Chocolate Guinness Cake Recipe (2024)

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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).

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?"

I don't do Twitter, but I recommend checking Lawson's current (2024) version of this recipe on Twitter to determine how much butter she recommends. There are 2 versions: 1 stick + 2 Tbsps unsalted butter & 2 sticks + 2 Tbsps! Both can't be right.

Cut the recipe in half, used King Arthur gluten free flour, added an ounce of high quality bitter-sweet chocolate to the melted butter and used yogurt since I didn’t have sour cream. I split the batter in two pans and added ganache ( as others suggested) between the two cooled cakes Dusted top with powdered sugar and served with warm ganache and whipped cream. Delicious!

I made my annual pilgrimage to this cake yesterday (3/16), as presented, and frosted it last evening. My spouse and I then enjoyed our other annual ritual of removing a refrigerator shelf to accommodate the tall domed cake plate upon which this beauty rests. It’s an elegant way to mark the day and the season.

Using JM’s helpful volume & timing suggestions, I baked one 8” round cake (regular cake pan) and 10 regular cupcakes. I went with 2 tsps. of vanilla and 1/2 tsp. espresso powder. This recipe makes a lot of batter. The cake was for a St. Patrick’s Day dinner, so I added some green coloring to the icing. It was fun and delicious.

Agree on 1/2 t salt. Used 1 C white sugar plus 1/2 C brown sugar for a little complexity (I do the same for brownies). To actually taste the Guinness because I've been disappointed by several other recipes, I boiled two 11.2 oz bottles of extra stout (which has more flavor than draught) down to the 1 C called for. Also used half whole wheat pastry flour. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Do you use 10 T butter or 18 T butter? Not sure if I should follow the tip or ignore it.

Definitely wish I’d made it in two layers. The middle sinks if done in one layer.

I used a 10 inch pan and baked for 40 minutes.

Based on the helpful comments, I halved the frosting. But I used too much Bailey’s - about 1 tsp. Next time, I’ll start with 1/4 tsp and gradually add more if needed. The cake is not very sweet, which is a nice change.

This was delicious and a big winner at a recent gathering. Similar to a previous comment I increased recipe 1.5 to fit in 9x13 pan. For the cake, I used Samual Smith’s Chocolate Stout from the UK. I also added some Bailey’s to the frosting. Will definitely make again!

Made this as cupcakes to rave reviews. Doubled the recipe (48 cupcakes, 15 min), & followed the cake recipe as printed. For the frosting, next time I’ll omit the heavy cream and add 2 Tbsp of Baileys per batch. This time (for the double batch) I used a 1/4 cup baileys and 1/2 cup heavy cream and it was more runny than I wanted, and ended up doubling or tripling the amount of powdered sugar the recipe called for. Had enough to put a big dollop on each cupcake. Delicious; will make again!

YES to this cake. Might have put around 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup less sugar than called for and it was perfect. And isn't it a charm to make? No electric mixer, almost no dirty dishes; wow. Highly recommand!

Biiig slump in the middle! I followed the directions to the letter so confused as to why that happened. I thought the frosting was meh, flat and pretty flavorless.

Tip I learned from working at a bakery: to get the Guiness flavor to come through, brush a little extra Guinness on the cake when it’s still warm from the oven. It gives it that extra little amp that I needs!

One of the best cakes my husband has ever made!