Dark and handsome

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It´s not that I´m feeling uninspired in general at all. Daydreaming about new apartments and my trip has been my favorite pass-time lately. But it might be that food and I are trying to find some middle ground (like still loving each other but going easy on sweets and stuff like that,) and when that happens, I don´t want to be thinking or writing about that particular chocolate cake that made me swoon last month but I´d better not recall while on a “diet” and PMSing.

But I hate not writing here for that long, and that chocolate cake was too good not to pass along. So here it is:

It uses stout beer and unsweetened cocoa, and it´s covered with a velvety ganache on top. And I don´t even like beer in general, but here it compliments the chocolate beautifully because it creates a subtle contrast to the sweetness.

And since it´s most likely winter where you are right now instead of summer like in Buenos Aires, I urge you to make it today, it´s that good, and bathing suits are far, far away.

PS: I´ve just updated and reorganized the Recipe Index you can find above the header, so drop by to get some fresh, or not so fresh, ideas.

Chocolate Stout Cake (Recipe as adapted by Deb at Smitten Kitchen from Bon Appétit, September 2002, recipe originally from the Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington, MA)

You can use a regular bundt pan or a flutted tart pan like myself.

1 cup stout beer (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream*
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips/or chocolate chunks
6 tablespoons heavy cream
¾ teaspoon instant coffee granules

Cake prep:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt/tart/cake pan. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and ¾ teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.

Ganache:
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of cooled cake.

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Filed under food, sweet