I have to warn you at the very beginning that if you are someone who only tolerates chocolate and sugar, this cake is not for you! 🙂

This cake is the absolute chocolate bomb and as such it is only recommended for people who are in love with chocolate.

I do have to note that the chocolate sponge itself inst very sweet thanks to the amounts of cocoa and chocolate, they have wonderfully chocolaty bitter taste. So the sweetness of your cake with mainly depend on weather or not you chose to use butter cream or it (as I did) or some other type of cream.

Ingredients for the sponge:

• 200 g. flour
• 130 g. cocoa
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 tbsp. baking soda
• 1/4  tbsp. baking powder
• 350 ml. stout, I used Murphy’s
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 230 g. soft butter
• 300 g, white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 120 g dark chocolate

How to make them:

1. You will need a cake pan wih a diameter 20 сm.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, salt, soda and baking powder in a big bowl.
3. In a separate bowl mix he beer, vanilla and coffee
4. In a third bowl put the soft butter, with the sugar and mix with a mixer until flufft and light in color
5. Add the eggs one by one until completely incorporated
6. A little at a time start adding the four and coffee mixtures by alternating them
7. Mix around 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth surface and then stir in the chopped chocolate
8. Bake at 160 degrees for 35 minutes and let cool completely before you start building the cake

Ingredients for the butter cream:

• 170 g. egg whites (5 large eggs needed)
• 310 g. sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• 430 g. soft butter

How to make it /you will need baker’s thermometer/:

1. Put the egg whites, salt and lemon + the sugar on a double boiler and stir with a spoon until the mixture reaches 85 degrees Celsius
2. Remove from the double boiler and whisk with a mixer until fluffy and thick and reaches 32 degrees (or the bowl is no longer hot when you touch it)
3. Add vanilla
4. Start adding the butter little by little
5. Once all of the butter is incorporated, we will be ready to start building🙂

Building the cake:

1. Cut four strips of baking paper 4 cm wide and make a square with them in your cake plate and put your first layer of sponge on top of that by securing it first with a little bit of the butter cream
2. This paper will prevent any cream getting on the plate while you are decorating
3. Use 1/4 of the cream between each of the sponge layers. They should be 1-2 cm thick
4. Cover your cake with par of the remining 1/4 butter cream, leave it in the fridge for about an hour and then add the final layer (if you cannot make it all smooth like it is in a magazine, do not worry, use a small spatula and try to “draw” S’s in the icing for a rustic look

 

May the force be with you🙂