Gingerbread Beer Cake

Yes, Gingerbread Beer Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting. Otherwise called “the new hotness”

Recipe at a Glance:

Gingerbread Beer Cake (stay with me through this list):
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tbs ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dark beer or porter
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
6 tbs buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs

Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting:
10 oz bittersweet chocolate (60-65 % cocoa)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp

This cake can be found in Sky High.

Prep time: about 90 minutes if you are slow like me
Cook time: 15 minutes for cake layers, 10 minutes for frosting
Wait time: 30 minutes for cake layers to cool, 15 minutes for frosting to cool, 30 minutes for crumb coat to set, 30 minutes for frosting to set (These are the times that I used, you may choose to use more or less depending on your use of a crumb coat.)
Utensil/bowl use: Extreme, I am still digging my kitchen out of the mess two days later. But hot damn, the mess is worth it.

I must admit that cake baking is one of my favorite hobbies. It is where I splurge in the kitchen and go ahead and make that extra trip to Whole Foods/Trader Joes to find the higher quality or obscure ingredients that I normally hold disdain for when making everyday meals. As such, I hope you don’t feel let down that perhaps I am not staying true to this blog’s roots by posting a recipe with a long and involved ingredient list or by sharing a cake that has no business being baked in my tiny kitchen with limited supplies. But, I am going to have my indulgences (read: more cakes for you!) and I highly recommend you giving into yours. Hopefully they will include beer and gingerbread like mine do.

This cake is my fifth birthday cake. I have done the yellow layer cake, the chocolate layer cake, and the strawberry layer cake. I felt like this was a good occasion to venture into something a bit different, something spicy, and perhaps a bit risky.

This gingerbread beer cake didn’t jump out at me at first, however. I had poured over the cake offerings of Sky High for hours and just expected to make one of the cakes that had a gorgeous picture associated with it. Yet, this cake had no picture. After considering the setting of the party (a bar!), and the people it was for (beer aficionados), I figured I should take a chance on this cake.

For a brief moment, I was all proud of myself for picking a cake that was going to be a bit edgy, a bit nontraditional, and alot loud. That rush of pride was dashed when I realized that this cake would be the finale to a party filled with beer, wings, and gumbo. Yet the cake turned out to be a huge hit. Spicy enough to stand up to beer-numbed tastebuds and sweet enough to compliment the richness of the other foods, this cake made me proud again.

I wish this cake could be my sixth and seventh birthday cakes too. It was just that good. However, I have promised to make a carrot cake for the next birthday. Thankfully Sky High has a recipe for one of those. Look forward to Easter weekend for Carrot Cake!

For the cake layers:

Look at that pile. I keep telling myself that this shot is way more interesting than a picture of boxed cake mix. With an ingredient list this long, I secretly longed for a boxed mix. But only for a minute or three.

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sky High is a firm believer in the triple layer cake. And I have to give it to them, there is something truly impressive about towering layers of cake. I thought 2 layers were plenty (which in all regards, they are), there is just something glamorous and showy about having three layers. Or at least I tell myself that. I am neither glamorous nor showy, but I like to make my cakes that way.

As you can see, my dishware is definitely not as pretty as the cakes that are born from them. Yet, I have found that cheap and mismatched cake pans work just fine. Please note that I only have 9” round pans and the recipe called for 8” rounds. I will note changes from the original recipe due to this substitution.

The first step is pan prepping. Get a large sheet of parchment paper and mark the paper to the size of your pans. The parchment paper will line the inside of the cake pan.

Cut just inside the markings on the parchment paper. You want to make sure it will fit inside the pan so cut liberally.

Butter the insides of the pan.

Cover all sides with butter.

Insert parchment paper round into buttered pan. Make sure it adheres well to the butter on the inside of the pan.

Butter the top of the parchment paper.

This recipe calls for buttermilk but I did not have buttermilk. All was not lost. A variant of buttermilk can be made by adding 1 tbs of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. After the lemon juice is added, let the milk sit for about ten minutes until it clabbers (has curdled and generally looks kind of gross with slimy chunks). I did this prior to making the cake batter.

To make the cake batter, add 2 and 1/4ths cups of cake flour to a large mixing bowl. Cake flour is made from the softest part of the wheat grain, is extra starchy and heavily milled, and has less protein content than regular flour. This process leads to flour that is especially fine and is able to hold a large volume of sugar and butter without collapsing, an all important characteristic when baking a cake.

Unfortunately, I only had 2 cups of cake flour on hand. Lucky for me, there is a way to make a substitution for cake flour from regular flour and cornstarch. I will post on the best way to do this in a future post. But for right now, all I did was measure out the remaining 1/4 cup of flour with regular flour. I then removed a teaspoon of that flour and replaced it with a teaspoon of cornstarch.

