Guinness Chocolate Cake

“Lovely day for a Guinness!” as the saying goes. We couldn’t agree more, especially in the form of this decadent Guinness chocolate cake. Guinness beer, the iconic Irish dry stout, is full of coffee, chocolate and malt flavors. It’s got a great flavor profile to bring out all the natural flavors in a chocolate cake. And in this recipe, the robust cake is topped with a complementary cream cheese frosting that’s light, fluffy and reminiscent of a head of beer. This Guinness chocolate cake is the perfect St. Patrick’s Day dessert through and through.

Ingredients for Guinness Chocolate Cake

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• Guinness: Any type of dark Guinness will do. Just avoid their blonde ales. There’s even nonalcoholic Guinness for anyone abstaining!
• Baking cocoa: If you need to stock up on cocoa powder for this Guinness chocolate cake, check out our Test Kitchen’s picks for the best cocoa powder.
• Sour cream: We add to the rich tanginess of this chocolate Guinness cake by mixing sour cream into the batter. Make sure it’s at room temperature before using!
• All-purpose flour: The perfect flour for this Guinness cake is all-purpose flour. It’s strong enough to provide a stable cake, but tender enough to have a delicate crumb.
• Cream cheese: Our Test Kitchen pros found that Philadelphia cream cheese was one of the best cream cheese brands. It’s tangy and bright, which will taste great in the cream cheese frosting.

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Directions

Step 1: Prepare the pan

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan, and line the bottom with parchment. Set the pan aside.

Step 2: Create the batter

In a large saucepan, heat the beer and butter until the butter is melted.

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Remove the saucepan from the heat, and whisk in the sugar and cocoa until blended.

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In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Whisk the egg mixture into the beer mixture.

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In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Whisk the flour mixture into the beer mixture until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

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Step 3: Bake

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool the cake completely to room temperature in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cake from the pan, and place the cake on a platter or cake stand.

Editor’s Tip: Run a butter knife or mini offset spatula around the perimeter of the cake once it’s out of the oven. This will make it easier to remove the cake from the pan later.

Step 4: Frost the cake

In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the cream cheese until it’s fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar and cream, and beat everything until it’s smooth (do not overbeat).

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Frost only the top of the cake. Using a mini offset spatula or butter knife, mimic the foamy head on a beer by adding swoops to the frosting. Refrigerate the leftovers.

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Recipe Variations

• Change the frosting: We love how the cream cheese frosting pairs with this cake (and makes the cake appear to have a frothy head of beer), but you can switch it out for a boozy Irish frosting from our Irish cream cupcakes recipe, or intensify the chocolate flavor of this cake with chocolate frosting.
• Swap the beer: We don’t recommend swapping out the Guinness, but you can substitute it with another beer if you can’t find this Irish classic in stores. Look for a deep, dark milk stout with notes of chocolate, coffee and malt to mimic the taste of a Guinness as closely as possible.
• Bake cupcakes instead: Sometimes the gathering calls for cupcakes instead of one big cake. This cake can make about 12 standard-sized cupcakes, give or take. Be sure to either grease your muffin tin very well or use cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes at 350° until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few crumbs, 18 to 22 minutes.

How to Store Guinness Chocolate Cake

Place this cake in a cake dome to keep the frosting neat, and store it in the fridge for up to three days. This also prevents the cake from soaking up any fridge smells!

If you’re making the cake ahead of time, keep the cake in the fridge, and take it out one hour before you’re ready to serve it. Since this cake is made with cream cheese frosting, you’ll want to put the cake back in the fridge once it’s been out for two hours.

If you’re storing leftovers after the cake is cut, press storage wrap onto the exposed cake to keep it moist.

Guinness Chocolate Cake Tips

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What kind of baking cocoa should you use in Guinness chocolate cake?

Baking cocoa is chocolate or cocoa powder that you can bake with—simple as that! When a recipe doesn’t get more specific than “baking cocoa,” you should use regular cocoa powder, not Dutch-processed cocoa.

What do you serve with Guinness chocolate cake?

Since this chocolate Guinness cake recipe only calls for 1 cup Guinness, you’ll likely have leftover beer. Serve it with the cake! If you end up having extra cans or bottles on hand, put them to use in Guinness floats, skillet stout brownies or one of our other Guinness recipes.