Chocolate Stout Cake

Does this cake look familiar? Stephen requested it again this year for his birthday. It has become quite the favorite in our family.

I didn't change a thing except brand of beer. I must say this again...the cake can be a little tricky getting out of the pan because it is so moist. Always line the pans with parchment paper. I intend to make cupcakes for St. Patty's Day so I think that will be much easier. Also, instead of the chocolate frosting, I will be making a Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream. Check back!

Girl Scout Samoa Bars

Who doesn't LOVE Girl Scout cookies? Most people usually have their favorite and I remember the Samoas or Caramel deLites always used to be my favorite growing up. You know- the chewy, caramel chocolate-y ones. I could eat the whole box myself!

I came across this recipe- a bar version of the cookie on Baking Bites, but now I'm kind of sorry that I ever did. They are sooo good that I will just be tempted to make them all year long. And let me tell you- they are extremely good dipped into hot coffee. You won't need to buy another $4.00 box ever again(at least of the Samoas).

I wrapped some into clear little treat bags and gave them away. I share.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

I hate to post two chocolate birthday cakes in a row! Actually I guess this post couldn't come at a more perfect time since St. Patty's Day is right around the corner.

When I first spotted all of the recipes for Guinness cake floating around the internet, I could not wait to make one! Not that I love beer or anything- in fact I pretty much hate the taste of it. But I just knew that it would make the perfect birthday cake for my brother who loves anything with Guinness in it.



There are a lot of different variations out there for Guinness cake and I could not decide which recipe to use. I knew I wanted a double layer cake so I sort of came up with my own version. I used the most fabulous chocolate cake recipe from my last post and made a few slight changes. You can view the recipe below.

Just a few of my thoughts:

The flavor of the cake doesn't really have a strong beer flavor like you would think...but the Guinness really brings out the chocolate, sort of like coffee does. They compliment each other so well and becomes this amazing flavor that I can't quite describe. Not too sweet or chocolate-y, but just right. It's really, really unbelievably good!

Another heads up, this is a VERY moist cake. I had some issues getting the cake out of the pan and so that is why you can see little bits of cake coming through the frosting. I wasn't even going to show the picture because I thought it looked so bad, but what fun would that be! Anyway, be sure to line the bottom of the cake pans with parchment paper and you should be fine. I learned the hard way!

I think next time I will try making it into little cupcakes, maybe for St. Patty's Day with little shamrocks on top. Well, that might have to be for next year since we're all caked out.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup Guinness stout beer, room temperature

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.
With mixer still on low, add the beer and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal.
With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting.
Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso powder
1-2 tablespoons of Guinness stout beer

Directions:
Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and add the coffee powder then set aside until cooled to room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes.
Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy.
On low speed, add the chocolate and beer to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip!
Spread immediately onto the cooled cake.

The Best Chocolate Cake

January and February are by far the two craziest birthday months in our family. I did 5 out of 7 cakes in just 2 months! Everyone is still managing to stick to their diets though, so I don't feel that guilty!

I've been saving Barefoot Contessa's Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipe for months so when my dad asked for chocolate cake- I had a plan. I think I'm safe to say that I will never need another chocolate cake recipe ever AGAIN. It was amazing!! I could go on and on about this cake because it seriously was the best I think I ever had. The Contessa does it again!

I used Scharffen Berger cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate which is a bit pricey, but very high quality and totally worth it for this recipe.


Sorry for the sloppy picture. I almost forgot to take one.

Here are my slight changes to the recipe:

Cake: I used a 1/2 cup of coffee and added a 1/2 cup of water to it.
Frosting: I used 1/2 tsp. of instant espresso powder instead of 1 tablespoon.

You can add as little or as much as you like, but since my dad hates coffee I was afraid to add the whole thing. I plan on making it again with the entire amount because being the coffee lover that I am, you can never have too much!

Mini Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

This is the first time I baked the same thing twice in the same week! It was that good! First, because I recently came to discover that my little brother loves chocolate and orange as much as I do so I wanted to make it for him. And second, because my mom liked it so much she wanted it for her Birthday.

If you recall, I made the bundt version of this cake awhile back, but something about these little minis was soooo much better! The recipe can be found here.

I used a Martha Stewart mini bundt pan, made by Nordic Ware that was only $8 on clearance at Kmart. These baby cakes slid right out of the pan-it was incredible! I must buy more Nordic Ware soon!

I took a lot of pictures this time because I couldn't resist. They are just so darn cute!

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

If you like citrus and chocolate together, this cake is for you!

Ina Garten or Barefoot Contessa, whatever you would like to call her, has never let me down!
I love all of her recipes and enjoy her show.





I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate instead of semisweet because that is all I had. I would definitely recommend using semi-sweet though.

Between all of the orange juice, zest and the dark chocolate, this cake is actually full of anti-oxidants, ha!



The orange and chocolate combination is so simple yet sophisticated and very Italian!