Guinness Stout Chocolate Layer Cake

Chocolate Cake Recipe
Mark Boughton Photography / styling by Teresa Blackburn
https://easykitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/chocolate-cake-150x150.jpg
  • Yield: 16 servings
  • Prep: 40 mins
  • Cook: 40 mins

There are other stouts; make variations with chocolate stouts and cream stouts. After all, you can never have too many chocolate desserts in life.

Ingredients

Drizzling Syrup:
1/3cup Guinness Stout (measured after foam has subsided)
1/3cup dark brown sugar
3tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1teaspoon vanilla
Cake:
2/3cup Guinness Stout (measured after foam has subsided)
2/3cup currants
1/3cup plus 2 tablespoons, unsweetened cocoa powder
2ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
3/4cup buttermilk
1 3/4cups plus 2 tablespoons, sugar
2cups plus 2 tablespoons, all purpose flour
Cooking spray
2/3cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 1/2teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2teaspoons baking powder
1/4teaspoon salt
1/2cup currant jelly, warmed
Bittersweet Icing:
1 1/2cups heavy cream
6ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 1/2tablespoons powdered sugar
4 1/2tablespoons cocoa
1 1/2teaspoons vanilla
1/8teaspoon salt
1cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

  1. To prepare syrup, combine all syrup ingredients in a small, heavy saucepan, whisking until smooth. Heat over medium heat, until sugar dissolves and syrup is smooth.
  2. To prepare cake, pour stout over currants; cover and soak until plump.
  3. Drain currants, reserving stout. Add stout to a small saucepan. Whisk in 1/3 cup cocoa and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat; add semisweet chocolate, stirring until chocolate melts. Cool slightly. Stir in buttermilk.
  4. Preheat oven to 350F.
  5. Combine 2 tablespoons cocoa, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons flour. Coat two 8- or 9-inch square or round cake pans with cooking spray; dust with cocoa mixture.
  6. Beat butter with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in 1 3/4 cups sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
  7. Combine 2 cups flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with chocolate mixture, stirring until blended. (Batter may look curdled.) Stir in currants.
  8. Divide batter between pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes; invert onto rack.
  9. Poke tops of cake layers with a skewer or toothpick. Spoon Drizzling Syrup over tops. Place one layer on a platter. Spread warmed jelly over layer on the platter. Chill 30 minutes.
  10. To make the icing, bring cream to a boil. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl, pour boiling cream over it, and whisk until chocolate melts and is thoroughly combined. Cover tightly and chill. Chill beaters from a hand-held mixture at the same time.
    Up to 3 hours before serving the cake, whip chocolate mixture with a hand-held mixer. When soft peaks form, sift in confectioners’ sugar and cocoa and add vanilla and salt. Continue whipping until combined.
  11. Spread about a quarter of the Bittersweet Icing over the jelly. Place second cake layer on top.
  12. Ice top and sides of the cake with the remaining icing. Press nuts into sides of cake.

Nutritional Info *per serving

  • Glycemic Load 16
  • Calories 400
  • Fat 19g
  • Saturated Fat 9g
  • Polyunsaturated Fat 4g
  • Monounsaturated Fat 4.5g
  • Cholesterol 75mg
  • Sodium 310mg
  • Potassium 180mg
  • Carbohydrate 57g
  • Fiber 3g
  • Sugars 39g
  • Protein 6g
  • Trans Fat 0g
  • Vitamin A 8%
  • Vitamin C 4%
  • Calcium 8%
  • Iron 10%