Forget milk—stout is the perfect pairing for this cake. Serve glasses of the same brew you used in the cake batter. Take it up a notch by adding a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream to the beer for a grown-up float.
Ingredients
Makes 12 servings
Cake:
Frosting:
For cake:
Step 1
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper round; butter and flour parchment. Place chopped chocolate in medium metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water and set aside.
Step 2
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 11/4 cups sugar in large bowl until fluffy and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in lukewarm melted chocolate, then stout and coffee. Beat flour mixture into chocolate mixture in 2 additions just until incorporated.
Step 3
Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into cake batter to lighten, then fold in remaining egg whites in 2 additions. Divide batter between prepared cake pans (about 3 cups for each); smooth tops.
Step 4
Bake cakes until tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer cakes to racks and cool in pans 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks; remove parchment paper and cool completely. DO AHEAD:Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.
For frosting:
Step 5
把切碎的巧克力中耐热的碗。Combine whipping cream and espresso powder in medium saucepan. Bring cream mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally. Pour cream mixture over chopped chocolate; let stand 1 minute, then whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Chill chocolate frosting until slightly thickened and spreadable, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours (or for quick chilling, place frosting in freezer until thickened and spreadable, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes).
Step 6
用锯齿刀,修剪的上衣cake layers so that tops are flat. Place 1 cake layer, trimmed side up, on 9-inch-diameter tart pan bottom or cardboard round, then place on rack set over baking sheet. Drop 1 1/4 cups frosting by large spoonfuls over top of cake layer; spread frosting evenly to edges with offset spatula or butter knife. Top with second cake layer, trimmed side down. Spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. DO AHEAD:Can be made up to 1 day ahead.Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Let cake stand at room temperature at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours before serving.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you can find it, use a chocolate stout (Brooklyn Brewery and Oregon's Rogue Brewery make it) in the cake batter. The chocolaty flavors in the beer come from dark-roasting the malts. Some brewers even add a little chocolate to the beer as well. If you cant find chocolate stout, use another stout, such as Guinness. Sierra Nevada Porter and Samuel Adams Honey Porter would also work well in this recipe.
How would you rate Chocolate Stout Layer Cake With Chocolate Frosting?
Leave a Review
Reviews (73)
Back to TopBest cake ever!!! So much chocolate!!!
Deborah Bolding
Missouri
11/23/2021
I love this cake! For many years I make this cake for Christmas and Thanksgiving with a bit of a change. I have a Bundt cake mold that has a cathedral motif. I make this cake and it produces more cake than the Cathedral Bundt cake can hold (and it needs about an inch to rise in the mold) so I have mini bundt cake mold (that is sort of like a muffin pan). I make the batter exactly as the recipe says. If you can find Chocolate Stout, that is the best! After I unmold the cake and it is cool, I sprinkle powdered sugar over it with a sieve. It looks like snow on a Cathedral in a small French village! I serve it with whip cream and strawberries. I need more than 4 forks to rate this!
kqig1
Bay Area
1/12/2019
Holy moly. This was a good cake. I've had my eye on the recipe for months, but the occasion to make such a decadent cake never properly arose. Eventually I said ""whateves" and made it anyway. And it is good. I used a Boatswain chocolate stout and a pound plus bar I picked up from Trader Joe's. Worked great. When I first pulled the cakes out of the oven I was worried they would end up dry. I was pleased that my cakes had a fairly moist crumb. The ganache was magic. Too decedent for a regular old Sunday dinner, but I'll probably enjoy eating it on a Monday just as much as anyway. *i had more colorful language for how much I loved this cake, but was asked to edit it.
tacopatty
Bay Area, ca
3/27/2017
This is an expensive, dry cake. I followed ingredients and directions exactly. While baking, I checked it in it's final minutes to ensure that a cake tester came out clean. At 26 minutes (convection oven) it did not. At 27 minutes it did. So I know it was not over baked. It had good flavor. Frosting is a breeze to make and the only part of this recipe I would make again.
