Our Guinness Chocolate Cake has a rich flavor, baking it as soft and moist, topped with my favorite creamy, swirling cream cheese frosting. It is very simple and guaranteed to be loved by everyone.
Every time I go back to this Guinness Chocolate Cake, I kick it to avoid making it early. Thanks to the melted butter, the cake dough is ridiculously easy to make. The butter is melted so you don’t just need a blender, whisk, spoon or bowl.
Creamy frosting is the same as that used in popular carrot cake recipes. It’s intentionally whipped and creamy, so it’ll swirl over the cake. It’s gorgeous and as heavy as some cream cheese frosting. As for Guinness, you need about half a bottle or can, so take a look at some of Guinness’s other recipes, such as this incredible Guinness beef stew, sausage guinness spies, or these mini beef guinness spies.
Important ingredients
Guinness: This cake requires half a bottle or a can of Guinness. Add to the melted butter and cocoa powder. This adds to the richness of the chocolate flavor of this cake. If you want to replace Guinness, use another stall beer, coffee, or water if you’re in a pinch. Butter: I love the buttery flavor of this cake. I use salt-free butter, but with salted butter, there’s no need to worry. Reduce the salt required in the recipe with a round 1/4 teaspoon. unsweetened cocoa: We recommend using natural unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe. Some of my favorite brands are Giraldelli, Hershey, or Guitardo if you’re feeling fantasy! Beware of recipe tips for measuring cocoa. It’s very finely ground so it’s easy to stuff cocoa into a measuring cup and if you put too much cocoa in the cake dough there’s too much cocoa in it. Flour: I use all-purpose flour on this cake, but this recipe should work with gluten-free cakes with spelled flour or your favorite gluten-free flour blend. Sugar: I use regular granulated sugar in this cake batter, giving the beer and cocoa flavor a sparkling. You can try brown sugar. This adds a little more malt flavor and moisture to the cake. Eggs and Sour Cream: Eggs help add structure and flavor, while sour cream makes the cake very soft and moist. Plain yogurt is a good alternative to sour cream. It is not recommended to replace eggs. Baking Soda: This helps the cake rise evenly with cake pan. Vanilla and Salt: I don’t want to be too far from the beer and cocoa flavor, but little vanilla and some salt really help to make this cake even more delicious. Frosting: This cream cheese frosting reminds me of a soft, whipped cream. It’s light, creamy, and spikes. I highly recommend it, but if you want a harder, more American-style cream cheese frosting that can be piped into the cake, take a look at our Carrot Cake Recipe Tips section.
How to make Guinness Chocolate Cake
I love the easy cake recipe and this Guinness cake is the mark! The batter starts with melted butter, mixed with Guinness and cocoa powder. The butter and beer are warm, so cocoa powder has a chance to bloom. One of my favorite tricks to bring out the rice chocolate flavor of cocoa is to bloom in warm liquid or fat. Do this when making one bowl brownies and these simple chocolate cupcakes.
Next, fold the dried ingredients (wheat flour, sugar, baking soda, salt) into a butter mixture and fold it with eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract to finish the cake batter. I said it was easy!
Once your cake is completely baked and cooled, you can do it with frost. Beat the cream cheese with powdered sugar and cornstarch and beat with heavy cream until fluffy. It lightly, spikes and turns creamy. I also use this frosting on my carrot cake.
Guinness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Preparation
20 minutes
Cook
40 minutes
total
1 hour
For this simple Guinness cake, use about half a bottle of Guinness Stout. It does an amazing job of bringing out the rich chocolate flavor of this cake and helps to keep it soft and moist along with the sour cream. The frosting is intentionally light and creamy, perfect for swirling around the top of the cake with a spoon or spatula (too soft on the pipe).
