| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 25 min |
| Prep: | 35 min |
| Cook: | 50 min |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the pan
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 6 large eggs
- 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup stout beer (such as Guinness)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Put the bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water). Stir until the chocolate melts, then remove the bowl from the pan.
- Put the eggs, turbinado sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over the same pan of simmering water and whisk until the mixture is warm, about 2 minutes. Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer; beat with the whisk attachment on medium speed until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring the beer and vanilla to a low boil in a saucepan. Reduce the mixer speed to low; beat in the beer mixture, then the melted chocolate, until combined, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the butter until incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs, about 35 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack 1 hour, then run a knife around the edge of the pan and remove the ring. Let cool completely.
- Make the meringue: Microwave the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring, until the chocolate melts.
- Whisk the granulated sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, salt and 1/3 cup water in a heatproof bowl. Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; beat with a handheld mixer on low speed, then gradually increase the speed to high and beat until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the pan; continue beating until the meringue is cool and fluffy. Fold in the vanilla, then fold in the melted chocolate until swirled. Spread the meringue on the cake.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 642 |
| Total Fat | 44 g |
| Saturated Fat | 26 g |
| Carbohydrates | 57 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 50 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 179 mg |
| Sodium | 101 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 642 |
| Total Fat | 44 g |
| Saturated Fat | 26 g |
| Carbohydrates | 57 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 50 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 179 mg |
| Sodium | 101 mg |
Reviews
My family loves this cake. It’s been a hit since the first time I made it for them. I sometimes swap red wine for the stout and it’s still great.
This is an amazing, dark, flavorful cake, simply delightful
If you like eating baking cocoa straight out of the container and curdled egg whites then this would be right up your alley. I say this even though I subbed 2 oz of the unsweetened chocolate with bittersweet, so I can’t even imagine what it must taste like full strength. No one liked it in my family and I ended up throwing it out. What a gross waste of time and beautiful ingredients. I’ll stick with my semifreddo recipe from BonApetit.
Overall, I’ve got to say that I was quite disappointed and finally decided that it was a waste of time and expensive ingredients. I did discover, however, that I actually liked Guinness stout, so the experience was not a total bust.
Made this for Valentine’s Day and used a heart-shaped springform pan. The cake fell in the middle, which got covered-up by the meringue, so I didn’t necessarily sweat that part.
The taste just wasn’t there … not for the time and trouble involved. I am a confirmed dark chocolate lover, and I can usually appreciate a complex taste. Won’t be making this again and removed it from my recipe box.
I will give it 2 stars for sheer presentation, however. It was a very pretty cake in the heart shape, on a lace doily.
I made this cake last year for our annual St. Patty’s day dinner with friends. It was so awesome they came knocking on my door a couple of nights later asking for leftovers!! When discussing this years menu, I was told I would be in charge of dessert and to bring this cake. It is FABULOUS!!
Time consuming and a waste of ingredients. The cake must cook much longer that 35 minutes and a total cook time of 50 minutes??? If I could give this recipe a – rating I would.
Delicious! My meringue wasn’t quite as tall and fluffy as I wanted. Came out more like marshmallow fluff. Should I have beaten it longer? Also added 1/4 tsp of cayenne to take for a little kick, but couldn’t really taste it. Might add a little more next time. Meringue was just a little sweet for me.
The cake was delicious, very fudgy.and the “meringue” had a delicious flavor ¦my only problem was that it didn’t meringue and fluff up–I eventually put it on the cake anyway–and the taste was great, I just think if it were the proper texture and height it would have been even better. I don’t know what I did wrong so that it didn’t meringue…any ideas?
This was delicious! I wish I hadn’t have put the chocolate in the meringue and colored it with red food coloring instead for Valentines but didn’t think about until after we had already eaten the cake: A lot of steps with all the double boiler but well worth it! I undercooked mine just a bit. Also didn’t have bittersweet chocolate so used Special Dark Hershey’s.
Impressive recipe. I will have to try for company next time. Easy to follow and it came out perfectly! Very rich like I want a good chocolate recipe to be.