This easy Guinness chocolate cake recipe makes a rich, fudgy, moist chocolate cake. A light, silky cream cheese frosting balances the richness of the cake creating a perfect dessert.
Whether you’re looking for a cake recipe for St. Patrick’s Day, an upcoming celebration or just because, this Chocolate Guinness Cake is about to become your new favorite. It’s immensely rich, dense, decadent, moist and full of chocolaty goodness with a hint of flavor from the Guinness. The lightness of the cream cheese frosting mellows the chocolate flavor and balances the fudgy texture.
This is Nigella Lawson’s cake recipe with a few tweaks and tips to make it extra-fun and unfussy. It is the perfect end to a St. Patty’s Day meal. Start with an easy reuben dip followed by a homemade lamb stew and thick slices of Irish brown bread. A generous slice of this Guinness chocolate cake with Irish coffee is all you need for a festive end to the evening.
Table of contents
Why You Will Love this Guinness Chocolate Cake
- A dense, rich, decadent chocolate cake with a hint of fruity, yeasty stout flavor.
- Topped with an extra rich cream cheese frosting! This simple frosting is extra rich from the added heavy cream. It doesn’t include any butter unlike a traditional cream cheese frosting, though you could easily use that instead.
- The fluffy cream cheese frosting can be made in a food processor! You could also make it by hand or in a stand mixer but the food processor practically makes it for you in the blink of an eye.
- A simple one layer cake that’s ideal for everyday eating and celebrations. An easy chocolate cake batter made using a whisk. Simply pour and bake!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Guinness extra stout beer: You’ll need just 1 cup Guinness stout beer for the cake recipe, and the rest in the bottle is the baker’s share!
- Unsalted Butter
- Cocoa powder: I prefer to use unsweetened natural cocoa powder, not Dutch process cocoa powder. Dutch-processed will still work but the resulting cake will not be as tall. There is plenty of acidity in the sour cream to react with the baking soda but natural cocoa powder adds just a little bit more.
- Granulated sugar: The original recipe calls for 2 cups superfine sugar, which is effectively granulated sugar more finely ground. If you want to make your own extra fine sugar, you can pulse granulated sugar in a food processor for a few seconds to make it more fine. I prefer to skip this step and either purchase it or use what I have on hand.
- Sour cream: Sour cream adds tang and moisture to the cake. The additional fat also helps keep the cake moist for longer. You may use full-fat or low fat sour cream for the cake.
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda: The reaction between baking soda and the sour cream and natural cocoa powder produces a tall, light cake.
- Powdered sugar, for the frosting
- Cream cheese: Since there is no butter in this frosting, I recommend using full-fat, brick style cream cheese for added stability. I also abhor the flavor of low fat cream cheese but that is me.
- Heavy cream: Heavy cream makes the frosting extra rich and lightens the cream cheese.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Possible Variations
- Make a layer cake instead: You an easily divide the batter between two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans like I did with my moist chocolate cake recipe. Pay close attention to the cake as it bakes, because it will bake much faster than a single layer! I also would opt for a more stable cream cheese frosting with butter because this frosting recipe is essentially a whipped cream stabilized by cream cheese, which will not stand up to the weight of stacking!
- Top it with another buttercream, glaze or topping: For an extra rich Guinness chocolate cake, spread on a layer of my chocolate fudge frosting or the easy chocolate buttercream from my devil’s food cake. You could even use a simple whipped cream or a dusting of powdered sugar. Fold some salted caramel sauce in the frosting or simply drizzle it on top! You could also add Bailey’s Irish cream to the cream cheese frosting to taste.
- Add ¼ – ½ teaspoon kosher salt to the cake. The salt will enhance the chocolate flavor and temper the sweetness.
How to Make Guinness Chocolate Cake
This chocolate cake is super simple to make. A single thick layer, with a simple frosting on top, that tastes and looks professional without much effort. Further instructions and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
You can read all about how to line baking pans with parchment paper in this tutorial.
Step 2: In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the Guinness. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar. Set aside.
Step 3: In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth and homogenous. Add the sour cream mixture to the Guinness mixture followed by the flour and baking soda. Whisk everything together until smooth.
Step 4: Pour the cake batter into prepared pan, then place on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any potential drips. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the cake rises, is firm on the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few clinging crumbs.
