Chocolate Stout Cake

Every St. Patrick's Day I see desserts incorporating stouts and bailey's and other Irish liquors. We all know that St. Patty's Day is pretty much all about drinking, but I never really understood the need to mix baking and alcohol. Until today.


On my weekly jaunt to Trader Joe's I noticed a chocolate stout on sale. With the heavy drinking holiday coming up I decided to pick up a bottle. Then I did some searching for cakes that used the chocolatey beverage as an ingredient. I landed on a recipe that looked promising and decided to make it into a pretty big production. Chocolate stout cake, Bailey's cream cheese frosting, caramel, and chocolate whipped cream was the result. And what a delicious result it was!

The taste of the stout is subtle, partly because I accidently inverted the amounts of coffee and stout, and partly because the stout and the chocolate cake are just a really good combination. The rest of the flavors enhance the overall yuminess of the dessert. I will definitely be making this cake again next year. Enjoy!

Chocolate Stout Cake (adapted from My Baking Addiction)

1/2 cup chocolate stout
1 1/2 cups strong coffee
4 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

4 cups AP flour
4 cups sugar
1 TBSP baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups sour cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray 3 8" cake pans and line with parchment. Place butter in a large pot and cook until melted. Add the stout, coffee, and cocoa powder and stir until combined. Take off heat and allow to cool.

2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream until fully combined. Slowly add the chocolate mixture and beat until just incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions. Pour into prepared pans and bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Caramel

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream, warm
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBSP butter

1. combine the sugar, water, lemon juice and salt in a large pot and cook over medium high heat. The mixture will begin to boil and slowly turn a golden amber color. Once it is at the desired color, slowly whisk in the cream. (Caution: is will sputter, so be careful, just continue to whisk until it settles).

2. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and butter. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8oz blocks cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP Bailey's Irish Cream

1. Beat the cream cheese in a stand mixture with the paddle attachment until smooth. Slowly and the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Finally add the Bailey's and beat until smooth. You may want to add more or less Bailey's depending on how strong you want the flavor to be.

Chocolate Whipped Cream

6 oz chocolate, melted and cooled
4 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup sugar

1. Beat the cream in a stand mixer with the whip attachment until it begins to thicken. Slowly add the sugar to the mixture while continuing to beat. Once the cream is at the stiff peaks stage pour in the chocolate and whip a little more until combined. Store in fridge until ready to use.