Guinness Cake

Decadent chocolate Guinness cake with bitter-sweet chocolate flavor and a little bit of tang, smothered in fluffy cream cheese frosting. Perfect sweet treats idea for St. Patrick’s Day!

Mixing stout beer and the chocolate cake was a genius idea: liquid alcohol makes the cake layer perfectly moist without much trace of the alcohol itself and adds a deep flavor that we can’t achieve otherwise!

My secret tip for making the best (and easiest) Guinness cake is to combine stout and butter and cook the mixture down – this combo makes a moist chocolate cake that isn’t soggy and stays soft for 3 to 5 days.

If you’re really craving chocolate cakes, check out my Espresso chocolate cake and super moist German chocolate cake.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• A decadent cake with bold chocolate and Guinness flavors and rich cream cheese frosting. A perfect dessert for those who love chocolate cakes and need … something special, you know?
• Minimal prep time (but you will need a bit of patience to let it cool)
• Despite beer making the list of the cake ingredients, the cake is absolutely safe for kids. And show me a child who will say no to chocolate cake with an even thicker layer of frosting?
• There is no vegetable oil in this recipe and yet it is a perfectly damp cake, and lower in fat.
• You don’t need to use baking powder, beer helps the cake batter rise tall and soft.

Ingredients Notes

For exact quantities in cups or by weight, see the recipe card.

Cake batter

• Guinness beer or other dark beer. Guinness Stout has the signature deep bitter flavor of a good quality beer. You can buy Draught too! Guinness cake is ok for kids as pretty much all the alcohol will be cooked out, all that is left will be a subtle tang from the beer.
• Unsalted butter for a rich and flavorful cake.
• Cocoa powder. Unsweetened natural cocoa powder works better for me than Dutch process cocoa powder.
• Granulated sugar for sweetness, to balance out the bitterness.
• Eggs ass structure and help the cake rise and stay soft.
• Plain yogurt makes the cake moist and adds a little tang.
• Flour mixture: all-purpose flour + baking soda + salt. Do not substitute the flour.

Frosting

• Confectioner’s sugar or powdered sugar (can add cornstarch to it to turn it into confectioner’s sugar).
• Cream cheese. Make sure the cream cheese is softened at room temperature, it will be easier to beat into smooth frosting.
• Heavy cream

Kitchen Equipment

• 9×13 baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Small saucepan
• Cake stand, optional
• Stand mixer or electric mixer
• Medium bowl

How To Make Chocolate Guinness Cake

1: Prepare Cake Batter

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray or butter and then line it with parchment. Set aside.
2. Combine the Guinness stout beer and butter in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the butter has completely melted. Remove from heat.
3. Pro tip: If the beer mixture tries to start boiling reduce to medium-low heat.
4. Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar to the Guinness mixture – mixing until smooth.
5. Combine the wet ingredients. Cream eggs and vanilla extract with yogurt – mixing by hand until fully incorporated.
6. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, mixing until there are no lumps, but avoid overmixing.

2: Bake The Cake

1. Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pan, spreading it into an even layer.
2. Bake for 30 minutes. Use the toothpick test to check for doneness – or you can gently press the top of the cake with your finger – if it springs back, it is done.
3. Let the cake cool completely on the wire rack before adding the frosting. You can store un-iced cake too until you are ready to frost and serve it.

3: Make Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Stir the heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar slowly in the mixing bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
2. Add cream cheese, increase the speed, and continue beating until the frosting is smooth and holds its shape.
3. Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled cake layer before serving.

Storage

Keep the leftover cake covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days, to keep the frosting fresh.

Remove it from the fridge 15 minutes before serving to bring it back to the optimal texture.

You can also freeze unfrosted or frosted cake for up to 3 months. I recommend freezing the cake in individual slices if frosted.

To make ahead, bake the cake and refrigerate the unfrosted cake for up to 5 days or freeze it for 3 months. Remove from the fridge to a serving plate or cake stand, frost, and serve.

Substitutions & Variations

• If you don’t have Guinness, you can use another dark beer or even malted non-alcoholic beer for a milder flavor.
• Sour cream can be used in place of plain Greek yogurt.
• Add brown sugar for a chewier texture and more caramel flavors.
• Add chocolate shavings or chocolate curls as decoration.
• Swap plain cream cheese frosting with Bailey’s Irish cream frosting.
• Make chocolate frosting. For sweet tooth out there, you can melt the chopped chocolate with cream to make a chocolate ganache for frosting the cake. You can add beer to the frosting too!
• Make it layered chocolate Guinness cake. Bake two cake layers, double the frosting recipe, add half in between layers, and the remaining frosting on top and on the sides of the cake.

Popular Questions

How Alcoholic Is Guinness Cake?

Guinness cake contains an unnoticeable amount of alcohol as it will be evaporated while the cake bakes. Stout has about 5% ABV but it is almost undetectable in a cooked cake. You can use non-alcoholic Guinness 0.0 if you’re worried about kids.

What Is The History Of Guinness Cake?

Guinness cake is considered to be from the Irish baking tradition and the foundation of Guinness brewery itself somewhere around 1the 8th century. Once the beer became popular Europeans started to use it in baking bread as it had malts and in baking.

Guinness cake was first a cake made with porter and fruits and later evolved into its modern version.

What Does Stout Do To A Cake?

Stout has bitter notes of coffee and dark chocolate and a malty flavor that enhances chocolate flavor in baking just like espresso powder does. As stout is liquid, it also adds more moisture to the cake batter than oil or butter, which means you will never end up with a dry cake. 

If you love this cake recipe, you’re going to love these other treats for St. Patrick’s Day too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Single-Layer Cake Recipes

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Easy Lemon Cake Recipe

Coconut Cream Cake

Confetti Cake – Funfetti Cake

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