chocolate guinness cake.

I’ve written about this cake before mainly because I’m, well, kind of obsessed with it. It’s the perfect chocolate cake; it manages to taste rich without being overly sweet, chocolatey with just a hint of my favorite stout.

If there were a cake that’s perfect for a midwest guy, this is it. Generalizations aside, Christian loves beer and knows a whole lot about it. Why not bake a stout cake for Valentine’s Day? Who’s a genius? (I’d declare “I am!” but when I inquired about dessert requests, Christian suggested it. I chose the entree: veggie lasagna and a simple green salad.)

How was your V.D.? (Ha…hahaha.)

Did you manage to avoid the stereotypical pitfalls, like eating heart-shaped chocolate, watching a Julia Roberts movie, or crying alone? Most years I’ve watched a cheesy movie while eating copious amounts of popcorn. One particularly sad year I found myself watching a documentary about WWI while eating Kraft mac and cheese.

This year’s was a lovely, lovely day; I had my cake and ate it too. And I’m totally cool with cliches because, hey, it’s Valentine’s Day, the biggest cliche of all.

lv, molly

Chocolate Stout Cake

1 C stout (such as Guinness)
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 C all purpose flour
2 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2/3 C sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; don’t miss any spots! Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder, and whisk until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool a little.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture, and beat just to combine; don’t overwork it. Add flour mixture, and beat briefly on slow speed. Using a spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

Serve with unsweetened freshly whipped cream.

the day i got chocolate cake all over myself.

Update: I actually posted the directions for this cake (I forgot before), so now you know what to do with the ingredients!

I didn’t submerge the beaters all the way into the batter. The batter sprayed everywhere, as batter tends to do when you use beaters haphazardly. (I really need a baking lesson. This mess proved it.)

I looked a lot like this while the whole ordeal was underway. Still, the cake was pretty fantastic, and a lucky lady enjoyed it. I was grossed out by the sound of this cake when I jotted down the recipe from a now-forgotten source. But it intrigued me, like some kind of disaster.

Aren’t you enticed? No, really, readers, it’s delicious, and quite stunning looking, particularly when it’s on a cake platter and not your face. It tastes kind of like the chocolate stout cake I posted a few weeks ago, but root-beer-ier. lv, molly

Rootbeer Cake (A.K.A. YOUR FRIENDS WILL LOVE YOU CAKE)

2 C root beer (don’t use diet)
1 C dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 C unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/4 C granulated sugar
1/2 C dark brown sugar
2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs

2 ounces 60% cocoa, melted
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C root beer
2/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 C powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour the bundt pan.
In small saucepan, heat root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars, and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool
In large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt.
In small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten; then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Don’t overbeat! You don’t want a tough cake, now do you.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

For the frosting…
Melt the chocolate over low heat on the stove. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
Take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool.
Whisk the cooled mixture to make sure it’s mixed well and stiff enough to frost.