The recipe can be halved for 8 servings from a 6 cup Bundt pan. Recipe adapted from the Bright Food Shop and Gramercy Tavern, October 2001 issue of Epicurious Magazine.
Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Liberally spray a 12 cup Bundt pan with flour based cooking spray (recommend Baker’s Joy) and set aside. (Or grease and flour pan well.)
In a large pot over high heat, combine the stout and molasses and bring to a boil. Mixture will raise and foam, so turn off the heat and remove from the stove eye immediately after it boils to avoid having the foam overflow the pot. Stir in baking soda and allow the mixture to sit until the foam dissipates and the mixture cools.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, both sugars and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Add the stout mixture to the egg mixture and whisk together, then gradually add the flour mixture and whisk until thoroughly combined; then add fresh ginger and stir until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Pour into prepared pan no more than 3/4 full and bake for 1 hour (you may have extra batter, which can be baked in cupcake papers or mini Bundt pans). The cake is done when a skewer inserted near the center of the cake emerges clean when pulled back out. Cool pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, and then turn out to cool completely.
Make the whipped cream: Place the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip on high speed until slightly thickened. Gradually add in the sugar while mixing. When the mixture is thick and billowy, mix in the vanilla extract. Place the whipped cream in the refrigerator until ready to serve the cake.
Make the ganache frosting: In a medium saucepan, bring the 1 cup of stout to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes or until the beer is reduced to 1 tablespoon. Let cool completely.
In a separate saucepan, heat the cream until hot and steaming but not boiling; add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Add the beer reduction to the ganache and stir until well incorporated. Refrigerate ganache until thick and spreadable, about 30-40 minutes.
Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Serve slices of cake with the whipped cream.
Notes
This recipe makes a little more batter than can be fit in a large (12-cup) Bundt pan, so plan on making one or two cupcakes (or mini bundt cakes!) with the extra batter.