plynch
Youngstown, NY
3/20/2017
Phenomenal chocolate cake!!!!!!! My boyfriend and daughter loved it. It wasn't too sweet yet still decadent! I will definitely make again
Anonymous
Dallas, TX
12/12/2016
I usually use a similar Epicourious recipe: //m.fonts4kids.com/recipes/food/views/chocolate-stout-cake-107105 I bake it in a Cathedral bundt cake mold that is available on Amazon. I then sprinkle powered sugar on the cooled cake. Looks so beautiful for Christmas, like snow on a great Cathedral. Serve with whipped cream and/or berries on the side. Beautiful and if you read the review of the cake (recipe is for a layer cake) one of the tastiest cakes on the site. I just put the right amount of batter in the bundt pan and bake at 350 till a skewer comes out clean. It makes lots of batter and the extra batter goes into cupcakes which are also very popular.
Anonymous
San Francisco Bay Area
3/13/2016
First time I made this was an experiment and I used smoked Porter and it was fabulous. I am going to make it again as sheet cakes and will probably use the same beer because the people I tested it on really liked it. Might also try chocolate Porter but the flavor might be too hidden within all the chocolate and espresso flavors. I also refrigerated it to see how it would slice (I need 150 1.5" pieces for an event so I want them to be nice and tight) and it was great cold as well and its nice texture (like in the photo) came back after it dropped to room temperature. I'll be making three batches for sheet cakes in four 9x13 pans, so I hope it works out okay. I may need to amend this review later...
kateebg
Bend, Oregon
9/8/2015
Very chocolatey and a little hint of alcohol in my finished cake. Since it was in 9-inch tins, I lowered the temp to 325F and had no issues with dryness or doneness. It's just about like any all-butter cake in terms of dryness. I split the layers and filled with pastry cream rather than do the frosting. To me, the double chocolate oil based cake with 1K epi reviews is better. And the stout based gingerbread is totally fantastic especially with minced candied ginger and cranberries added in. That gingerbread is how I ended up with leftover stout for baking.
joaodasilva
2/18/2015
I have 2 questions-1) can I bake this in a bundt pan? 2) do you know what changes I should make for high altitude of 5000 ft.? Thank you so much-this looks like a must!
pamelakrugman
Loveland, Colorado
3/13/2014
Used a raspberry porter and was very, very pleased with the result. Followed the recommendation from another reviewer to add 2 tbsp of sour cream. Cake was moist, flavors fantastic.
Willaby
New York, NY
1/11/2014
One of the best cakes I have ever made. Really nice flavor. Given all the reports of "dry" cake, I baked my cake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes and I'm glad for it. It's always easier to set the timer for a shorter period of time and leave it in if needed. I used Yeti Imperial Stout and Scharfenberger chocolate, and for the first time I tried superfine Castor Sugar. The frosting did make me nervous so I ended up adding powdered sugar as a crutch. I don't know if things would have been different in its absence. Topped this cake with raspberries.
marinahench
Austin, TX
9/2/2013
Add 1/4 cup buttermilk and 2 TBSP sour cream to keep cake moist
hansoma2003
NYC
8/19/2013
If folks say this cake is too dry, they are not following the recipe correctly. Probably the result of either 1) too much flour, or 2) cooking too long. WEIGH the flour to avoid packing it a cup, and CHECK the cake while it's baking. Each oven is different. I've made this cake at least 10 times, and it's always a hit. It's not a sweet cake, and most definitely for chocolate lovers.
eclecticdeb
8/8/2013
Love this cake! I made it for my wife's return from a trip, and she loved it so much she made it for me two weeks later for my birthday. The recipe is so very easy to follow, and the results are worth the work. Paired with the same Stout in the recipe, so so good. I recommend using Rogue Chocolate Stout.
shnrbrown
San Francisco, CA
7/18/2013
I made this cake for my 19 year old sons birthday. He loves chocolate cake and he loved this one. The cake is very dense and delicious - good in every way. The icing I will change next time. I love ganache but the espresso in this recipe just took away from the deliciousness of the chocolate. It made it less sweet tasting, maybe slightly bitter. It was still good but better for me without.
smsT
Philly
7/5/2013
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