Yes you read the title right. This cake is not only chocolaty but also just happens to be vegan and contain beer. The beer is the secret to the oh so wonderful ooie-gooie factor. This has very quickly become my favorite chocolate cake recipe. It's easy, fun, involves some interesting chemistry (my favorite part) and it's unlike any cake I've ever tasted. It's incredibly moist and rich and the beer really only serves to enhance the chocolate flavor. There is a certain element of experimentation with this recipe, I think the flavor could be greatly changed depending on the kind of beer you used. I would love to make one with a Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout but honestly it'd be a waist of a really good stout, I think you are better off just drinking that one ;) Enough chit chat, lets get down to business shall we?
Recipe(makes two 9'' round cakes, three 8'' round cakes, one 9x13 pan or more cupcakes than I care to count)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose or pastry flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used dutch process but regular is fine too)
1 tsp. salt
One 12-oz. of any stout of your choosing
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
3. In a separate, larger bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt.
4. With a spoon, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour oil mixture into the well. Fold together with spatula until just combined. Pour the beer and water over the mixture. Beat well with an electric mixer on low speed. The batter will be very runny, don't worry, it's supposed to be.
5. Fill desired cake pan almost completely to the top. These cakes don't rise hardly at all so you can fill the cake pans quite full. Two round cake pans take about 45mins to bake but the rule of cake applies as always, stick a toothpick in it and take the cake out when it comes out clean.
Frosting
Now some would argue that no cake is complete without frosting. I would urge them to review the pound cake recipe. This cake can swing both ways, it's great on it's own but frosting makes it that much more indulgent. For this cake rather than make the usual standby of chocolate butter cream, I decided to try an experiment seeing as we had some cream in the fridge that needed to be used. The following is a recipe of my own invention and I dare say I got it right on the first go!
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 coco powder
1/2 packed brown sugar
1/2 packed powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Combine everything in a large bowl. Beat on high with an electric mixer until the mixture get's a little past the 'hard' whipped cream stage. Remember, you are basically making chocolate whipping cream but you don't want it to be so soft it falls off the cake. Just whip it until you think it is stiff enough to stick but spread easily. Refrigerate for at least an hour before use, this will make it much easier to work with.
As you can see from the header picture we topped our cake with strawberries which is something I would highly recommend.
This really will be one of the best chocolate cakes you've ever had so GO! Make cake! Be happy!
