Adapted from my favorite chocolate cake recipe, this rich Guinness chocolate cake is made with reduced dark stout beer for deep flavor. Topped with ultra creamy chocolate Guinness cream cheese frosting, this cake might just become a new St. Patrick’s Day dessert tradition.
I’m not making this up: while I was photographing today’s cake, a rainbow actually appeared in my yard—not in the sky, in front of the trees in my actual YARD. I knew it was good luck; this cake was DELICIOUS.
And fortunately, you don’t need to find the end of the rainbow to make this chocolate Guinness cake. You just need 2 Guinness stout beers, and some basic baking ingredients.
One reader, CB, commented: “I don’t think I’ve ever left a recipe review before, but I had to for this one… this has to be one of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever made. It’s everything you want from a chocolate cake. It’s incredibly soft, moist, and tender. It’s SO delicious. ★★★★★“
Why Bake With Guinness?
You don’t have to like beer to love this cake. Dark, smooth, and creamy, with roast coffee and caramel undertones, Guinness stout is often used in baking and almost always paired with chocolate. The two work well together because Guinness, like coffee, intensifies chocolate’s natural flavor. Desserts like Guinness cupcakes and Guinness brownies don’t taste like beer, just a more complex chocolate with a malty background.
We’re also incorporating the Guinness flavor in the chocolate cream cheese frosting, which is sweet and silky and complements the dark, fudgy chocolate cake perfectly.
So, to review:
Why You’ll Love It
- Chocolate cake is rich, moist, and fudgy, with a hint of Guinness flavor
- Malty undertones with notes of caramel and coffee
- Extra creamy, silky chocolate cream cheese frosting also incorporates the reduced Guinness concentrate for another kiss of flavor
But, this is baking. And, as I often say, baking is a science. You can’t just pour a couple of beers into cake batter. So how can we pack real Guinness flavor into chocolate cake and frosting, without turning everything into soup? The trick is to reduce the beer on the stove first, to concentrate the flavor into a small amount of liquid.
Best Way to Make Guinness Chocolate Cake: Reduce the Beer
The heat evaporates the liquid (and cooks off the alcohol), but leaves the flavor. We also do this with champagne in my mimosa cupcakes and champagne frosting. And with strawberries in my strawberry cake, too.
This step is really easy. Pour 2 bottles of Guinness stout into a large saucepan. Let it come up to just boiling—keep a close eye on it, because it will foam up a lot at first—then turn down the heat and leave it to simmer for about 30 minutes, until it’s reduced to just about 3/4 cup (180g/ml). You’ll be left with less liquid, but more flavor.
Will your kitchen smell like a brewery? Yes. Will the smell of baking chocolate cake quickly overpower it? Also yes.
- Success tip: Use a larger saucepan/pot than you think you need, with high sides. When the beer starts boiling, it will get very foamy and threaten to boil over. Reduce the heat to low; then, as the foam settles back down, slowly increase heat to medium.
Once the Guinness is simmering away, start mixing together the rest of the cake ingredients.
Other Ingredients in Guinness Chocolate Cake
Let’s quickly review the other ingredients you’ll be mixing with the reduced Guinness, and why each is crucial to your results:
- All-Purpose Flour: The structural base of this recipe. Cake flour is great for vanilla cake; but when combined with ultra-light cocoa powder, it’s too fine for this cake. Stick to all-purpose here.
- Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder: Do not use dutch-process cocoa powder. If you’re interested, see dutch-process vs natural cocoa powder for an in-depth explanation. Save your dutch-process cocoa for a batch of homemade brownies instead!
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens this cake.
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder: This is a fairly dense cake, but these 2 leavening agents provide the lift.
- Espresso Powder: Espresso powder accentuates the chocolate and Guinness flavors. You can find it in the coffee aisle at the grocery store or online.
- Salt & Vanilla Extract: Flavor and more flavor!
- Vegetable Oil: Cocoa powder is a particularly drying ingredient, so oil is needed to ensure the cake is moist.
- Eggs: Eggs add structure and bind the ingredients together.
- Sour Cream + Buttermilk: While you could use just one or the other, you’ll have the best success with a combination of both, which makes for a moist and soft yet sturdy crumb.
Whisk together the dry ingredients, whisk together the wet ingredients, then pour the wet mixture into dry and whisk to combine. The last step for the cake batter is to add in the hot reduced Guinness. We’ll use 1/2 cup (120g/ml) of hot reduced Guinness in the cake batter, and set aside the remaining to cool completely for the frosting.
Why use hot liquid? Hot liquid helps the cocoa powder “bloom,” drawing out its rich flavor. We use hot coffee in this chocolate cake and these cream-filled cupcakes, but today we’re using reduced Guinness instead.
Chocolate Guinness Cream Cheese Frosting
I started with this recipe for smooth and silky chocolate cream cheese frosting, and simply swapped cooled Guinness concentrate for the heavy cream. That’s it—my team and I didn’t test anything further because this Guinness-hinted frosting was creamy, tangy, chocolatey, and PERFECT.
I also decorate the cake with gold shimmer sprinkles, the same I use on these St. Patrick’s Day cookies. Totally optional.
Draught vs. Extra Stout—Which Type of Guinness to Use
Guinness Draught is richer and creamier, because it’s carbonated with nitrogen. It has an ABV of 4.2%. Extra Stout is a little sharper and crisper, because it’s carbonated with carbon dioxide like most beers. ABV is a bit higher, at 5.6%. Either one works in this recipe.
