004-RECIPE: Chocolate Brown Sugar Stout Bundt Cake

A delicious chocolate stout cake is even better with brown sugar. This cake has a great flavor and is dense without being heavy. Originally posted on Baking With a Bulldog with a video for tips and tricks for baking the perfect Bundt. You can also check out our post for great tips on using a Bundt pan. This cake is fantastic by itself, but you can glaze it, dust it with sugar or cocoa, or top it with cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed 

10 tbsp butter cut into pieces and at room temperature

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour (measure by spooning into the cup, or use 225 g by weight)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

10-11 oz of stout (Substitution: any soda or plain seltzer with 1 tsp of instant coffee)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Do not spray or prepare your pan yet.

• Cream together the butter and sugar. This is easiest with a stand mixer, but you can also use a hand mixer or wooden spoon.

• Add eggs one at a time.

• In a separate bowl, combine the stout with the cocoa powder and mix well.

• In another separate bowl (or measuring cup) combine the baking powder, baking soda, flour and cinnamon.

• Pour a small amount of the stout mixture into the bowl, then add a little bit of the flour mixture. Mix until blended. Repeat until all ingredients are combined.

• When the batter is ready, spray your Bundt pan with PAM Baking Spray with flour, and immediately pour the batter into the pan. Tap the pan on your counter to remove bubbles and help distribute the batter into the indentions of the pan.

• With your spatula, gently push the batter up the sides of the pan to help it "climb" the pan later. This will help the cake cook more evenly.

• Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a toothpick put into the center of the cake comes out clean.

• Take the pan out of the oven and put it on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Leaving the cake in the pan for too long may cause it to stick.

• After 10 minutes, flip the cake onto a rack to completely cool.

• Frost, glaze or dust with your preferred topping--or just leave it plain.

• Enjoy!

EQUIPMENT: A BUNDT pan is best. We recommend the Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt pan or the Nordic Ware Original Pro-Cast Bundt pan for this recipe. That is a 10-15 cup pan and this recipe fills it about halfway, which comes out great. If you have a smaller Bundt pan, make sure you fill it no more than 3/4 of the way up to avoid overflow. If you don't have a Bundt pan, this recipe also makes great cupcakes. Or, you can use two 8 or 9 inch layer cake pans (layers will be thin).

We also recommend using PAM Baking Spray with Flour. Regular baking spray could leave a residue in your pan and you won't get the best results. If you don't have a baking spray with flour, then you can also butter and flour your pan. But, that can also leave some flour on your finished cake, so keep your pastry brush handy.