Guinness Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze

This is one of my favourite cakes to make for a grown-up birthday or celebration. It is delicious and sophisticated without all the fuss of icing a cake. What’s even more helpful about it is that, with the benefit of a dense crumb, it cuts well making it easy to serve.

I don’t have a bundt pan, so I use a deep round pan which poses some challenges: I have to cook the cake at 300F for a much longer time period which seems different each time I make it. I also never have the luxury of letting the cake rest for a day before glazing it as suggested in the recipe. What I find works just as well is to make the cake the day before it is needed and glaze it that same day, then allowing it to rest overnight in a cool spot. Consequently, it is ready for me to take into the office the next morning and the chocolate flavour has had the time it needs to develop.

I’ve seen similar recipes from a variety of sources but this is taken from The Hungry Housewife.

Cake

1 c. Guinness Stout

1 c. butter

¾ c. unsweetened cocoa powder plus a little for dusting the pan

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 c. sugar

½ tbsp.. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 large eggs

¾ c. sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Butter a bundt pan (I use a deep cake pan but it takes about twice as long to cook at I do so at 300 F). Sprinkle some cocoa powder in the pan, hold it over a sink, and turn and tilt the pan to distribute the flour evenly. Then invert the pan and tap out the excess cocoa.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the Guinness and butter to a light boil, add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl beat together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla.

Add the butter/Guinness mixture to the sour cream mixture and beat until just incorporated. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Then using a rubber spatula, lightly fold the batter to make sure there are no pockets of flour. Pour into bundt pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs.

Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Salted Caramel Glaze

5 tbsp. butter

½ c. packed dark brown sugar

⅓ c. heavy cream

pinch sea salt

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

⅔ c. powdered sugar,sifted

Pinch of Fleur de Sel (if desired)

In a medium saucepan, bring the butter, dark brown sugar, heavy cream and salt to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract. Add about ½ cup of the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Continue to whisk in powdered sugar by the tablespoon until you reach your desired consistency.

Place on a cake plate and pour the salted caramel glaze over the top.

If desired, sprinkle Fleur de Sel over the glaze.