Create one (9 inch) cake, 9-12 servings
You will need it
Guinness Cake
3/4 cup (180ml or 6oz) Guinness Stout Beer
3/4 cup (170g) salt-free butter plus bread details
1/2 cup (40g) spoonized and flattened 1/2 cup (40g)
1½ cup (195g) versatile flour, spoonized and flattened
1½ cup (300g) granule sugar
1½ tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Two big eggs
1/2 cup (113g or 4oz) sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Cream cheese frosting
8 oz (225g) cream cheese at room temperature
1¼ cup (140g) powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of cornstarch, optional
1/3 cup (80ml) cold heavy cream, not plain whipped cream, see tips
direction
Make a cake
1Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round or square baking pan.
2Melt 3/4 cup butter in a pan over medium heat and add 3/4 cup Guinness to warm. Remove from heat and whisk with 1/2 cup cocoa powder until completely smooth. One minute cool.
3Beat 1½ cup flour, 1½ cup sugar, 1½ teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl.
4In a separate bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla until well mixed.
5Pour the cocoa and the sturdy mixture into the dry ingredients and fold it into flour with a spatula. Add the egg and sour cream mixture and fold everything together until incorporated.
6Pour the batter into the prepared bread and bake for about 40 minutes. It’s ready to come out of the oven when the toothpick can be inserted into the middle, and it will bounce off when you clean it or tap on the top of the cake.
7Transfer the cakes still in the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Next, turn the cake from the bread onto the cooling rack and cool it completely before frosting.
Frost cake
1In a large bowl, beat 8 ounces of cream cheese on medium speed in a handheld mixer until smooth and creamy for about 1 minute.
2Beat with 1¼ cup of powdered sugar and two optional cornstarch. I like to sift powdered sugar and cornstarch over the cream cheese to remove the lumps. If you don’t have a fine mesh sieve, beat the powdered sugar with 1/4 cup with cornstarch and beat the powdered sugar into 1/4 cup until combined.
3Pour in 1/3 cup of cold heavy cream. Hit on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or on medium speed until frosting is whipped and creamy. This matte resembles the texture of a whipped cream. The cake was covered in frost and cold until it was covered in frost.
4When the cake is completely cool, freeze the top and swirl a creamy matte to make it look beautiful. serve!
Adam and Joan tips
Storage: Frost Guinness Cake lasts for up to 1 week in the fridge. Leave it covered in plastic wrap or upside down using a cake keeper or a large bowl to cover the cake. It is not recommended to freeze matte cakes (the matte won’t thaw well). Unfrozen cakes can be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight before adding frosting. Measuring cocoa powder and flour: Weigh or use the “spoon and level” method. Fluffy flour, spoon it into the measuring cup, then flatten from the top with a flat edge. Heavy Cream (US bakery): Heavy Cream has a high milk fat (about 36%) and less whipped cream (about 30%). Use “Heavy Cream” or “Heavy Whipped Cream.” Plain “whipped cream” is similarly not whipped and may be too soft to frosting. If you have only whipped cream or cream with a fat content of less than 35%: If you have only whipped cream or you don’t know what you have in the kitchen, whip in another bowl until it reaches a soft peak . Add a spoonful of whipped cream to the beaten cream cheese mixture and combine to loosen. Next, fold the remaining whipped cream. British and Australian Bakeries: Use regular flour for batters, and “double cream” or “thickened cream” with a fat content of at least 35% for creamy frosting. This recipe was inspired by two great stout cakes. One was printed in Nigella Lawson’s book, Feast, and the other in September 2002 in Bon Appétit magazine.
Nutrition per meal
Serving size
1 slice (assuming 12)
/
calorie
427
/
Total fat
22g
/
Saturated fat
13.1g
/
cholesterol
87.7mg
/
sodium
336.7mg
/
carbohydrates
54.3g
/
Dietary fiber
1.5g
/
Total sugar
38.2g
/
protein
5.4g
author:
We are Adam and Joan, who have been passionate about cooking and sharing trustworthy recipes since 2009. Our goal? To inspire you to enter the kitchen and cook confidently a fresh, flavorful meal.
