Chocolate Stout Cake

My aunt and uncle came to our house for dinner on Sunday night and I was craving something chocolate for dessert. This proved to be a crowd-pleaser. In spite of the fact that there are 2 cups of sugar in the cake, it is not very sweet at all. I upped the coffee measurement in the ganache (the original recipe called for 3/4 teaspoon) so it resulted in a barely sweet, delightfully bitter dark chocolate flavor. Since the recipe only calls for 6 tablespoons of cream, I used the remainder in the carton to make a homemade whipped cream that paired nicely with the cake. 

Lightly tweaked from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)

2 sticks of butter 

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Smitten Kitchen recommends Dutch-process but I used this from Trader Joes and it worked well)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt 

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips or baking chocolate (I used a mix of both)

6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules

Prepare cake:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a bundt pan thoroughly, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Bring 1 cup stout and the 2 sticks of butter to simmer in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. 

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and yogurt in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on low speed. Using a spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake about 35 minutes, when tester inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer cake to a rack and cool completely in pan, then turn cake onto rack and drizzle the ganache. 

Ganache: 

Melt the chocolate, heavy cream and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth. Drizzle over top of cooled cake. 

Decorate with rainbow-colored non-pareils and serve with homemade whipped cream.