Servings: 1 Cake
Equipment
- Oven
- 2 Cake Pan (9")
- Medium Saucepan
- Stovetop
- Whisk
- Large Bowl
- Double Boiler
- Brush (wet)
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Cake
- 1½ cups Stout Beer
- 3 sticks Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup Lake Champlain Chocolates® 100% Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 3 Large Eggs
- ⅔ cup Sour Cream
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3 cups Granulated Sugar
- 2¼ tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
Wash
- ⅓ cup Bourbon
Frosting
- 5 Large Eggs
- ½ cup Granulated Maple Sugar
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 4 sticks Unsalted Butter
- 1½ tbsp Vanilla Extract
Topping & Garnish
- ½ cup Pecan Pieces
- 1 Lake Champlain Chocolates® Extra Dark 72% Dark Chocolate Bar (use any solid bar, both milk or dark) (you can also use a vegetable peeler to make chocolate curls)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
- Heat beer and butter in medium sauce pan until butter is melted. Remove from heat.
- Add 1 cup Lake Champlain Chocolates® 100% Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, and whisk until smooth. Cool mixture to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sour cream.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add to cocoa mixture and mix until just combined.
- Add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing together at slow speed after each addition. Scrape down the bowl, and mix again for 1 minute.
- Pour batter into cake pans. Tap on the table to level batter.
- Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of their pans.
Wash
- Brush the bottom and sides of each layer liberally with bourbon, and finish cooling completely on the rack.
Frosting
- In a double boiler, whisk together egg whites and sugars.
- Heat to 140°F, whisking constantly. Use a wet brush to remove sugar crystals from the sides of the pan if necessary. Be careful not to overheat.
- Remove mixture from heat and beat with whisk attachment on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Bowl should be warm to the touch (not hot) and mixture will be opaque and slightly fluffy.
- Change mixture attachment to the paddle. With mixer on low speed, add butter in several small additions, beating until butter is mostly incorporated between additions.
- When all butter has been added, increase to medium/high speed and beat for about 5 minutes (and up to 10 minutes, if necessary), until frosting is fluffy. It may initially separate, but it will smooth out after beating for a few minutes.
- Beat in 1½ tbsp Vanilla Extract.
Assembly
- Level each cake layer using a long bread knife. Brush the trimmed layers liberally with bourbon.
- Fill and frost as usual.
- Sprinkle pecan pieces evenly over the top of the cake. Garnish with 1 Lake Champlain Chocolates® Extra Dark 72% Dark Chocolate Bar.
Notes