Guinness Chocolate Cake

12 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Easy Chocolate Guinness Cake is a moist chocolate cake made with Guinness stout, full of malty flavor, and topped with dark chocolate frosting.

A go-to Easy Chocolate Cake recipe is a must for when you need a tasty Dessert for any occasion. This sweet, boozy dessert is just as easy and delicious and perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!

serving of Guinness Chocolate Sheet Cake with bite on fork

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

At the risk of sounding too stereotypical, is there a more perfect cake for St. Paddy’s Day then a boozy, malted Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake? We are usually testing recipes in our home kitchen, so we tend to stick to family friendly recipes (for sweets lovers of all ages) versus boozy desserts. This moist chocolate cake for adults is definitely an exception that is worth every bite.

Guinness Chocolate Cake collage of Guinness and cocoa powder in sauce pan

This Malted Guinness Chocolate Cake with a delicious Dark Chocolate Frosting has all the best parts of a Guinness Stout without the beer flavor. The a pint of stout makes this a dark, black cake with hints of smoky, malty coffee flavor. The frosting is a dark chocolate ganache frosting that pairs perfectly with cocoa and coffee taste in this cake!

Malty, smoky Guinness stout brings out the rich chocolate flavor in this cake, similar to adding espresso or coffee. The malty flavor and sour cream makes this rich chocolate cake practically melt in your mouth. For extra rich chocolate cake taste, use a dark cocoa powder, like dutch process cocoa powder or black cocoa powder.

Guinness Chocolate Cake batter in baking dish before and after baking

This tasty Malted Guinness Chocolate Cake is the perfect cake whenever you need a special but easy dessert. Instead of the Dark Chocolate Frosting, you can make simple non-alcoholic topping like Cream Cheese Frosting or Whipped Cream. Try a Salted Caramel Glaze (in the variations) and a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream on a slice of warm cake for an out this world St. Patrick’s Day dessert.

Tips for Making Guinness Chocolate Cake

  • For a non-alcoholic cake, you can swap the Guinness stout with 1 cup coffee or espresso. Add ½ cup malted milk powder to get that same malty flavor that Guinness gives.
  • Use fresh ingredients, especially leavening ingredients like baking soda, when baking a cake so it doesn’t sink.
  • This malted Guinness Chocolate Cake is a dense but moist cake. To keep it from being too dense, don’t over-mix the cake batter. Sift the dry ingredients before folding in and stir just until combined.
  • Adding the cocoa powder to the hot Guinness mixture allows the cocoa powder to  “bloom”. Blooming releases more rich chocolate flavor into the beer and balances out the bitterness of the stout. 

MORE DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPES:

Guinness Chocolate Sheet Cake cross section in baking dish

VARIATIONS ON GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

  • Chocolate Chips: Fold in ½ cup chocolate chips like mint chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips to the cake batter. Sprinkle the top of the Bailey’s frosting with mini chocolate chips too!
  • Salted Caramel Glaze Sauce: Instead of the Dark Chocolate Ganache, make a glaze by adding ⅓ cup heavy cream to Salted Caramel Sauce. You can also add up to ¼ cup Bailey’s Irish Cream to the Salted Caramel Glaze. 
  • Cupcakes: Line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake cupcakes for 18-22 minutes. Let cakes cool before dipping the top of each cupcake in the chocolate ganache frosting.
  • Bundt Cake: Make a Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake by baking in a 12-cup bundt pan or tube springform pan that has been well greased and dusted with cocoa powder. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cake cool for 30 minutes before inverting or removing from pan.
  • Poke Cake: Easily turn this into a Guinness Chocolate Poke Cake. Use a straw or wooden dowel to poke holes 1-2 inches apart on the top of the cake. While the cake is still warm, pour glaze frosting over the cake so it soaks into the holes.

MORE BEAUTIFUL, TASTY CAKES FOR SPRING

HOW TO STORE GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

  • Serve: You can keep Guinness Chocolate Cake at room temperature for up to 3 days, covered and in a cool, dry place. Tent pan loosely with aluminum foil if it doesn’t have a lid.
  • Store: Wrap pan tightly with plastic wrap or cover with lid, and refrigerate Guinness Chocolate Cake for up to 1 week. Enjoy cold cake or bring to room temperature to serve.
  • Freeze: Once Chocolate Guinness Cake has cooled, transfer cake slices to an airtight container and freeze slices for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator so cake doesn’t get soggy.

serving of Guinness Chocolate Sheet Cake with bite on fork

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Chocolate Guinness Cake

Easy Chocolate Guinness Cake is a moist chocolate cake made with Guinness stout, full of malty flavor, and topped with dark chocolate frosting.
Yield 12 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

Guinness Chocolate Cake

  • 1 cup Guinness beer
  • 1 cup unsalted butter , cut into pieces
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Irish Cream Chocolate Glaze

  • 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

Guinness Chocolate Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking pan with baking spray.
  • In a medium saucepan add beer and butter, whisking until butter is melted.
  • Turn off heat and whisk in the unsweetened cocoa powder.
  • Let chocolate mixture cool.
  • In a large bowl whisk together eggs, sugar, sour cream and the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth.
  • Sift together flour, baking soda and salt, then whisk it into the wet ingredients.
  • Pour batter into the baking pan and spread evenly.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Irish Cream Glaze

  • When cake is cool make the glaze.
  • In a medium saucepan add dark chocolate chips, heavy cream, Irish cream and butter.
  • Whisk until melted and creamy.
  • Let cool for 10 minutes before pouring over cake and spreading evenly.

Nutrition

Calories: 583kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 286mg | Potassium: 287mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 796IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 107mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword: Chocolate Guinness Cake

Moist Guinness Chocolate Cake

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I think I’m going to do this for St Patty this year, only I’ll do a Bailey’s buttercream frosting on top.

    Any idea how many cupcakes this makes?

    Thanks!

    1. Cupcakes: Line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake cupcakes for 18-22 minutes. Let cakes cool before dipping the top of each cupcake in the chocolate ganache frosting.

      I’m guessing 24 cupcakes.