large eggs, separated

  • ¾ cup chocolate stout (recommended , if you can find it), regular stout, or porter

  • 2/3 cup freshly brewed, strong coffee




    Frosting

  • 1-pound bittersweet chocolate (54% to 64% cacao), chopped

  • 2-cups heavy whipping cream

  • 1 tsp instant espresso powder

Putting it together

  1. First, get everything together that you will need, because you are going to be very busy over the next 30 minutes, or so

  2. Separate the eggs and keep them in the refrigerator until needed

  3. Butter and flour both cake pans

  4. Line bottom of cake pans with parchment paper

  5. Butter and flour the parchment paper

  6. Set oven rack to middle of oven and pre-heat oven to 350°

  7. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl

  8. Place the bowl over a gently simmering water bath, stirring until melted (be sure to keep the chocolate warm)

  9. In a smaller bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

  10. Using a whisk mix the dry ingredients well, then set aside

  11. In larger bowl, place the butter and 1 ¼ cups of sugar until it becomes fluffy and becomes pale yellow in color (be sure not to skimp on this part, it should take anywhere from 2-4 minutes)

  12. Beat in the egg yokes, one at a time. Beat well after each addition

  13. Beat in the melted chocolate

  14. Ditto the stout and then the coffee

  15. Put the mixer on the lowest setting and add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in two increments. Mix only until the flour is just incorporated. You do not want to over-mix at this point

  16. Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites and the 3 Tbsp of sugar, until you get stiff peaks

  17. Fold the stiff egg whites into the cake mixture, 1/3 at a time

  18. Pour the batter into the cake pans

  19. Place in oven and time for 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean

  20. When the cakes are done, place on cooling racks for 20 minutes

  21. After 30 minutes, take the rear of a knife and score the sides of each cake

  22. Invert the cakes onto the cooling racks, remove the pans and the parchment

  23. Allow to cool fully


When you have a minute...

The frosting


  1. While your cake is baking, we can get started on the frosting. Don't worry, this part is much easier

  2. Chop the chocolate and place in a heat-proof bowl

  3. Pour the heavy cream in a sauce pan

  4. Add the espresso powder

  5. Over medium-high heat, bring to a simmer, stirring constantly

  6. Pour the cream mixture over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 1 minute

  7. After one minute, whisk the chocolate until fully melted

  8. cover and let cool in the refrigerator until it is of spreadable consistency (about 2 hours), stir occasionally


Frosting the cake


  1. When the cake is cool and the frosting is ready, using a serrated knife, slice the rounded (top) portions of your cakes, so that they are flat

  2. Place one cake cut-side down on your platter/plate


    • Tip: to keep your platter clean, take some parchment and cut into strips. Place the strips under the edges of your cake. You will need about three pieces of parchment to make sure the entire platter is covered. When you are done frosting, just gently pull the parchment away and marvel at your clean plate

  3. Dump about a cup of the frosting on the cake and spread evenly over the top. You will want roughly about a ¼ inch (6-7mm) thick layer of frosting

  4. Place the second cake, cut-side down on top of the first

  5. Spread the remaining frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake

  6. Cover with a cake dome and store in the refrigerator


    • If you are like most of us and don't have a cake dome, just take a very large Tupperware-type bowl and place the cake on the lid (I use a bit of Velcro on the bottom of the platter and on the lid to attach the two; it also keeps the cake from banging around during transport). Then place the bowl over the cake and seal

  7. Before serving, let the cake come to room temperature

I hope you enjoy it!

12 comments:

  1. sounds good, and the picture looks delicious.

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  2. Way too much work for me but it looks absolutely delicious!!

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  3. Sounds like a lot of work... but worth it in the end. Yummy!

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  4. Tim! How could you do this to me? This looks and sounds simply delicious and I am trying to avoid thinking about it.

    Please forgive, off topic for a moment.

    I have come to the conclusion that i simply can't in good faith keep EC'S widget on my blog with no control over the content.

    If drastic changes aren't made by midnight the 27th I will simply have to cancel ads and remove their widget!!

    I don't want o lose touch so I have spent the entire week compiling a list to add to my blog roll.

    I only have about 10 more to go and I think the list will be complete. I think I added you a long time ago but not sure, so I will double check!!

    Happy weekend!!
    Jackie:-)

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  5. Ann: From the crumbs I was able to taste, it is a very good cake.

    StaceyC4: I agree, I probably not be making this cake again, anytime soon. It was a lot of work, but it turned out very good.

    Your Daily Cute: Yes, it was a lot of work, but it made a big hit at her work and since it was for one of the Big Wigs there, all the better:)

    Shinade aka Jackie: I'm sorry, but think about me making it and not being able to have any (except a few crumbs) :)
    I totally agree with you. Once my Etsy shop series is over, I'm shutting down my site to Entrecard. In fact, I will no longer be doing my weekly Thank You to My Advertisers posts. This was just the straw that broke that old camel's back.
    I already Follow your blog with Google friend Connect, so I will be coming around to visit :)

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  6. I thought "stout" meant how it'd make you look after eating it! It sounds very yummy though!

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  7. Well, thanks. That picture looks so tempting! Now I have to make a cake. And eat it. You can expect a bill for my new clothes--I have a feeling I'll gain a size after this.
    ;)

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  8. BeadedTail: Considering all that goes into this cake, it could have that meaning, too ;)

    Lucky Girl: You are very welcome. I feel it is my duty to help my fellow bloggers. As for the bill, if you noticed at the very end of the post (it's in micro-script, but they say that it is still legal), there is a disclaimer stating that I am not responsible for any future calories that may result due to the construction and consumption of any recipe provided on this site. ;-)
    Hope you are having a great weekend!

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  9. Mountain Woman of Red Pine Mountain: I was only able to taste the crumbs, but from what I heard, it was very good.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think a piece of that would make me feel better looks yummy
    thanks for the comment on babys picture

    ReplyDelete
  11. LUCKYLADY: That was a great picture! I hope you start to feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete

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