Chocolate Chili Stout Cake with Chocolate Bourbon Frosting

I'm not much of a baker. And I'm not really a cake person. I think the only cake pan I own is a bundt pan. Forget layer cakes - too much of a pain. But, it was rob's birthday, and he'd hinted about chocolate cake. So I started searching the interwebs. We like spicy chocolate things...and things with alcohol. A chocolate stout cake sounded really good, and I had this Sam Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock that I thought would be delicious. So I took Smitten Kitchen's recipe and added some ancho chili powder and cinnamon to it. I also found this recipe and wanted to make the frosting. I worried that stout + spice + bourbon would be too much...for like, 5 seconds. Yeah, the instincts were good on this one. Definitely a keeper!

Ha - I just realized that I accidentally used half the butter called for in the cake...and it was fine!!

Chocolate Chili Stout Cake
- 1 cup stout (such as Guinness - I used Sam Adams Cherry Chocolate Bock)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (I realized while typing this I only used one stick, and it was fine! Somebody should make this with 2 sticks and let me know how it is)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder (this gave it the slightest warm edge. Next time I think I would try at least 1 tsp or maybe more)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup sour cream


Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies. Bring stout and butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, chili powder & cinnamon in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes (mine took about 45 minutes). Cool completely in pan and frost with:

Chocolate Bourbon Frosting (I halved the recipe from the website and still had some left over...this is the halved version)
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 cups dark chocolate chips
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 2-4 tablespoons bourbon (I ended up using the larger amount)
- 2 tablespoons cream or half & half

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add sour cream; beat until light & fluffy. Melt chocolate chips (I used the microwave, took about 2 minutes) & cool slightly. Slowly pour melted chocolate into the mixer, beating until well combined. Add the powdered sugar & mix on low speed; then beat on high until well combined. Add bourbon & cream, a few tablespoons at a time. Scrape bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hr (I left mine in for longer and it solidified, cause...it's butter. Luckily I had time to let it sit out before frosting the cake!)