I then sifted the regular flour and cornstarch mixture and incorporated it into the rest of the cake flour.

Add sugar to the flour.

Now the parade of spices begins. First comes the 4 tsp of cocoa powder.

and 4 1/2 tsp of ground ginger. This is the main spice I splurged on and man, it was awesomely potent.

Add 1 tbs of cinnamon

add 1 1/2 tsp of grated nutmeg

and 1 1/2 tsp of powdered mustard. Yes, powdered mustard.

This is the type I used. You won’t be able to taste any mustard. All it is there to do is add some heat and enhance the flavor of the other spices. Sounds wild, right?

This funny colored spice is 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom

add 3/4 tsp of ground cloves

add 1/2 tsp of salt

and 1/2 tsp baking soda

and finally 2 1/4 tsp of baking powder.

That’s one beautiful pile of spices.

Mix dry ingredients with a mixer

Beer happens to be a stellar leavening agent for cakes. All the bubbles from the beer foam and soften the batter to make an extra tender crumb in the final cake. For most cakes, dark beers are generally preferred because they tend to impart a chocolate-y sweetness to the cake. This recipe recommends using a Porter for the beer ingredient. Sky High says that lagers are too bitter and stouts are too heavy. I happened to have a hard time finding a place that sold a Porter and I was considering just using Shiner Bock. Luckily, Whole Foods had this porter and while I didn’t care for its flavor out of the bottle, it served its purpose well in the cake. It was quite rich and compliments the spices very well. Chris appreciates dark beers more than me and finished the rest of it off.

Add 3/4 cup of dark beer or porter to a medium mixing bowl.

Add 1/2 cup of unsulphured molasses to the beer. Unsulphured molasses is the highest quality molasses because it doesn’t use chemicals to process the sugar cane.

Add 6 tbs of buttermilk (or clabbered milk, as I used).

and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk the liquid ingredients well.

Place a stick and a half of softened butter into the bowl of dry ingredients.

Add 2/3rds of the beer/molasses mixture to the butter and dry ingredients.

Beat with a mixer on low speed

until everything is well blended. I needed to use a spatula to help mix everything. Bump up the mixing speed to medium and aerate the batter for about 3 minutes.

Grab three eggs and add them to the remaining beer/molasses mixture.

Whisk the eggs to incorporate.

Pour the egg/beer mixture into the batter in several additions.

Incorporate liquid after each addition with the mixer on medium speed.

The batter will look almost grainy when fully mixed (and it will also taste out of this world delicious, but I don’t want to be the one to encourage bad habits).

Evenly pour the batter amongst the three prepared baking pans. Place the three pans into the preheated oven. If you happened to use three 8 inch rounds (as the recipe called for), bake the cake layers for 25 to 30 minutes. If you are me, and only have 9 inch rounds, the cake layers will only need about 12-15 minutes of baking time.

To ensure doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. The cake is done if the toothpick comes out clean.

Let cake layers cool for about 10 minutes still in the pan.

Remove cake layers from pan by turning them over and letting the cake gently slip out of the pan. Delicately pull off parchment paper liners and allow the cake to fully cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.

This frosting is made by making a ganache (melted chocolate and cream) and then adding more fat to it in the form of 1 and a half sticks of butter. I was mildly mortified to have all these “Bad” ingredients on my table for the time it took me to snap a picture. However, this frosting was an excellent compliment to the cake. Where the cake was spicy and loud, the frosting was subtle and cool. It wasn’t sweet and I would even go so far as to call it “Adult.”

Get 10 oz of bittersweet chocolate. This is chocolate that is about 65% cocoa. I splurged here too although it was probably unnecessary.

Set up a double boiler to melt the chocolate. I honestly have no idea what a real double boiler looks like, and I doubt that I ever will. Instead of actually using a double boiler, I used a modified one to melt the chocolate. To do this, simmer a small amount of water in a small or medium sized saucepan. I might have let mine boil, oops. Set a bowl over the saucepan such that it rests on the rim of the pan and does not touch the water.

Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place into bowl set over the simmering water.

Add cream to the chocolate. Stir often during the melting process to prevent the chocolate burning on the bottom of the bowl.

Once the chocolate starts melting, whisk to blend the milk and chocolate.

Remove the bowl from the heat and let cool, whisking occasionally. The chocolate/cream mixture will thicken as it cools and will have set up after about 30 minutes of cooling. Sky High says that it should be close to the texture of mayonnaise when cool but I haven’t actually had mayonnaise in ages so I wasn’t quite sure what that thickness would look like. Instead, I would try a small amount to test if it was cool to the touch.

To finish the frosting, put a stick and a half of softened butter into a mixing bowl.

Beat butter at a medium speed until it is fluffy.

Add cooled chocolate/creme mixture and whip until it is well incorporated and slightly stiff.

This should take about three minutes and it will have lightened in color.

