Chocolate Stout Gingerbread Cake is everything that makes the fall and winter cold worthwhile. When I baked this cake my house smelled of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and molasses. And did I mention chocolate? Every time I lift the cover on my cake plate the scents of mulled spices waft up and fill me with the smells of cozy snuggles in front of the fireplace.

This incredibly moist, dark, rich – and yet simple – cake is the perfect dessert for those long, chilly evenings that will be with us for the next several months. Eat Chocolate Stout Gingerbread Cake as is or warmed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. And if you can’t find chocolate stout, any dark stout will work here. While this gingerbread certainly is not complicated, you can also try the James Beard Gingerbread which is so easy and quick that I used to make it for my son to enjoy after I returned home from a long day of work.

The recipe for this cake comes from Claudia Fleming via David Lebovitz and tweaked by me.

Recipe

Yield: One 10-cup bundt cake

Ingredients

1 cup stout, preferably chocolate

1 cup light molasses

1/2 Tablespoon light molasses

1/2 Tablespoon baking soda

2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

2 Tablespoons ground ginger

3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

3 large or extra large eggs at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

3/4 cup neutral-flavored vegetable oil (I used Canola)

1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using a cooking spray with flour such as Baker’s Joy, generously coat a 10-cup bundt pan. Be sure to use one that does not have a lot of grooves or the moist cake will be more likely to stick.

Heat the molasses and stout in a deep, medium saucepan until it comes to a boil. (You need a lot of headroom in the pot!) Turn off the heat and stir in the baking soda. The contents will whoosh up so be prepared. Allow the foam to subside and the mixture to cool a bit.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and all of the dry spices. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the granulated and brown sugars until there are no lumps. Then whisk in the oil until smooth.

Now whisk in the molasses/stout mixture and then gradually whisk in the dry ingredients just until mixed through. Stir in the fresh ginger. The batter will be rather liquidy but don’t worry – it’s the way it should be.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. This can take anywhere from one hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Allow the cake to cool most of the way in the pan – until you can easily handle the pan with your bare hands. Gently run a thin spatula around the edges of the cake. Then turn the cake out. I had to give it a few good bangs onto my cake plate but it came out cleanly. Now enjoy! My husband especially loves eating the cake warmed up in the microwave for about 10 seconds with vanilla ice cream and old-fashioned fruit compote on the side.