Chocolate Guinness Cake Recipe (2024)

Love this cake. I do think a little Bailey's in the frosting does wonders.

It's better with 1) a half-teaspoon of kosher salt added to the dry ingredients, and 2) a better stout than Guinness - preferably a chocolate stout.

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.

Made this cake for the folks. They loved it! Didn’t notice the Guinness in the cake, but I noticed there was leftover beer in the bottle, so it was a win for the cook.

Please list ingredients by weight, not by volume.

Made cake as stated. I used about 3 oz. of goat cheese in the topping in place of cream cheese. To accompany the cake I use a jar of Morrelo cherries simmered in a bit of sugar and ruby port. Served it on a plate and put the cake on top. It was a warm syrupy mixture that set off the deep chocolate cake. It was awesome and pretty.

I made this recipe into cupcakes, adjusting the cooking time downwards and just using a cake tester to figure out when they were done. I also used the food processor to make superfine sugar out of white granulated sugar with no problems. The cupcakes were a hit!

For those of you asking for weight. You can find it on Nigella's website
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086

I made it in Denver (5280', folks, if you had forgotten!) and it didn't fall! Changes:
9oz stout
6.25 oz sugar: 2cups minus 2T
10.25 oz flour: added 2T to the 2cups
2 tsp baking soda (not 2.5)
Baked at 375 (actually in my convection oven, 350 which is 375 in normal ovens) for 35 mins. I should have checked at 30 mins.
Also, I food-processed the sugar and cream cheese, then added the whipping cream just until I liked the texture.
Quite yummy

This was superb and so easy to make! Not too sweet (I used ordinary sugar, not superfine, and didn't adjust quantity). Came out perfectly. Icing was easy too, and frosted beautifully. My husband loved the deep flavor of chocolate with a hint of bitterness. Looked gorgeous as well! Did I mention how easy it was to make? :)

I make this with the above-noted changes (salt, a better stout) in a Bundt pan, rather than a springform, and don't frost it at all. Dusting with a mix of confectioner's sugar and cocoa is all it needs, not a thick gloppy frosting.

My go-to chocolate cake, always wins raves. It's what I think a chocolate cake should be: intensely chocolate-y, not overly sweet, and fairly dense. Occasionally I save other chocolate cake recipes but then I think, "Why bother?"

And a few more notes on making and baking the cake:
I let the butter-Guinness-sugars-cocoa mixture cool to room temp before adding to batter.
After filling the pan, I rapped it on the counter a few times to shake out any air pockets.
I used an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness: 200 degrees F in center (don't start testing too early and deflate the cake).

I have made this over and over since it was first published and think it is the best in the world! Last one I used a cherry ale instead of Guinness. Also tossed in a coupla handfuls of frozen Bing cherries and added more chopped cherries to the frosting and a bit more powdered sugar to thicken. The cake was grand and gone in one day. I am going to keep experimenting with the recipe as my go-to base for chocolate cake.

Is this made with dutch processed cocoa or natural cocoa?

6th year ~ my husband's choice for his birthday cake. Guinness being his favorite beer (warm of course).

Any hints for making this dairy free? Vegan yogurt swap for sour cream?

Excellent as written

The recipe on Nigella’s website has double the amount of butter…

Today I learned using Neufchâtel instead of regular cream cheese will make your frosting too runny.

Have made this a few times and it is always beautiful and delicious. I made it again today with half the sugar and it turned out great. I think I’ll add dark chocolate chips next time-

Phenomenal cake, it has an absolutely gorgeous texture and a lovely complex flavor. I halved the recipe and baked in a 6" round pyrex for a little under 45min and it turned out just right, a good size for a small household. I did make a Bailey's buttercream instead of the frosting here and it was a fun change but a tad sweet, I'll definitely try the usual icing next time!

Wonderful recipe. I made it twice this week. Once to try it and again for a dinner party. Delicious and easy bake. I used a 9” cake pan instead of a springform pan. Let the cake cool 1 hour in the pan before turning out onto a cooling rack and then onto the cake stand. Cool completely before frosting. I missed the butter in the cream cheese frosting, so I added 4TBS the second time I made it and cut the cream to 2 TBS. Milk instead of heavy cream would work. Friends and neighbors loved it.

Made cupcakes and cooked for 18 minutes. Cut sugar too much. 1.5 cups better

The original recipe calls for 250 grams of butter which is 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons but this recipe says 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons. Which is correct?!

The cake itself is everything you'll ever want in a hearty chocolate cake. It isn't at all "beer forward" or too sweet. The texture is RIGHT ON. I prefer slightly over-whipped whipped cream instead of the included cc icing. Lots of raves from everyone, even your fancy friends who don't dig normal chocolate cake.

Followed the suggestions of adding 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and using a better stout. The result was a super moist and delicious cake that was devoured. A couple people had seconds so no leftovers, which is a good and a bad thing. Guess I'll have to make it again soon!

I love this recipe. I use some salt, as one of the readers suggested and Murphy's rather than Guinness Stout, which is a bit sweeter and more chocolatey, less bitter. I also use double the butter as in the British version of the recipe. I'd really like to hear, from someone who has used it with double the butter and this amount, if you notice the difference and to what degree. Thanks!

Stout 9ozSugar 2C minus 2T Flour 2C PLUS 2T2tsp baking sodaBake 375 about 30min check at 25min