Chocolate Stout Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Let me start by saying that this cake is way easier than it sounds. There’s something about “ganache” that sounds so fancy and unattainable.

This was the birthday cake I picked out this year, something kind of fancy but also quite simple—just good chocolate and good beer. (Although I’m sensing a theme of chocolate + alcohol birthday cakes…).

This is a Smitten Kitchen recipe and it’s basically perfect. The cake itself has a dense richness, a little bittersweet from the combination of the stout and the darker Dutch-process cocoa.

I also went a little scant on the sugar so the sweetness wasn’t overwhelming. I went ahead and frosted mine right away, which made the inside moist and fudgy, which is how I prefer my cake.

I’d never made a ganache before and thought it was going to be complicated and temperamental, but it was really quite simple and very fast. You want to use good quality chocolate to get the smoothest, creamiest texture and rich flavor. (I now have a more detailed post on how to make ganache, including two different easy methods.)

Overall, I would make this cake again in a heartbeat!

And then there was this gloriousness. That’s right, my co-worker wrapped my birthday wine bottles with the one and only James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser. They get me. They really get me.

*sigh*

Okay, back to this chocolate stout cake…

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray your pan well, and use parchment paper if that’s what you usually do.

Bring the stout and butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

In your electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream together. Add the slightly-cooled chocolate mixture to the mixer and beat just enough to combine. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add the flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed in pulses until it’s combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. That should be about 50-60 minutes for the springform pan, though more like 35 for a bundt cake pan.

Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes, then you can go ahead and flip it out onto your tray or cake stand and immediately drizzle the ganache over it. Or you can cool it all the way. If you used a bundt cake, definitely cool it entirely before flipping out of the pan or you’ll probably have lots of sticking problems.

To make the ganache, heat water in a double boiler. I don’t have one, so I heated water in a saucepan and then put a metal mixing bowl on top—you want it to fit snugly.

Melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of the double boiler over simmering water until it’s smooth and warm, whisking constantly. It will only take a couple minutes.

Immediately drizzle the ganache over the top of the cooled cake and spread, then let it set for a few hours if you have the time.

Om nom nom!

Other birthday cake successes:

Chocolate Stout Cake with Ganache

This recipe was halved from one that makes a layer cake of 3 8-inch rounds. This is intended for a bundt cake pan, but I used a 9-inch springform.

1 cup of stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups of sugar (I went a little short on this, cut almost 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup of sour cream
6 ounces of good semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons of heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon of instant coffee granules or instant espresso

Cake prep:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray your pan well, and use parchment paper if that’s what you usually do. Bring the stout and butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. In your electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream together. Add the slightly-cooled chocolate mixture to the mixer and beat just enough to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed in pulses until it’s combined. Pour batter into your prepared pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes (more like 35 for a bundt cake pan). Let it cool for about 15 minutes, then you can go ahead and flip it out onto your tray or cake stand and immediately drizzle the ganache over it. If you used a bundt cake, cool entirely before flipping out of the pan.

Ganache:
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, whisking constantly. Immediately drizzle over the top of the cooled cake and spread, then let set.

Original recipe from Smitten Kitchen