March 12, 2022
Chocolate Guinness Cake!
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A fudgey and delicious chocolate Guinness cake – a delightful sponge with chocolate and Guinness, with a cream cheese frosting and more.
One of the requests I have had over and over recently is chocolate cakes made differently… whether that’s with courgette, mayonnaise, or anything else… there are so many ways to make them. However, as it’s St Patricks day next week, I thought I’d give the chocolate Guinness cake a go!
When you add ‘random’ ingredients to a sponge, it can create the most wonderful texture. Mayonnaise cake works as mayonnaise is essentially just eggs and oil, so ingredients you often find in a cake anyway! Courgette can bring a level of moisture… Guinness brings all of it. It creates a delicious sponge that I adore.
Chocolate Guinness cake
I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of drinking Guinness, but in cake?! oh my days – an absolute winner. But just as a quick one, if you don’t like Guinness or want something that isn’t alcoholic, replace the Guinness with full-fat Coca Cola.
When you think of this cake, you basically need to think of my chocolate fudge cake, with a couple of changes. My fudge cake uses ingredients such as melted chocolate, buttermilk, and so on, but this cake does not need that. It’s not quite a standard chocolate cake either, but it’s in the middle!
Sponge mixture
The mixture for my chocolate Guinness cake contains butter (I usually use a baking spread in the sponge, but not for the frosting!), the Guinness itself, cocoa powder, light brown soft sugar, whole milk (never use less than whole milk!), eggs, plain flour and bicarb. This may all sound a bit of a jumble, but TRUST ME, it works.
As I often do these days, I use light brown soft sugar in my chocolate cakes because I love the flavour that it makes. You can use caster sugar if you want, or if it’s what you have though – or even dark brown soft sugar for an even deeper flavour. The Guinness does bring a flavour itself though, so make sure to remember that.
Core ingredients
I always use the same cocoa powder when baking because its 100% powder and it’s delicious – but any work really! Generally hot chocolate powder should be avoided as it doesn’t behave the same, and often has sugar added in so tastes different. I try and always be consistent these days with my eggs, so I always use medium. If you need to use large, use two!
Now one bit that may confuse you the most, is the plain flour and the bicarbonate of soda. This is not the same as using self raising flour – as the bicarbonate is there for a reason. Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda are different ingredients, and cannot simply be switched – so make sure to use the plain flour.
Bake and cool
The mixture for this chocolate Guinness cake is quite runny once made, but trust me, it’s meant to be. Split the mixture evenly between two lined tins, and bake until beautiful. Make sure to cool the cakes fully before going anywhere near the decoration as otherwise the frosting will melt off almost straight away! And no-one wants that.
Frosting decoration
I decided to use a cream cheese frosting for this recipe as it would compliment the cake so well, and make a change to a normal chocolate buttercream frosting. If you are unsure on cream cheese frosting, please don’t be scared – I have a back to basics post on my cream cheese frosting here which explains it completely to help you out!
The little dash of vanilla in the frosting is so complimentary of the cake, and some chocolate shavings on top just finish the cake off perfectly. Obviously, if you love Guinness, have a glass on the side… or just devour an enormous slice of this stunning chocolate Guinness cake like I do! Enjoy!!
Chocolate Guinness Cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 175 g unsalted butter
- 150 ml Guinness
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 250 g light brown soft sugar
- 125 ml whole milk
- 3 medium eggs
- 250 g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Decoration
- 150 g unsalted buter (room temp)
- 150 g icing sugar
- 300 g full-fat soft cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Chocolate shavings
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 160ºc/140ºfan and line two 20cm/8" round tins.
- In a pan, add the butter, and heat until melted.
- Take the pan off the heat, and pour in the Guinness, cocoa powder, sugar, milk and eggs.
- Whisk the mixture together until smooth.
- Add the plain flour, and bicarbonate of soda, and mix briefly until smooth.
- Split the mixture evenly between the two tins, and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until baked through.
- Once baked, leave to cool full in the tins.
Decoration
- Beat the room temp unsalted butter on it's own in a bowl for a few minutes to loosen it.
- Add in the icing sugar, and beat again - I beat this for about 5 minutes, to make it really smooth.
- Make sure the cream cheese doesn't have any excess water - I find it best to add it to a bowl first just to make sure.
- Add in the cream cheese, and vanilla and beat. At first, it may look a little weird, but just keep on beating until it is smooth, and creamy.
- Spread half of the frosting onto the first layer of the cake, then add the second layer of cake.
- Add on the rest of the frosting, then sprinkle over some grated chocolate and enjoy!