Place one of the cake layers on a cake stand or other suitable plate. I used to use cutting boards until I got a cake stand.

Place pieces of parchment paper around the cake to keep the cake stand clean during frosting.

Add about 2/3 cup of frosting to the top of the cake layer.

Spread frosting to the edges of the cake.

Even out the frosting layer.

Place a second layer of cake over the frosting and frost again.

Add the third cake layer, flat side up.

Now, I happen to appreciate a crumb coat on my cakes. A crumb coat is a very thin layer of frosting that catches any crumbs that might fall off the cake layers. It is intended to prevent any of these crumbs from showing on the outside of the cake. To crumb coat your cake, apply a thin layer of frosting to the top of the cake and then the sides of the cake. This doesn’t have to be pretty and the cake layers can be seen through the frosting.

Once you finish this first coat, stick the cake into the refrigerator for 1 hour to allow the cake to set. I didn’t have a ton of time at my disposal so I placed my cake into the freezer for about 20 minutes. This worked just as well.

To make smooth frosting, most people would use an offset spatula. I don’t have one of those, so I use a flat knife instead. I also like to run hot water over my knife to heat it up a bit and then dry it right before using. That is why it looks a little streaky and wet.

Smooth the rest of the frosting over the crumb coat. Use this final frosting layer to smooth out the sides of the cake as well. From this point, decorate as you wish.

Since this was a birthday cake, I wanted to jazz it up a bit so I decided to make it look spikey. However, it was rather boring looking and a very plain brown.

So I went for the sprinkles. And then a second type of sprinkles.

Pull out the parchment paper when finished decorating.

Place finished cake in the freezer or fridge for 20-30 minutes so it fully sets. I knew that my cake was going to be sitting out for several hours in a warm bar, so I kept it in the freezer for close to an hour.

Here is the cake, making its debut! It was a huge success.

Again, I would highly recommend checking out Smitten Kitchen’s layer cake tips. I incorporate several of her tips here in this post. While I have made many cakes, I still use SK’s site as a reference and to make sure that I remember what’s what.

If you happen to also buy Sky High, they too have a whole chapter on cake making tips and explanations about common ingredients and tools. They expound on why you measure out flour certain ways, how to properly whip egg whites (I always failed miserably at this step), and what the differences are between all the major sweeteners, in case you are curious.

Gingerbread Beer Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting (from Sky High)

For cake layers:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tbs ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dark beer or porter
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
6 tbs buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs

For Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting:
10 oz bittersweet chocolate (60-65 % cocoa)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

To make cake layers:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 8 inch cake pans (or three 9 inch cake pans like I did) and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Butter the tops of the parchment paper as well.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, mustard, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix all the dry ingredients with a mixer on low speed until they are well blended.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the next four ingredients: beer, molasses, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk well.

With an electric mixer on low speed, mix 2/3rds of the beer/molasses mixture and the softened butter to the dry ingredients. Blend well on medium speed for about three minutes to lighten and aerate the mixture.

Whisk the eggs into the remaining beer/molasses mixture. Pour this mixture into the batter in the other bowl in 2-3 batches. Beat the batter on medium speed to incorporate these additions before adding more. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure a complete mix.

Pour the batter evenly among the prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 25-30 minutes if using 8 inch round pans (12-15 for 9 inch rounds). To ensure doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the layer and if it comes out clean, the cake layers are done. Cool the layers in their pans for 10 minutes. Remove cake layers from the pans and delicately remove the parchment paper liners. Place the cake layers on a wire rack and allow to cool completely for one hour.

To make frosting:

Combine chocolate and cream in the bowl of a double boiler or a heat safe bowl placed on a saucepan with simmering water and melt the chocolate. Whisk the chocolate and cream together to combine thoroughly, taking care not to burn the chocolate. Remove chocolate and cream from the heat once the chocolate has melted and let cool until the chocolate thickens, whisking occasionally. Whip the butter until fluffy with a mixer set at medium speed in a new mixing bowl. While mixing, add the chocolate and cream mixture and whip for three minutes until the frosting lightens in color. The frosting might separate if whipped too long.

To build cake:

Place one cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate and line the edges of the cake with pieces of parchment paper. Spread 2/3 cup of frosting evenly  on the top of the cake layer making sure to spread frosting all the way to the edge of the cake layer. Repeat with another layer of cake. Top the cake with the final layer, flat side up. Spread a very thin layer of frosting over the entire cake and refrigerate for an hour or freeze for 20 minutes to set the crumb coat.

Frost the cake with the remaining frosting. Decorate as you wish. I created spikey peaks all over the cake surface by touching the cake with a silicone spatula and quickly pulling it away from the frosting. I then sprinkled the edges and center of the cake.

Let cake set in the refrigerator or freezer for 20 minutes or more to allow the frosting time to set.