Active Time
55 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 35 minutes, plus cooling
Our signature—and most sought-after—dessert at Ovenly is our Brooklyn Blackout Cake. It's a black-as-night, chocolatey, bittersweet cake that is a party favorite.
The Ebinger Baking Company, an iconic baking institution from Brooklyn, is credited with first making the Brooklyn blackout cake, which has had a resurgence in popularity in our neck of the woods. Being Brooklyn-based ourselves, we decided to take a stab at our own version using our Salted Dark Chocolate Pudding. Instead of the traditional devil’s food cake, we make our stout cake with Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout and almost-black, dark Dutch-process cocoa powder, which is richly bittersweet. Once our cake is baked, we add salted fudgy pudding into our base buttercream and then thickly layer it on the cake. This cake, we hope, is as memorable as its bold predecessor. Looking to send a Blackout Cake to a friend? Ovenly ships nationwide.
Can't get enough chocolate? Head this way for more chocolate cake recipes →
Ingredients
Makes 1 cake
For the Salted Dark Chocolate Pudding
For the Black Chocolate Stout Cake
For the Dark Chocolate Pudding Buttercream
Make the Salted Dark Chocolate Pudding
Step 1
In a small bowl, whisk together the ¼ cup whole milk and the cornstarch until smooth. Set aside.
Step 2
In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining 1¾ cups milk, sugar, dark chocolate, dark Dutch-process cocoa powder, vanilla extract and sea salt. Heat over medium-low heat, whisking, until the chocolate is melted.
Step 3
Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the chocolate mixture until fully incorporated.
Step 4
Reduce the heat to low, and continue to stir briskly with a wooden spoon or a heatproof spatula. The mixture will come to a simmer and will slowly begin to thicken.
Step 5
Continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the pudding coats the back of the spoon and slowly drips off. It will be thick and will just be starting to bubble. Remove the pudding from the heat and pour into 4 serving ramekins or bowls. Let cool.
Step 6
Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate the pudding until it sets, and serve.
Make the Dark Chocolate Pudding Buttercream
Step 7
Cut the cold butter into ½-inch pieces. Let it come to room temperature.
Step 8
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter, 3 cups of the confectioners’ sugar, ½ cup dark Dutch-process cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¾ cup Salted Dark Chocolate Pudding, and mix on low until just incorporated. Then beat on medium-high until the mixture is creamy and ingredients are incorporated, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Step 9
Add more confectioners’ sugar, 1 cup at a time, and mix on low until the frosting is thick but spreadable. Beat for 1 minute after each addition. You may not need to add all the remaining sugar. Once you have your desired consistency, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Step 10
Raise the speed to medium-high, and beat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until very light and fluffy. The buttercream should be thick but spreadable. If the buttercream appears too thick, add more cream, 1 tablespoon at a time. If it appears too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar, 1 heaping tablespoon at a time.
Make the Black Chocolate Stout Cake
Step 11
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with butter and dust with flour. Line with parchment rounds and grease the rounds.
Step 12
In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the stout and unsalted butter to a simmer. (You can also melt the butter in your oven or in a large, microwave-safe bowl in a microwave oven and then whisk in the beer.) Remove the stout-butter mixture from the heat, add the Dutch-process cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes.
Step 13
While the stout-butter mixture cools, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
Step 14
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and eggs.
Step 15
Add the stout-butter mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Then add the flour mixture, and combine with a rubber spatula until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth, with no lumps. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any dry flour bits.
Step 16
Divide the batter equally between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each layer comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Finish the Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Step 17
Frost the cake with the Dark Chocolate Pudding Buttercream.
Leave a Review
Reviews (8)
Back to TopSorry. Did not make this though I was intrigues. But seriously… if you can make this during a commercial break you must have much longer commercials than we have here in the Midwest
Anonymous
Madison, WI
12/31/2022
Sorry, I didn't make this. But it doesn't look like blackout cake at all and the original certainly was not a salt lick. Old enough to remember Ebinger's fondly. I do have what is supposed to be the recipe and it comes out like the cake we used to buy in Brooklyn eons ago.
Anonymous
12/26/2022
I found the pudding filling too salty. My daughter loves salt but disliked the salted chocolate taste. I would reduce the salt to ¼ tsp.
Deborah Klein
11/16/2022
Made the pudding only. Tasted great but ended up with chocolate soup - it never set despite cooking longer than the recipe stated since I knew cornstarch based puddings usually require a longer cook time.
Debicakes
Colorado
10/24/2022
Printed this recipe. Due to format, the chopped chocolate, cocoa powder and vanilla were cut out of the pudding recipe. Good thing I checked. The title, date, and time wastes about half of the first page. 6 pages total! The article title was about the pudding. Would have liked the option to print the pudding recipe only.
Daisy
TX
10/21/2022
Original blackout cake has chocolate pudding in the middle, not buttercream frosting
Anonymous
Born in Brooklyn, grew up in Long Island and now reside in FL
8/9/2022
I wanna make this but 7 cups of confectionery sugar for the buttercream seems insane
Emma
New Orleans
8/8/2022
Made some modifications to this recipe. Cake recipe was great!! Modified the pudding by reducing milk by 1/4 cup, increased cornstarch to 4 tablespoons, and when all cooked, removed from heat and mixed in 2 tablespoons of butter. After pudding and cake cooled, cut cake to make 4 layer cake and used pudding as filling, quantity was perfect to fill 3 layers. 7 cups of powdered sugar seemed excessive and I hate cloying sweet frostings, so I used a chocolate/butter based dark chocolate frosting that you can find on epicurious.
Jessica VB
Virginia Beach, VA
1/1/2023