chocolate stout cake

St. Patrick's Day is not a day which usually makes me think of dessert, unless dessert is a pint of the black stuff. But recently I became aware of a wonderful creation called Chocolate Stout Cake. I've long been a fan of chocolate stouts -- Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout has to be one of my all-time favorite after dinner drinks -- but I never really contemplated actually making a chocolate cake with a stout. This particular recipe came from the Bakers' Banter (once again, I was thinking of a particular baking project and voilà, they post their version of it a few days later). Their version makes a huge cake -- the three 8" layers, when assembled, almost touched the roof of my cake carrier dome. Unlike their version, my frosting never set up like a spreadable frosting -- it was more of a drizzle-over variety chocolate ganache. No matter... it was yummy. The festive green decorating was for C. who felt that a plain chocolate top was not very St. Patrick-y. The cake itself was dark (presumably from the stout because it was not heavy -- in spite of the pound of butter) but light -- and you could taste a bit of the stout flavor in the cake itself, although the ganache overwhelmed that flavor when eaten frosted. Most of all, it was a lovely break from all the heavy Wilton-frosted cakes we've had of late.