Chocolate Stout Cake with Raspberry Glaze

Summer is birthday season here at Coffee by the Roast. To celebrate all our summer birthdays, we thought we'd share the recipe for Catie's Chocolate Stout Cake. It’s rich, chocolaty and delicious!

Happy Birthday, Catie!

Chocolate Stout Cake with Raspberry Glaze

Total Time: ~45-50 mins

Assembly Time: ~10-15 mins (especially if you use an electric mixer)

Bake Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Cake: 1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa powder (Dutch process best)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups stout

1 Tb vanilla extract

1 generously rounded Tb espresso ground coffee

1 cup butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup yogurt (full-fat or greek, the thicker and richer the better)

4 oz dark chocolate, chopped or small chips (bitter-sweet to baker's chocolate, the higher cocoa percentage the richer)

Glaze: 4 oz white chocolate

1-1 1/2 cups raspberries (frozen works very well)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tb yogurt (same used in cake, optional)

package gelatin, Tb arrow root or corn starch (additional thickener, optional)

Steps: 1. Preheat oven to 350 F / 160 C.

2. Prep either 3 8-in cake tins (grease and line with parchment paper) or 1 13-in round cake tin (shown in picture)

3. Sift together first 5 dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt

4. Measure and mix the next 3 "wet" ingredients: stout, vanilla and espresso

5. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Spend some time here, approx 5 minutes, to get lots of air into the mix.

6. One at a time, blend the three eggs into the butter-sugar mix.

7. Blend in the yogurt until even smoother and creamier.

8. Alternating between the dry and wet ingredients, blend the flour and stout mixtures into the creamed butter-sugar mix, about 1/3 at a time.

9. After all ingredients are well blended, fold in the dark chocolate chunks with a spatula.

10. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins, evenly between the 3 smaller or all in the larger tin.

11. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick come out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

12. Cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes, until tins are cool enough to handle.

13. Once cool, loosen the edges of the cake with a knife and remove the cakes from the tin by flipping them onto a plate. Return the removed cake layers to the rack to cool completely.

14. You can enjoy this very rich and complexly chocolaty cake plain, but if you want a glaze or frosting, make that while the cake layers cool.

For the White Chocolate Raspberry Glaze:

1. Heat the raspberries and vanilla together on the stove until they become a smooth, thick liquid.

2. Remove from heat and melt the white chocolate in the warm fruit.

3. If adding yogurt or thickeners, add the yogurt and blend until smooth. Follow the directions on the gelatin package or create a thick paste of the starch in hot water and add to your raspberry-chocolate mixture

4. Allow glaze to cool and thicken a bit before glazing your cooled cake layers

Glaze and assemble your cake, serve using a warm knife to cut, and enjoy! Cake is delicious chilled and at room temperature. Goes great with a cup of coffee, a glass of milk, or a milky coffee drink!

Do you have a favorite birthday treat? If so, we'd love to hear about it, especially if it goes well with coffee. Please join the conversation and share your thoughts on the Facebook thread or in a comment on this blog. Or, if you'd like to share your opinions with the wider world, leave us a coffee review on Google or on your favorite review site. Not only do we value your opinions, but reviews help more people find us. Help us connect coffee lovers to fresh, quality coffee!

~ Carrie, Paul and all of us at Coffee by the Roast