Chocolate Beer-Batter Cake

servings
4 servings
prep time
15 minutes
cook time
30 minutes
Slice of chocolate beer batter cake being served with a beer bottle in the background.

Denise serves up a piece of Chocolate Beer Batter Cake, made with Chocolate Peanut Butter Imperial Stout from Throwback Brewery.

This recipe was originally featured by Denise on an episode of Outside & In with The Cook’s Cook. You can use stout or any beer of choice, or substitute cranberry-gingerale for the beer. Easy to assemble and the preparation is simple– a quick rich dessert that is guaranteed to please.

It is adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Guinness Cake recipe.

Ingredients

Cake

  • •250 ml (1½ cups) Throwback Brewery Chocolate Peanut Butter Imperial Stout, or Cranberry-Ginger Ale, or other beer of choice
  • •250 grams (8 ounces) unsalted butter
  • •75 grams (¾ cup) dark cocoa powder
  • •400 grams (2 cups) superfine sugar
  • •142 ml (½ cup) sour cream
  • •2 large eggs
  • •15 ml (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract
  • •275 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
  • •7.5ml (2½ teaspoons) baking soda

Frosting

  • •113 grams (4 ounces) dark chocolate
  • •113 grams (4 ounces) white chocolate

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C /350ºF. Butter a 23 cm (9 inch) springform tin.

    Pour the beer and butter into a large wide saucepan. Heat until the butter is melted. Whisk in cocoa and sugar.

    Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then add to the saucepan.

    Whisk in the flour and baking soda.

    Pour the cake batter into the greased pan. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack.

    When the cake is cold, melt the dark and white chocolates, then drizzle over the cake.

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cakes & piesdesserts & sweetsOutside & In with The Cook's Cookvegetarian

About the author

Denise Landis had been employed as an archeologist for seven years before a food editor hired her to test some recipes from a cookbook manuscript. This short stint led to longer assignments, and two years later she began testing recipes for the New York Times. She has been a professional recipe tester and editor for over 25 years, is the author of a New York Times cookbook, and has written for numerous publications. She is a member of the New York Chapter of Les Dames d’ Escoffier.

Denise Landis

Denise Landis

Denise Landis is the founder & CEO of The Cook's Cook.

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