You read that name right! It’s the moistest, rich chocolate cake with the slightest hint of spice right at the end. My 3 boys think it’s the BEST cake I have ever made and one even asked me to make it for him as a Christmas present!
Story behind the cake: We have this incredible bottle shop, literally, right around the corner. A bottle shop is a place to get bottles of beer and not that yicky supermarket kind – I’m talking microbrewed small batch sometimes hard to find beer. They have a bar in there as well where they have a rotation of yumminess on tap. I don’t drink very often and when I do, it’s just 1 beer. I like a good beer. One that I can’t taste why it was made and have the flavors dance around my tongue. That all being said, the darker the better for me I like stouts and porters best (best? New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout!) although I do like the opposite end of the spectrum of a nice witbier (best? 21st Amendment Brewery’s Hell of High Watermelon). It’s the middle I can do without. I am not a fan of things with high IBUs generally and do not like IPAs which are hubby’s favorite. Well, this beer shop, D’s Bottle Shop, has a brewery come in each Wednesday for an hour and a half or so and the brewery brings some swag and sample their beers. Well, 2 weeks ago I decided to bring in some stout cupcakes (recipe will be posted shortly) and I thought I would use this week’s brewery in some more baking. This past Wednesday, Bombshell Beer Company came out. They have a stout made with chocolate and chili. My gears started going and I debated between making a chili but ended up making a bundt cake instead. I know, I don’t get how I come to these choices either. I digress. I was privileged enough to have Tabasco send us stuff months back to get people amped up about Tabasco (and remember? we visited them in McInery, LA last road trip) so I had an idea of how to cook/bake with that fire and make things super yummy. With that knowledge, I made this delectable cake! Warning: It is REALLY good and will go really quickly!
I didn’t get a chance to get to get pictures of the full cake as We had to be there at 5:30 – I pulled the cake out of the oven at 5:15 while it was cooling in the blast chiller, washed and dried my hair, then pulled it out, plated it, topped with glaze, put it in the container and out the door we were to arrive at 5:35. It was whirlwind-like but I did snag a kind of ‘meh’ picture. The reviews it got from non-family members were awesome. I will be making this cake again this weekend per my kids’ request. Maybe I will snag a picture then. 🙂
- 10-12 oz Bombshell's Chili Choco Bang Bang Stout*
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup Cocoa Powder, unsweetened of course
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- In a small saucepan, bring the stout to a full boil over medium-high heat until it's reduced down slightly (ideally a yield of about 8 ounces).
- Lower to medium.
- Add the butter until it lightly boils.
- Whisk it smooth.
- Remove from heat and add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth again.
- In a bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla together.
- Add the chocolate stout mix to the egg/sour cream mix and beat just until incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients and beat until just combined.
- Pour batter into a well sprayed/greased bundt or angel food pan.
- Bake in preheated 350° oven for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out relatively clean.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from pan.
- Add caramel glaze recipe and enjoy!
- * I know it's probably not that easily for the rest of the US to find this beer. You can sub in easily with a good stout and a 1/2-1 teaspoon of tabasco sauce.
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter (about 5 or 6 tablespoons it's okay to use your judgement)
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar*
- 1/3 cup of heavy whipping cream **
- 1/4 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4-1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
- Sea Salt
- In a saucepan, bring the butter, sugar, cream, and salt to a rolling boil. Stir constantly so nothing burns.
- Once it boils fully, time 1 minute while continuing to stir.
- remove from heat and whisk in vanilla extract.
- Gradually whisk in the confectioner's sugar until you reach a desired consistency. ***
- Pour over the cake.
- Sprinkle with fresh ground sea salt.
- * I used light brown sugar but feel free to use dark brown sugar to amp up that flavor as well.
- ** don't skimp on this part, seriously. Usually I sub in fat-free half and half in most recipes for cream but this recipe needs the full fat and you won't be sorry!
- *** Consistency: If you are adding to a warm cake, the mixture will melt a bit like it would when you glaze a warm cinnamon bun. You might need a bit more sugar to keep it from being too thin. If adding to a completely cooled cake, you may want the glaze a bit thinner since the cake temperature won't melt the glaze at all. You nee dot use judgement.
