I won't comment on the fact that I barely post anymore. Really, I won't. I also won't comment on the fact that this blog has become a holiday blog, at best. Nobody wants to read about my regrets or my promises to do better, right? OK, good. I'm glad we're clear on that.
This year St. Patrick's Day is all about beer at our house. My home-brewing hubby decided to host a home-brew day with buddies from his home-brew club. Can you tell there's a lot of home-brewing happening around here these days?
I wanted to pay a tiny tribute to St. Patrick's Day, and I figured the best way to get a bunch of home-brew guys on board was to . . . well, add some home-brew of course. So, out popped this chocolate stout cake.
All I did was pull a chocolate cake mix from my cupboard and replace the milk with my hubby's home brewed stout. The package called for 1 1/4 cups of liquid, so there was quite a bit of beer in my version. It was a little frothy as it mixed up, and you could definitely smell the aroma of the stout as it cooked.
I didn't want the beer to be overpowering, so I topped it with a straight-up chocolate frosting. I used the frosting recipe on the cake mix box, which turned out to be extra chocolate-ly. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
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Chocolate Frosting
Makes enough to ice 2 - 9" x 13" cakes or a 2-layer cake
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
- 2/3 cup baking cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 tbsp. brewed coffee
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
Mix the butter, coffee, vanilla, and cocoa until blended. Add in sugar and milk, alternating between the two as you mix on medium speed. Then mix on medium-high for 2 minutes. Spread the frosting on your cake.
