It’s time to combine chocolate and booze into this absolutely scrumptious Guinness Cake! One part dark beer, one part cocoa powder, and one part tasty, tasty cake, it’s a definite St. Patrick’s Day favorite for many…including us!
Are you doing anything fun and exciting for St. Patrick’s Day? Well…besides the beer and shamrock shakes?! After all, you may not have considered it, but it’s a great occasion to bake. We’ve already shown you our adorable Rainbow Cupcakes, perfect for adults and little ones alike, but this Guinness cake is the true pot of gold at the end of it all!
A Guinness cake, by the way, is what it sounds like: a cake made from Guinness or any other dark beer. Which, you know, makes it very suitable for St. Patrick’s Day. The beer combines with the chocolate and gives it a certain almost coffee-like flavor. Overall, it’s an intensely rich, moist, and delicious way to declare yourself lucky! We hope you enjoy it.
Guinness Cake: Ingredients & Supplies
If you’ve never cooked up a cake from scratch before, you’re in for a treat! To make Guinness chocolate cake, you’ll need…
Ingredients:
- Dark beer: Like Guinness! This is the “centerpiece” of your cake and gives it a unique flavor.
- Cocoa powder: Adds a delectable chocolatey goodness to this Guinness cake.
- Flour and baking soda: Two typical baking substances! Flour gives structure to your cake, while baking soda helps the batter to rise.
- Granulated sugar: Provides flavor and texture to any cake.
- Butter: Yet another standard baking ingredient! Most cakes need some sort of fat like butter for a light, airy texture. For this cake, you’ll want the unsalted variety.
- Sour cream: Like the butter above, this acts as a fat. You won’t taste it in the final product, though, so don’t worry!
- Eggs: You’ll want these at room-temperature. These act as a “binder” and hold your batter together.
- Vanilla extract: The last of the typical baking ingredients. Vanilla extract (for those new to baking) helps bring out the sweetness in your cake.
- Frosting: Use a cream cheese frosting for your Guinness cake! We recommend making it homemade, and we have a recipe right here.
- Sprinkles: We recommend our chocolate brown jimmies for this cake. Of course, you can use whatever you’d like!
Supplies:
- Bowls: For whisking/mixing your dry ingredients and wet ingredients.
- Saucepan: To heat up your butter and beer together.
- 9” springform pan and parchment paper: You’ll bake your Guinness cake in here. Make sure it’s greased!
- St. Patrick’s Day party supplies: Because you ARE going to serve this at your St. Patty’s Day party…right?!
After you have gathered all your ingredients and tools, let’s get baking…
How to make a Guinness Chocolate Cake
printable recipe below
As always, we start with preheating the oven and lightly greasing the pan. This time we are using a nine inch springform pan.
Now whisk together the flour and baking soda.
And in a small saucepan, heat the beer and butter until the butter is completely melted.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar and cocoa powder until well combined and beat the eggs in a small bowl.
Next you will whisk the eggs, sour cream and vanilla into the beer mixture.
And then stir the flour mixture into the beer mixture and beat until smooth.
Now it’s time to bake the cake. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes
After the cake is done, remove from the oven and let it cool completely.
Whip up a batch of our favorite Cream Cheese Frosting, and don’t forget the sprinkles!
Guinness Cake: FAQs
We’ve gathered up a few questions we’ve gotten about this recipe right here!
Is this Guinness cake suitable for children?
Yes, this cake is totally fine for kids! The flavor may not be something they’re used to (it’s on the coffee-ish side, like we said) but it’s safe for them.
How much Guinness cake does this recipe make?
One 9” cake that you can slice into about 12 pieces, more or less!!
How long does it take to make this recipe for Guinness cake?
About an hour. You’ll need 10 minutes to prep the ingredients and about 50 to actually bake them up into this delicious Guinness cake!
My cake is too dry, crumbly, etc! Did I do something wrong?
Usually when this happens, you may have forgotten to measure your dry ingredients exactly. Always level your dry ingredients in the measuring cups or use a scale. If you’re pretty new to baking, trust us when we say it makes a huge difference!
Did you enjoy our recipe for Guinness cake?
It’s one of the tastiest (and most unique!) ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Comment down below with your thoughts about our Guinness cake recipe. Did you love it? Make changes? Have you had a Guinness cake before, or is this your first time? We would love to hear from you!
Other cake recipes here on Sweets and Treats…
It isn’t a day at Sweets and Treats HQ without us talking a lot…a lot…about cake! We’ve featured a ton of cake recipes here at the blog, like:
Guinness Cake
This rich and tender Chocolate Guinness Cake has a smooth stout beer in the recipe giving it a great flavor! The Cream Cheese Frosting is everything on this easy to make cake! And don't forget the sprinkles!
Ingredients
- Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 cup Guinness dark beer
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 large eggs, room temperature, beaten
- ⅔ cup sour cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Frosting
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar), sifted
- 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Lightly grease a 9 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda, set aside
- In a small saucepan, heat the beer and butter just until the butter is completely melted
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar and cocoa powder until well combined
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs
- Whisk the eggs, sour cream and vanilla into the beer mixture
- Stir the flour mixture into the beer mixture and beat until smooth
- Pour batter into prepared pan
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
- Cool completely on a wire rack
- Remove cake and place on serving plate or cake stand
Frosting
- Sift powdered sugar to remove any large pieces (Note: you do not have to do this, but we think it makes a creamer icing)
- Place softened cream cheese in a large bowl and beat until smooth. It’s much easier in a stand electric mixer but a good hand mixer will do.
- Add butter and vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth
- Frost cake and add sprinkles