Notes
- This cake will last for 3+ days in the fridge (it must be kept in the fridge due to the cream cheese frosting).
- If you want to go alcohol free, use full-fat Coca Cola
- You must use full-fat ingredients in this bake for best results.
- I use this cocoa powder.
- I use this stand mixer.
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hello, I’d love to use to make a tall birthday cake. Would the cake layers stand up to staking (maybe 4 layers)? I’m making a Guinness glass cake so makes sense it would be a Guinness sponge 😂☺️ x thank you x
Yes, I would say so! x
Does it have to be full fat coke? And for what reason?
Hi love your recipe books – can I bake this as a traybake 30 inches x 7 If so how long for please? Thank you in advance x
Did anyone manage to convert this recipe into cupcakes? If so, were any adjustments needed and how many did it make?
Thx
Yes, the recipe made 12 good sized muffins.
I cooked at same temperature and they only took around 20 to 25 mins. Just check with a skewer. Topped with butter cream. As nice as the full cake.
Could you add sour cream to bake to make it extra fluffy
Just seen some recipes that say add sour cream to the batter xx
I made this into a loaf cake, just added an extra 10-15 mins in the oven, it’s so delicious as always!!
Do you need to let the butter cool after it’s been melted to avoid the eggs beginning to cook?
Heat the butter gently, then adding the Guinness and milk will cool it enough to prevent the eggs from cooking.
Definitely making this cake this week! Do you think it will work as a 3 layer cake or are the sponges too heavy?
Hiya! This should be fine, enjoy! x
Hi Jane , this looks delicious! Would this work with chocolate ganache to decorate do you think? Planning on making my nephew’s wedding cake and trying to plan ahead Thanks for any advice re storage and transport and freezing / defrosting etc! Thanks for any advice 🙂
Hiya! Yes, this should be absolutely fine! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane
I’m thinking of having a go at making this cake for my son’s 30th birthday as he absolutely loves Guinness!
It looks amazing but I’m a bit nervous as haven’t made a cake for years. Can you tell me what size cake tins I would need for a cake to feed approximately 20people?
Also can this be made using gluten-free flour?
Many thanks
Louise🙂
Hi Jane,
Do you think this recipe would work with Dandelion and Burdock substituted for the Guinness? I had a delicious dandelion and burdock cake in a cafe somewhere and haven’t managed to find a recipe that even closely resembles the beautiful cake I tried. Thank you!
Gemma I have no idea but I guess it would. I’m sure it’s mainly all the bubbles that are needed. There’s so many cakes that can be made with various types of pop. Good luck. I made with Guinness and it was delicious 😋
Hi Jane.
If I wanted to ice the cake completely what would be the best icing? I don’t want to compromise on taste but I always find cheese frosting to tricky.
Hiya! You could try just a buttercream? Or try doubling the cream cheese frosting – it is delicious if you wanted to try it! x
Hi there, grateful for advice on whether and how this could be converted to cupcakes. What adjustments would I need to make?
Hi Jane
Could you make this as a loaf cake? If so, what would you recommend in terms of alterations to the quantities?
Thank you!
How do you change your recipes to use a different tin sizes I only have 9 & 7 inch tins please ?
Looks fab! Could this be adapted into cupcakes/mini cakes (like the mini Victoria Sponges?) If so, how long would they need in the oven?
This looks great – can you slice, wrap in cling film, and freeze decorated like you can with buttercream decorated cakes? Or does the cream cheese icing separate when defrosted?
No – this is absolutely fine to freeze for up to 3 months! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane – Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes and is there any revision of the recipe/method/cooking time??
p.s. Just LOVE all of your stuff online and your book!!
Hi Jane – I’d like to use this recipe to make cupcakes – how would i adjust the recipe to make 12? Thank you
Is there a way to make this into cupcakes? 😆 absolutely adore chocolate Guinness cake! 😍
Hey, not really sure why but my cakes are so much thinner than the ones pictured, followed to a tee and used bicarbonate of soda, any ideas to fix?
Hiya! This could just be down to your tins or a slight error when measuring ingredients – if not then try increasing the recipe by 1.5! Hope this helps! x
Omg I cannot wait to make this. If I wanted to keep it out of the fridge could I make the frosting with more butter and less cream cheese?
You’d have to use a normal buttercream as cream cheese frosting MUST be kept in the fridge! x
Wow Jane! Looks incredible and flavoursome! It’s a showstopper!😋😘. A two layer cake looking truly indulgent. So many chocolate Guinness cakes 🍺are just a one layer, still delicious but they don’t usually look as decadent! I’m certainly putting this to the top of my baking list! Thank you for sharing more yumminess!💫👍😋