Chocolate "Stout" Cake + Peanut Butter Frosting

Chocolate + beer + peanut butter = CAKE.  I don't see anything wrong with this equation.

Sitting on my desk is the 50th issue of donna hay magazine. What I love most about this magazine are the photographs.  Don't get me wrong, the recipes are truly inspirational, but it is really the photography that makes me want to create what is on the page.  Both visually and gastronomically!  I have been reading this magazine for a few years now and each month, when the new issue comes out, I am filled with an abundance of excitement.  The magazines give me pure joy.

In celebrating 50 glorious issues, I made one of the cakes that grace the pages of this magazine.  The Chocolate Stout Peanut Butter Cake.  The cake was so light, so chocolaty and so delicious.  I may have over beat the frosting, yet no one who ate it complained!

Happy Birthday, donna hay!

Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
donna hay magazine issue 50
yield: 6-8 servings

ingredients:
cake
1 cup stout beer
225g butter, chopped
3/4 cup (75g) cocoa, sifted
2 eggs
2/3 cup (160g) sour cream
2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda, sifted
2 cups (440g) caster (superfine) sugar

frosting
1 cup (160g) confectioners sugar, sifted
1 cup (280g) smooth peanut butter
80 g butter, room temp
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup (80ml) heavy cream

instructions:
for the cake:
• preheat oven to 325*.  lightly grease a 9 x 4" loaf pan and line with parchment.
• in a saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and the stout beer. stir to dissolve butter. remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa.  set aside.
• whisk together the eggs and the sour cream. add to the stout mixture, mix thoroughly.  add the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
• pour into prepared pan. bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cooked when tested  with a skewer.  allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes ( i let it cool longer ).  turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
for the frosting:
• place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for about 6 minutes or until fluffy.  add the cream and beat for another 2 minutes.  spread peanut butter frosting over cake.

Enjoy!