Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, for cans
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest
1 1/4 cups stout, such as Guinness, poured and settled
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a pastry brush, generously butter insides of four clean 19-ounce bean or soup cans.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices; set aside. Put oil, molasses, brown sugar, eggs, yolk, zest, and stout in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle; mix on medium-low speed. Reduce speed to low; gradually add flour mixture.
Pour about 1 cup batter into each can (filling them no more than two-thirds full). Transfer to a baking sheet. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean and breads are pulling away from sides, about 50 minutes. Unmold; let cool on a wire rack. For a gift, return breads to cans. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
