Chocolate Guinness Cake
Updated May 1, 2024

- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Butter, for the pan
- 1cup Guinness stout
- 10tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter (see Tip)
- ¾cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2cups superfine sugar
- ¾cup sour cream
- 2large eggs
- 1tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2cups all-purpose flour
- 2½teaspoons baking soda
- 1¼cups confectioners' sugar
- 8ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- ½cup heavy cream
For the Cake
For the Topping
Preparation
- Step 1
For the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.
- Step 2
In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.
- Step 3
For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.
- Step 4
Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.
- The recipe for this cake in Nigella Lawson's cookbook "Feast: Food to Celebrate Life" (Hyperion, 2004) calls for 18 tablespoons (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter.
Private Notes
Comments
By volume, a 9" springform pan is 10 cups. You can use 2 "standard" 8" or 9" pans instead. Or make 18-24 cup cakes.
I used a 9" square pan and made 6 cupcakes as well (the 9" square has a volume of about 8 cups). I baked the cupcakes for about 25 minutes and the cake for 45.
We make this cake one day in advance. It tastes better and it's a little more moist. We release the spring form after about an hour in the cooling process so the sides don't stick the next day. We prepare the frosting the day we plan to serve.
In a side by side taste test with my family of 19 tasters... this was a clear winner over the epicurious three layer Guinness cake.
Love this cake. I do think a little Bailey's in the frosting does wonders.
I love this cake, but I’m always nervous about whether the center is going to cave in. I bought some new Cocoa to make it tonight. It was called Dutch process cocoa. I tried to read about how that was different and it said that you should not use it with recipes with baking soda but use baking powder instead. (too late, it’s in the oven) This was all news to me – can this be a reason in the middle sometimes collapses? Has anyone tried switching baking powder when using Dutch process cocoa?
Fantastic cake and EZ to make. Wonderful depth of taste with complex flavors.
What can I substitute for the Guinness Stout-non alcoholic? Did any one make the cake with the 2 different amounts of butter? Compare and contrast.
If you’re asking for a non alcoholic stout, Guinness 0.0 is non alcoholic. Haven’t tried it so I can’t speak to the flavor.
