Chocolate Stout Cake for a friend's birthday

This past weekend was my dear friend Shandy’s birthday. Theweek prior she had asked me if I would make her birthday cake. It has become atradition that I make this chocolate stout cake for a couple friends’birthdays, including Shandy, and she swears it’s her favorite cake in theworld. A week later her husband also sent me a text asking if I would make herfavorite cake. What an honor because I simply have to follow a recipe and itcan mean so much to a friend.

I first discovered this recipe in Gourmet magazine when Iwas in college. I was captivated by the photo of the big slice of chocolatecake sitting alongside a chilly glass of stout. Being in college and justbeginning my relationship with beer—my relationship with chocolate has beenlifelong—my curiosity was piqued. I was living in Del Mar at the time andworking at a gourmet chocolate shop where we carried—and paired to chocolate—severalbeers by the local Stone Brewery. This seemed like a perfect opportunity toexplore and expand my understand of chocolate and beer pairings. I lived inwhat my roommate and I called the beach shack, it was one block from the beach,we never locked the door and the house always seemed to be buzzing with people,the only two constants being my roommate Diana and myself. Our othersemi-permanent roommate Kate was a Biochemistry post-doc at UCSD and we transformedthe back of the house into a crash pad for post-docs, surfers, friends, etc. Ioften cooked big pots of curry or baked something and left it out for whoeverwas around to eat. I made this cake regularly and we always had beer in thefridge to go along. It seemed to be the perfect post-surf or post-run snack forus twenty-somethings who could never get enough to eat and always had room fora cold beer.

A word of warning, this cake is heavy so it is not for thefaint of eater or heart. Also, the original recipe suggested you eat italongside a stout beer. I hope you enjoy and maybe it will become the favoriteof someone in your life’s.

Chocolate Stout Cake

• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp. sugar (for 2 separate things)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 14 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup stout, I use Boatswain chocolate stout from Trader Joes
• 2/3 cup freshly brewed strong coffee, cooled to room temperature

Frosting

• 1 lb bittersweet chocolate, I use Trader Joe’s 70% pound plus chocolate
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp instant espresso powder, optional

Heat oven to 350˚F. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate.

Butter two round nine-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms withparchment paper, butter and flour the parchment paper. Set aside. In a mediumbowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a standup mixer beat the butter and 1 1/4 cup sugar untillight and fluffy and pale yellow, about two minutes. Add yolks, one at a time,beating well after each addition. Add lukewarm chocolate and mix untilwell-incorporated. Next add the coffee and stout and mix until incorporated. Beatin flour mixture in two additions until it is just incorporated.

Using clean, dry beaters, in a separate bowl beat the eggwhites and remaining three tablespoons of sugar until they form stiff peaks.Fold one-third of the whites into the cake to lighten it. Then fold theremaining egg whites in in two additions. Pour batter distributing evenly inthe two cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comesout clean. Cool in pans for 20 minutes, then invert on a cooling rack, removethe parchment paper and cool completely before frosting.

For frosting:

Chop the chocolate and place in a medium, heatproof bowl.Set aside. In a saucepan over low heat, heat the whipping cream with theinstant espresso, if you so choose. Bring the cream to a simmer stirringoccasionally. Once it’s reached a simmer, pour it over the chocolate and let itsit for two minutes then whisk until all of the chocolate is melted and themixture is smooth. Chill until slightly thickened and spreadable, stirringoccasionally, about two hours. But not much longer because otherwise you can’tspread it.

I use all of the frosting to stuff and frost the cake. Serve with coffee or stout or a coffee stout and enjoy!