dessert

Epic Chocolate Stout Cake with Chocolate Bourbon Sour Cream Frosting

Epic Chocolate Stout Cake

Epic Chocolate Stout Cake3

Although I may be shattering illusion with this admission, I don’t always cook with beer. I often create very sober meals with teetotaling side dishes, not a whisper of booze in sight.

However, over the years of carving out a niche in this corner of Craft Beer Land, I have found that beer is an essential and non-replaceable ingredient in several dishes, it just does the best job.

Epic Chocolate Stout Cake2

My Thanksgiving Turkey will always be brined with a brown ale, the meat tenderizing properties of beer have no match. If you want a juicy bird, it’s the best way to get there.

My dinner rolls will always be made with wheat beer, the leaving agents are just too good.

My steak will always be given a good soak in a dark craft beer, it gives the best results.

Epic Chocolate Stout Cake5 And my chocolate cake will always be made with a nice chocolate stout. The first recipe I ever made with beer was a stout cake, it was by far the best homemade chocolate cake I had ever made, wooing me to the boozy side of baking.

The taste was both rich and light, smooth and bold. It may have been a gateway recipe that lead me down a path of beer cooking obsession.

Epic Chocolate Stout Cake4

Print
Epic Chocolate Stout Cake with Chocolate Bourbon Sour Cream Frosting

Ingredients

    For the Cake:
  • 7 wt oz 72% dark chocolate, chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 12 ounces Chocolate Stout
  • 3 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs + 2 yolks
  • ¼ cup canola oil
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 tbs baking powder
  • 1 tbs espresso powder
  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
    • For the Frosting:
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 cup dark chocolate chips, melted & slightly cooled
  • 4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • ½ cup heavy cream

Instructions

    For the cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In the top of a double boiler (or a bowl set over gently simmering water), add the dark chocolate, and butter, stirring frequently until just melted. Stir in the chocolate stout.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the sugar, eggs and yolks until well combined, light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add the oil and sour cream, beat until well combined.
  5. Slowly add the chocolate, beating until all ingredients are well incorporated, scraping the bottom to make sure all us well combined.
  6. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, espresso powder, cocoa powder, and kosher salt.
  7. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients, stir until just combined.
  8. Grease and flour 3, 9-inch cake pans (or two cake pans, and 12 cupcake tins).
  9. Pour the batter evenly between the pans.
  10. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched, (15-17 minutes for cupcakes).
  11. Allow to cool, remove from pans (it’s easiest to transfer to a plate lined with parchment paper.)
  12. To assemble a tall cake it’s easiest if all ingredients are cold, warm cake and frosting tend to slide. For best results chill the cake layers for 1 hour prior to assembling.
  13. Chill assembled cake until ready to serve.
    14. For the frosting:
  14. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the softened butter on high until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sour cream, beat until light and fluffy.
  15. Slowly pour the melted chocolate into the mixer, beating until well combined with the butter mixture.
  16. Add the powdered sugar and slowly building up speed, beat on high until well combined.
  17. A few tablespoons at a time add the bourbon and the cream, allowing to fully incorporate before adding more. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
  18. Cover bowl and refrigerate until set, about 20-30 minutes.
Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by Yummly Rich Recipes
http://thebeeroness.com/2013/08/22/epic-chocolate-stout-cake-with-chocolate-bourbon-sour-cream-frosting/

 

Stout Soaked Cherry Cheesecake with Pretzel Crust

Stout Soaked Cherry Cheesecake Bars with Pretzel Crust P

I need your help.

I’m somewhere around halfway done with this cookbook, and I need some feedback. I have about 50 recipes ready to go, but they have never been cooked outside of my kitchen.

I want to know if they work for you, if you like them (or didn’t), if the directions make sense. This part is important to me, it increases the chances that we can catch some of the flaws, some of the directions that may be misleading, or some factor I might have overlooked.

This book means so much to me, and the recipes working for as many people as possible is a high priority.

And I can’t do this on my own. If you are willing to make one (or more) of the Top Secret recipes I have in the works, keep it secret until the book goes to print, and give me your honest opinion, I need that.

If you’re at all interested, Please, check out my Book Page for more info. Please.

 

Print
Stout Soaked Cherry Cheesecake with Pretzel Crust

Ingredients

  • 8oz sweetened dried cherries (about 1 ½ cups)
  • 2 cups stout
  • 3 cups mini pretzels twists, lightly crushed (about 1 ½ cups once processed)
  • 2 tbs brown sugar
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • 24 ounces cream cheese
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tbs flour
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ tsp vanilla

Directions

  1. Place dried cherries in a bowl or tall glass. Pour stout over cherries until fully submerged. Allow to sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the soaking liquid.
  2. Preheat oven to 400.
  3. In a food processor, add the pretzels and brown sugar, process until only crumbs remain, about 3 to 5 minutes. Slowly add the melted butter while the processor is running. Pour into the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking pan. Use the flat bottom of a heavy glass, measuring cup or mug to press the crust really well into a flat even layer.
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cream cheese, beat on high until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sour cream and beat until well combined. Add the salt, flour and sugar, mix until well incorporated. Add the eggs and vanilla, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Add ¼ of the stout used to soak the cherries, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in the cherries.
  5. Pour cream cheese mixture over the crust, smooth out into an even layer.
  6. Place in the oven and reduce oven temp to 350. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes or until the cheesecake has puffed slightly and center no longer jiggles when you shake the rack it sits on. Don’t over bake, it will firm up once it chills. Remove from oven (allow to stand at room temp until slightly cooled, about 10 minutes) refrigerate until chilled and set, at least 4 hours and up to 24. Cut into squares for serving
http://thebeeroness.com/2013/01/08/stout-soaked-cherry-cheesecake-with-pretzel-crust/

 

  Stout Soaked Cherry Cheesecake Bars with Pretzel Crust2