stout chocolate cake

I've got a major case of the Tuesdays today. Summer's over compounded by my boy problems. The cure? Chocolate cake.

I don't like chocolate cake.
But I make the best chocolate cake.

My sister loves chocolate cake.

She loves it so much that she made me one on my birthday! From.a.box. Lucky for her, we don't pick sisters. And luckier for her, she's stuck with me! So on her birthday, I made her the best chocolate cake.

This recipe is based loosely on Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guiness recipe (that looks like a Guiness!).

I used an Oatmeal Stout instead of Guiness, because I don't like Guiness because they filter the beer with fish scales (vom.com). I don't like fish in my cake. I don't like fish period.

For the cake, you will need:

1 cup Oatmeal Stout

2 sticks unsalted butter

6 ounces of good semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2/3 sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your pan. Melt stout, butter and chocolate chips in a saucepan. Drink the rest of the stout so you don't go crazy while waiting for everything to melt. Whisk in cocoa powder. Let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs and sour cream in another bowl. Beat the cooled beer/butter/chocolate mixture into egg thingy. Slowly add flour mixture and continue the beating! Pour batter into pan and bake for about 30 minutes.

For frosting, you will need:

1 brick of delicious cream cheese

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

2/3 cup heavy cream, WHIPPED 

Whip heavy cream. I'm talking semi-stiff peaks people. In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese with beaters until smooth. Whip in powdered sugar to cream cheese. (Is it just me or does this cake take a real beating?! hahahaaaaa, yeah ok no.) Fold in whipped cream. Frost cake when cake is cooled because runny frosting is not cute.

This frosting is amazing. Light, cream cheese-y and not too sweet. We had a little extra and couldn't let it go to waste...

THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP. 

Refrigerate cake overnight (or at least a couple of hours). We've eaten this cake fresh, and while it tastes good as far as fresh baked cake goes, it's not as good as the brownie density you get after some intense refrigeration.

For actual birthday celebration, you will need:

As many candles you need to dot your i's.

Is it Wednesday yet?

Check out my Bûche (de Noël)!

This post is a little belated but the pictures are so super cute, I know you'll forgive me.

Over Christmas, I was in charge of making our Yule Log... because if we're going to be honest, the phamily isn't very fond of my "hippie" food.

Ta-da!

I used Jacques Torres' recipe, and it was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly except for the coffee liquer part for the Coffee Buttercream. Instead, I replaced the water with 1/3 cup of coffee. The phamily drinks Cafe Du Monde, so that is what I used. This took about 4 hours total, and was totally worth it.

And what is Christmas without a Christmas Tree? Well, I made my own little forest because I was really in the spirit.

Aren't they so adorable? I love them. I love how the wax paper looks like a snowy background. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for this. I found the idea/recipe here. It took me about 6 hours for 60-ish cookies, so it is a big project but fun when you're visiting home and have hours to do NOTHING. Oh vacation, how I miss thee.

I kinda miss Christmas, but am so ready for summer! Let's do it.