Step 5: Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack. The center of the cake may dip slightly as it cools; this is normal and the frosting will cover it up!
Step 6: Make the frosting. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse powdered sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Add heavy cream and process to a smooth, spreadable frosting.
You can also make the frosting using a hand blender or with a bit more patience in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. You can also make it by hand in a large bowl with a whisk or hand mixer.
Step 7: Remove the cooled cake from the springform pan and place it on your favorite cake platter, cake stand or plate. Frost the top of the cake only with the frosting, then decorate with chocolate shavings, if desired.
The original inspiration for this frosting was to emulate the foam on the top of a glass of cold Guinness draft. Use a large silicone spatula to dollop the frosting on top of the cake and then spread it out with the back of a spoon.
To make chocolate shavings, run a vegetable peeler along the narrow end of a chocolate bar.
Frequently Asked Questions
The frosting needs to be cold and the cake tastes best room temperature, so I recommend assembling the cake fairly close to serving. You can make the frosting ahead of time and simply rewhip right before assembling, or you can assemble the cake and refrigerate in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 days. Store leftover cake in the refrigerator for up to a week.
I highly recommend a 9-inch springform pan or a 2 inch deep 9-inch cake pan for this recipe. This cake rises considerably during baking and will overflow a standard cake pan. It also makes it so much easier to remove the cake from the pan once baked. You could also bake it in a 9 x 13-inch rectangular baking pan.
You could also divide the cake batter between two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans (greased and lined). If you go this route, the bake time will be lower than the written recipe, so check for doneness around the 20-25 minute mark.
You can use a different dark stout beer for this cake recipe or another type of dark beer such as a porter. Save the light beer for beer bread or beer pizza dough and steer clear of IPA for this recipe, because it will make the cake taste bitter.
Yes! This cake freezes exceptionally well. To do so, allow the cake to cool completely. Remove it from the springform pan, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil (unfrosted). Freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw overnight in the refrigerator or for a few hours at room temperature. Frost as directed.
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below! I love hearing from you and your comments make my day!
Guinness Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup Guinness extra stout
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup sour cream, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
For the topping:
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Chocolate shavings, for topping (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the chocolate cake:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with butter, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, heat Guinness and butter just until butter is melted. Remove from heat; whisk in cocoa powder and granulated sugar until well-combined. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk sour cream, eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Add to Guinness mixture along with flour and baking soda; whisk again until smooth. Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any potential drips); place on center rack of oven.
- Bake cake 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the edges of the cake are firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer cake to a cooling rack; cool completely. (The center of the cake may dip slightly as it cools; this is normal and the frosting will cover it up!)
Make the cream cheese topping:
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse powdered sugar a few times to remove any lumps. Add cream cheese and process until mixture is smooth. Add heavy cream; process until well-combined into a smooth, spreadable frosting.
- Remove fully cooled cake from springform pan; transfer to a serving plate or cake stand. Top cake evenly with frosting so it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness. Garnish with chocolate shavings, if desired. Serve immediately.
- Store any leftover cake covered tightly with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Technique – To make chocolate shavings, run a vegetable peeler along the narrow end of a chocolate bar.
- Storage – Store leftover cake in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Recipe adapted ever-so-slightly from Nigella Lawson.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this rich chocolate beer cake recipe. Check out our other fantastic cake and cupcake recipes!
Really good cake, but this is a LOT of batter. You want to make sure the sides of your cake pan are at least 3″ tall so you don’t end up with batter spilling over the sides
Hi Brigitte! Thank you so much for that feedback. I’m the new owner, so I haven’t had the opportunity to make this recipe yet, and that is very helpful!
Can you pour more Guinness on the cake after its finished baking?
Hi Shannon, Ummm yes! You can poke some holes in the top first with a skewer to help it soak down. Or you can mix that guinness with simple syrup (bring 1/2 c sugar and 1/2 c water to a boil then cool) and do a simple soak. ~Lindsey
thank you for sharing this, I love Nigella’s dishes, and still love making one of the savory pies from her cookbook, but hadn’t seen this before, cream chees frosting always works for me in a cake!
Hi Sabrina, I need to get her cookbook(s), stat! If the other recipes are half as good as this one, I will love them all.