Georgie Girl Confections

I’ve spoken before about my quarterly dinner club, where several couples get together each quarter for a potluck, and what we make is based on that quarter’s food theme.  For our most recent dinner club, we selected beer as the theme.  The men were in charge of the unique beer selection, while the ladies created the food menu.  Food items included garlic and stout marinated lamb  skewers, mussels cooked in beer, and shrimp marinated in garlic and beer.

The dessert idea – a chocolate stout cake – came purely by accident.  A few weeks before the dinner club, my husband and I went to Lenox, MA for the Diana Krall concert at Tanglewood (I highly recommend this experience!). While at the hotel dining room for breakfast, the manager was talking up the guests and suggested we try Barrington Brewery after hearing my husband likes to brew beer.  At the Brewery, we were chatting with our waitress who told us about this amazing chocolate cake they make on premise and was written up in Bon Appetit, so we decided to order it. Wow!  I happened to mention I run a baking business, and the waitress said they actually give out the cake’s recipe, and it is the only recipe they give out.  How perfect!  I am a baker, and I need something beer-oriented for an upcoming dinner party.

Below is the recipe for the cake, but before you scroll down, I wanted to share that I decided to add a bit of a twist to this recipe by adding cayenne pepper to the frosting.  How much?  Well, I just kept adding, stirring and tasting, until it finally had just the right kick.  The dinner party group LOVED this.   I could not believe how easy this cake was to make….and how delicious it was, especially relative to the amount of effort required.

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Barrington Brewery Chocolate Stout Cake Recipe

CAKE

2 cups stout

4 sticks unsalted butter cut into 1-in squares

1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

4 cups all-purpose flour (I used cake flour)

4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking soda

1.5 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 1/3 cup sour cream (I used low-fat)

ICING

3 cups whipping cream

1.5 pounds bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

For the cake:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter 3 8-inch cake pans with 2-inch high sides.  Line with parchment paper rounds.  Butter paper.  Bring stout and butter to simmer in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring to melt butter.  Add cocoa, whisk until mixture smooth.  Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.  Beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl.  Add stout mixture to egg mixture, beat just to combine.  Add flour mixture.  Beat just to blend.  Fold batter until completely combined.  Divide batter among pans.

Bake cakes until tested inserted into center comes clean (35-45 minutes). Transfer to rack.  Cool 10 minutes.  Turn out onto rack, remove parchment and cool.

For icing:  Bring cream to simmer in medium saucepan.  Remove from heat.  Add chocolate.  Whisk until smooth.  Chill until spreadable, stirring often.  About 2 hours.

Place 1 cake layer on plate.  Spread 1 cup icing over.  Top with second cake layer.  Spread 1 cup icing over.  Top with third cake layer.  Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.