A Real Man's Cake

I have a confession to make, and it's one that any confirmed chocoholic might be ashamed of. I hate chocolate cake.
But the reason I hate it is that I really love chocolate too much. Why would you take something that's already perfect and mix it with flour, sugar, eggs, butter, etc? I'll eat a flourless chocolate cake, or a molten chocolate cake, or a bowl full of melted chocolate any day of the week, or any hour of the day. Chocolate cake, however, does not thrill me.
But this weekend I bit the bullet and made a chocolate cake for our friend Ben, who was turning 24. Besides his wife and Tristram Shandy, the two things he loves most in the world are Guinness and chocolate, so I found this recipe on trusty Epicurious.
To be honest, I was a little scared while making it. Not only does it call for huge (HUGE!) amounts of butter, Guinness, flour, and sugar, it also calls for a ganache frosting. Up until this time, every ganache I have attempted has been a disaster. I know what you're thinking...it's chocolate and cream. Simmer and stir. But I'm not a great baker, so things always fall apart. (Please, my faithful few readers, catch that reference.) However, it's usually due to the chocolate seizing since I don't have a double boiler and usually end up jerry-rigging some sort of bowl balanced precariously over small saucepan contraption. This ganache, though, called for chopped chocolate stirred into warm cream. Easy enough, right? And it looked good, too, though once finished it was the consistency of a glaze. But the recipe ordered me to put the icing in the fridge for two hours and I dutifully obeyed.
Meanwhile, I turned my attention to the weird simmering Guinness/butter mixture, which smelled exactly like baking bread. I always joke about how drinking a Guinness is like drinking a loaf of bread, and it turns out that it's not really like. It is. You Guinness lovers are drinking fermented bread. Yum, yum.
However, once the directions were followed exactly as they were written, I had a huge (HUGE!) bowl of cake batter that tasted like hoppy chocolate. It was really good, and the hops from the beer provided a nice, earthy background that really deepened and complimented the chocolate flavor. The icing was also good, after I called my mother in law in a panic because it had hardened into a too-cold mass. But we agreed on adding some warm cream, which softened it right up and made it spreadable. I actually have a pretty picture which I'll have to post later since our new computer is way too confusing for me.
The end result was a pretty, incredibly moist and rich chocolate cake. The one caveat I will add is that the reviewers on the website are absolutely right; the cake tastes much, much better the second day, so make it a day ahead and let it sit. The flavors are deeper, the texture is better (moist but not so mushy-soft) and all in all, it's yummier. Also, halve the recipe. I ended up with a very, very tall two-layer cake and a dozen cupcakes. Which the carnivorous husband is still eating.