Taste Magazine
Login/Register
Menu
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Starters
    • Mains
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
    • View all
  • Ingredients
    • Asparagus
    • Avocado
    • Beetroot
    • Berries
    • Cheese
    • Chicken
    • Mielies
    • Potatoes
    • Spinach
    • View all
  • Dishes
    • Chakalaka
    • Braai
    • Fridge desserts
    • Mediterranean
    • Sandwiches
    • Plant-based
    • Potjies
    • View all
  • Occasions
    • Birthdays
    • Ramadan
    • Eid
    • Easter
    • Pesach
    • Diwali
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • New Year’s Eve
  • Popular
    • South African
    • Air fryer
    • Braai
    • Five-ingredients or less
    • 30 minutes or less
    • Great Value
  • Win
    • Competitions
    • Competition Winners
  • Culture
    • Articles
    • How To
    • Columns
    • Glossary
  • WList™ great value hub
  • WCellar
  • Login
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter sign up
Editor’s picks
Strawberry tart with lemon posset
Berry recipes

Strawberry tart with lemon posset

20 minutes
Beer-box (braai) platter
Braai recipes

Beer-box (braai) platter

30–40 minutes
Rum-and-raisin rusks
Rusk recipes

Rum-and-raisin rusks

35–40 minutes
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • cream
Tiramisu cake with sticky coffee syrup
Cake recipes

Tiramisu cake with sticky coffee syrup

40 minutes
Strawberry ice-cream sandwich
Berry recipes

Strawberry ice-cream sandwich

15 minutes
Bacon-wrapped chilli poppers with blue cheese sauce
Bacon recipes

Bacon-wrapped chilli poppers with blue cheese sauce

15 minutes
Rose panna cotta
Panna cotta

Rose panna cotta

15 minutes
Liquorice ice cream
Ice cream

Liquorice ice cream

Zabaglione ice cream with raspberries, pistachios and crispy panettone
Ice cream

Zabaglione ice cream with raspberries, pistachios and crispy panettone

30 minutes
Pavlova with poached rosy white peaches and lemon cream
Meringue recipes

Pavlova with poached rosy white peaches and lemon cream

2½ hours
Gooey brown-sugar meringues with white chocolate mousse and coffee syrup
Afternoon tea

Gooey brown-sugar meringues with white chocolate mousse and coffee syrup

45 minutes
Chocolate mousse, espresso sabayon with roasted strawberries
Berry recipes

Chocolate mousse, espresso sabayon with roasted strawberries

1 hour
Bacon recipes

Celeriac soup with bacon, crispy croutons and latkes

40 minutes
Cheddar crust apple pie
Fruity dessert

Cheddar crust apple pie

1 hour, 5 minutes
Milk stout-and-chocolate cake with butterscotch sauce, caramel chocolate shards and dark chocolate icing
Afternoon tea

Milk stout-and-chocolate cake with butterscotch sauce, caramel chocolate shards and dark chocolate icing

30 minutes
Load more
  • Taste Magazine
  • shop online at woolworths. Shop Now
© 2026 Woolworths holdings limited. All rights strictly reserved.
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Media24
Please login or register to favourite a recipe.
Login/Register

Milk stout-and-chocolate cake with butterscotch sauce, caramel chocolate shards and dark chocolate icing

By Abigail Donnelly
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarHalf Star
12
Easy
1 hour
30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 225 g butter
  • 350 g brown sugar
  • 4 free-range eggs
  • 375 ml milk stout or non-alcoholic beer
  • 100 g good quality cocoa powder
  • 225 g cake flour
  • ½ t baking powder
  • 2 t bicarbonate of soda
  • For the butterscotch sauce

  • 200 g sugar
  • 100 g butter
  • 65 ml cream
  • For the caramel chocolate shards

  • good-quality caramel chocolate
  • For the dark chocolate icing

  • 250 g butter, softened
  • 1 kg icing sugar
  • 65 ml milk
  • 100 g good-quality dark chocolate, melted

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Grease 2 x 20 cm x 3 cm round cake tins with non-stick spray, then line the bases with baking paper.

Note: We made a 5-layer cake. To do so, double the recipe for the batter and icing and use 5 cake tins. Do not double the recipes for the butterscotch sauce and caramel chocolate shards.

3. Using a hand-mixer or wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, while whisking, until incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the milk stout or beer and cocoa.

5. Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together, then add, alternating with the egg mixture, to the milk stout-and-cocoa mixture.

6. Pour the batter into the tins and bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

7. Allow the cakes to cool slightly before turning them out and cooling further on a wire rack.

8. To make the butterscotch sauce, place the sugar into a pan over a medium heat and allow to melt. When it is slightly caramelised, add the butter and mix until melted.

9. Bring to a gentle simmer, then remove from the heat and add the cream. Mix until smooth.

10. To make the caramel chocolate shards, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

11. Pour the melted chocolate onto a non-stick baking mat or silicone paper, smooth out, then roll up the baking mat or paper and tie with string so it doesn’t unroll.

12. Chill for 15 minutes, then unroll the mat or paper, breaking off large shards of chocolate.

13. To make the dark chocolate icing, place the butter into a mixing bowl and cream lightly with a hand-mixer or wooden spoon. Add the icing sugar, a little at a time, and mix.

14. Add the milk and mix. Add the dark chocolate and mix until even in colour and smooth.

15. To assemble the cake, spread some dark chocolate icing over one cake, then top with the other and spread with more icing. Pour over the butterscotch sauce and top with the caramel chocolate shards.

Cook’s note: Use good-quality caramel chocolate such as Valrhona Caramelia to make the caramel chocolate shards. This cake was baked in a fan-assisted oven. All ovens differ, so be sure to test the cake with a skewer before removing from the oven.

TASTE'S take: This gorgeous cake featured on the cover of TASTE's 10th anniversary cover, the October 2013 issue.

DISCOVER MORE CAKE RECIPES HERE


This recipe graced the 10th birthday issue of TASTE Magazine back in 2013.