The Wicked

By Farmer and Chef Asheville

Imperially moist, rich, and edgy, the cake stands alone, and so does the sauce. The pluck is in Wicked Weed’s bourbon barrel-aged elixir. This dessert uses one bottle cooked down to concentrate the flavors, but not so much that the resulting reduction tastes bitter.

Ingredients

Imperial Chocolate Stout Cake

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa

1 cup Wicked Weed Dark Age Bourbon

Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout reduction (recipe follows)

1¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter

2 large eggs

¾ cup sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and lightly coat with cooking spray. Combine sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa in a medium saucepan; whisk until smooth. Whisk in stout reduction until blended. Place over medium heat; add butter and cook, stirring, until butter melts. Remove from heat.
Whisk together eggs, sour cream, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth; whisk in baking soda and salt until blended. Scrape stout mixture into bowl and add flour; stir gently with whisk until no lumps of flour remain. Scrape into pan. Bake until cake begins to pull away from side of pan and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean (45–55 minutes). Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Ingredients

Stout Toffee Sauce

2 cups sugar

1 cup Wicked Weed Dark Age Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout Reduction at

room temperature (recipe below)

½ cup heavy cream, at room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

⅛ teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste

Directions

Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar melts. Cover and cook 2 minutes to wash down any sugar crystals clinging to side of pan. Remove lid and continue boiling, without stirring, until sugar is a deep amber color. Remove from heat; add stout reduction, cream, and butter. (Mixture will boil furiously.) Return to heat and cook, stirring with a long-handled wooden spoon, until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes about 2 cups.

Ingredients

Wicked Weed Dark Age Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout Reduction

22 ounces Wicked Weed Dark Age Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

Directions

Bring stout to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently until stout reduces to 2 cups. Let cool completely. Can be stored in a covered jar in refrigerator up to one month.

To serve:

Crumble a slice of cake in a glass; top with vanilla, chocolate, or coffee ice cream; and dribble in the toffee sauce then top with a nibble of cake. Or cut the warm-ish cake into wedges, add ice cream, and swirl the sauce around and on top.

Pro tip: bake the cake ahead of time and freeze up to a month. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator just as long.

Christine Sykes Lowe and Debby Maugans, Edible Asheville’s recipe editors, are the owners of the media company Farmer & Chef South and the authors of the cookbook Farmer & Chef Asheville. Visit farmerandchefsouth.com.

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