Recipe: Irresistible Irish stout chocolate cake

Shannon Beigert

The Olympia Kitchen

Recipe: Rustic Irish soda bread

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

Having already provided recipes for corned beef and cabbage, colcannon and Irish soda bread, today we will complete our tribute to Ireland with a delicious chocolate cake made with Irish dark beer.

I made this cake a few days ago and took it to a friend’s home to contribute to dinner. The host said it was the best cake ever, and ate four slices of it!

Ingredients

Cake:

1 and 1/2 bottles or cans (11 oz. each) of Irish dark stout beer, such as Guinness, for example.
1 and 3/4 cups of flour
3/4 of a cup of cocoa powder, lump-free
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of oil (I recommend coconut oil, melted)
3/4 cup of sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua. You should use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract if you do not use the coffee liqueur.
1/2 cup of buttermilk

Frosting:

1 6.5 oz. dark chocolate bar
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese, room temperature
1 Pat of butter
2/3 cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon of stout beer 

Instructions

Cake:

First, put the stout beer into a saucepan on the stovetop and reduce it to 3/4 of a cup in volume by cooking it and allowing steam to escape, thereby reducing the volume of liquid. I start on high heat and reduce it to medium-low after the stout starts to boil and foam up. The foam will go down as it reduces. Stir occasionally until the liquid becomes thicker. This step can take up to 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray oil into two standard round cake pans.

Stir the dry ingredients together well in a large bowl. This includes flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a separate smaller bowl, using a mixer, combine oil, sour cream, eggs, vanilla and coffee liqueur until well blended. Then add in the buttermilk and mix well.

Using your mixer, combine the oil mixture into the flour mixture. Then add 1/2 cup of the hot reduced dark stout beer. Mix until all ingredients are combined.

Pour the batter evenly into the two cake pans, place in the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until fully baked.

When done, let the cake cool and remove carefully from the cake pans. Frost with the recipe described below.

Frosting:

Using a double boiler, with water boiling underneath the top pan, melt the chocolate bar gently. Once the chocolate is melted, add in the sugar and stir until it is completely absorbed. Then add the block of room-temperature cream cheese and the butter. Mix together thoroughly. Finally add a tablespoon of the leftover reduced stout beer and mix all ingredients together. Remove from heat.

Frost the center section of the cooled cake. Put the top cake layer on, and frost the entire cake.

Enjoy!

Shannon Beigert is a chef and baker who loves entertaining guests at her Olympia home. If you want to let her know that this recipe worked well for you, send her a note at shannon@theJOLTnews.com