CHOCOLATE STOUT Cake

Yum! I've never had stout (beer) before but I sure loved the sound of this cake when I came across it.
If you love Irish Cream liqueur and chocolate cake (and stout beer), you'll definitely love this cake recipe, perfect for St. Patrick's Day.

This recipe was discovered inside Walmart's LiveBetter magazine...

The recipe looked simple enough and I had pretty much all the ingredients needed to make it - all except two: stout beer and Irish Cream Liqueur, so I had to go out and purchase those.

My cake didn't turn out as beautiful as in the magazine - but it sure tasted great! And before I continue on with the recipe, I must tell you of the disaster I had while making it.

You see, I only had ONE round baking pan in my kitchen. I thought I had two or three but all I could find was one - a springform pan, a pan which I was not familiar with, but I went ahead and used it anyways. Big mistake. After pouring the batter into it, I was getting ready to put the cake in the oven when disaster struck. The bottom of the pan fell out and I had cake batter everywhere! I could not believe my eyes. I just stood there. I think I was about to cry. I can't really remember. I was probably in shock. After all that hard work, it was now all over the kitchen floor and down the front of the oven door.

I tossed the darn pan in the sink and went and sat down to sulk.

My better half tried to comfort me by telling me I could just scoop it all up and put it back in another pan to which I replied, "Eeew" and gave him an angry, weird look. Eventually, I came around and decided to give it one more try, this time putting the batter into a square non-springform pan. Thank goodness, this time everything went according to plan.

I won't be waiting till St. Patrick's Day to make this cake again because it was sure yummy. 

Recipe

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose FLOUR
3/4 cup COCOA POWDER
1-1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
1 tsp BAKING SODA
1/2 tsp SALT
3/4 cup unsalted BUTTER, at room temperature
1-1/4 cups lightly packed BROWN SUGAR
2 EGGS
1 tsp VANILLA
1 cup STOUT BEER, such as Guinness

Icing:
1-cup 35% CREAM
1 tbsp granulated SUGAR
1 tbsp Irish Cream LIQUEUR, divided (optional)

Instructions:

1. PREHEAT oven to 350 F. Lightly oil or spra a 9-inch round cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. SIFT flour with cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt into a medium bowl. Beat butter with brown sugar in a large bowl, with a mixer on medium-hight, 3 min. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the side of bowl, as needed. Beat in vanilla.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in one-third of flour mixture, then add half the stout. Repeat additions, ending with flour mixture. Stir just until evenly mixed.
4. POUR batter into pan and smooth top.
5. BAKE in centre of oven until a cake tester inserted in centre of cake comes out clean, 40-45 mins. Cool in pan on a rack for 10 min, then turn out onto rack. Remove parchemtn. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
6. FOR ICING, beat cream with sugar and 2 tsp liqueur in a medium bowl, until firm peaks form when beaters are lifted, 3-5 mins. Assemble by setting cake on a cake stand, Pile frosting on top of cake, creating peaks and swirls. Drizzle with remaining 1 tsp of liqueur.

(Original recipe found: Walmart LiveBetter magazine | February/March 2016 Edition | P. 19)