They say not to judge a book by its cover, but that's PRECISELY what I did when I bought the Ovenly cookbook I rave about in "9 Cookbooks I Swear By...3 Categories" entry. This cookbook has a recipe for a decadent chocolate cake that is the stuff dreams are made of.
No exaggeration, I am salivating as I write this just thinking about the flavor!
Food & Wine has said of this cake: “It’s no ordinary mix of sugar and chocolate but a heavenly/sinful combo of bitter chocolate, Brooklyn Brewery stout, and chocolate pudding buttercream. You will end up eating the whole slice so don’t fight it.”
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout (or another chocolate stout)
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 ½ cups dark Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 cups all-purpose flour + more for dusting
2 ¾ cups sugar
3/4 tablespoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream (preferably full-fat)
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
FIRST: Grease two 9-inch cake pans with butter and dust with flour. Line with parchment rounds and grease the rounds.
THEN: In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the stout and unsalted butter to a simmer. (You can also melt the butter in your oven or in a large, microwave-safe bowl in a microwave oven and then whisk in the beer.) Remove the stout-butter mixture from the heat, add the Dutch-process cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes.
NEXT: While the stout-butter mixture cools, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and eggs.
THEN: Add the stout-butter mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Then add the flour mixture, and combine with a rubber spatula until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth, with no lumps. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any dry flour bits. Divide the batter equally between the prepared cake pans.
FINALLY: Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each layer comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Frost the cake with Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream (see this link). Please note that the frosting recipe for this cake is QUITE involved...you can find simpler recipes for similar flavors if you'd like a simplified process!
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