Guinness Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 27 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours (includes chilling)
- Yield: serves 12-16
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
The BEST way to impart real Guinness flavor into chocolate cake is to reduce it down on the stove first. This packs in flavor without altering the cake’s texture. You can also prepare this chocolate layer cake as a sheet cake. See recipe Note.
Ingredients
Cake
- two 11.2–12-ounce (330–355ml) bottles of Guinness Draught Stout beer
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3/4 cup (62g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 and 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder (optional)
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil (or canola oil or melted coconut oil)
- 3/4 cup (180g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk*, at room temperature
Frosting
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature*
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 and 1/2 cups (300g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3 Tablespoons (45g/ml) reduced Guinness, from step 1
- pinch salt
- optional: gold sprinkles for garnish
Instructions
- Reduce the Guinness: In a large saucepan, bring the Guinness to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce to medium-low heat and allow to simmer until reduced down to about 3/4 cup (180g/ml), about 30 minutes. Begin making the cake batter once the Guinness is simmering. You’ll use 1/2 cup (120g/ml) of the hot reduced Guinness in the cake batter, and set aside the rest to cool for the frosting. You can do this step 2 to 3 days ahead of time if needed—see Note.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease two 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
- Make the cake: While the Guinness is simmering, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder (if using) together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or you can use a whisk) mix the oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla together on medium-high speed until combined. Add the buttermilk and mix until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, give it a quick mix/whisk, then add 1/2 cup (120g/ml) of hot reduced Guinness. Mix or whisk on low speed until the batter is completely combined. Batter is thin. If it helps, you should have about 6 cups or 1250g of cake batter total.
- Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake for 25–28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Note: Even if they’re completely done, the cooled cakes may slightly sink in the center. Cocoa powder is simply not as structurally strong as all-purpose flour and can’t hold up to all the moisture necessary to make a moist chocolate cake. It’s normal!)
- Remove the cakes from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely in the pans.
- Make the frosting: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, 3 Tablespoons (45g/ml) cooled reduced Guinness, and a pinch of salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 1 full minute. Do not over-whip. Add a couple more Tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder if frosting is too thin, or 1 more Tablespoon of cooled reduced Guinness if frosting is too thick. Taste. Add another pinch of salt if desired.
- Assemble and frost: If cooled cakes are domed on top, use a large serrated knife to slice a thin layer off the tops to create a flat surface. This is called “leveling” the cakes. Discard or crumble over finished cake. Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand or serving plate. Using a large icing spatula or small offset spatula, evenly cover the top with about 1 cup (about 250g) of frosting. Top with 2nd layer and spread remaining frosting all over the top and sides. A bench scraper is helpful for smoothing out the sides. I usually go lighter on the sides of the cake, to have leftover frosting for piping around the top. (Piping is optional.) If desired, garnish top of cake with sprinkles.
- Refrigerate uncovered cake for at least 30–60 minutes before slicing to help set the shape. After that, you can serve the cake or continue refrigerating for up to 4–6 hours before serving. Cake can be served at room temperature or chilled.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days. I like using a cake carrier for storing and transporting.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can reduce the Guinness 2-3 days ahead of time. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate. Bring reduced beer to room temperature before using in the frosting, and heat 1/2 cup in the microwave or on the stove until hot to use in the cake batter. To make the cake ahead of time: Prepare cake through step 6. Wrap the individual baked and cooled cake layers tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature then continue with step 7. You can prepare the frosting 2–3 days in advance. Cover and refrigerate, then bring to room temperature before spreading onto/assembling the cake. Frosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or serve cold.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Round Cake Pans | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cake Turntable | Large Icing Spatula or Small Offset Spatula| Bench Scraper | Gold Shimmer Sprinkles | Cake Carrier (for storing)
- Cocoa Powder: Use natural cocoa powder in the cake batter, not dutch-process. (See dutch-process vs natural cocoa powder for more information.) Because there is no leavening occurring in frosting, you can use either natural or dutch-process in the frosting.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is required for this recipe. You can make your own DIY buttermilk substitute if needed. Add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough room-temperature whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 1/2 cup (120ml). (In a pinch, lower fat or nondairy milks work for this soured milk, but the cake won’t taste as moist or rich.) Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe.
- Amount of Cake Batter: This recipe (and the sour cream version) yields about 6 cups of batter, which is helpful if you need it for different Cake Pan Sizes & Conversions.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read more about why room temperature ingredients are important.
- Why hot liquid? You want the reduced Guinness to be hot when you add it to the rest of the cake batter, to help the cocoa powder “bloom.” This makes for the best chocolate flavor.
- 9×13-inch Pan: You can bake this cake as a sheet cake in a 9×13-inch baking pan. Same oven temperature, about 35–40 minutes bake time.
- Guinness Cupcakes: Here is my recipe for chocolate Guinness cupcakes with mocha Guinness buttercream.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Excellent moist chocolate cake! I brought it to a birthday party and everyone enjoyed it. I made the cake exactly as noted but I elected to have a white frosting to have it resemble foam. Instead of adding three tablespoons of the concentrated guiness to the frosting, I added two tablespoons plus one tablespoon of Irish whiskey.
A truly delicious cake. Moist, chocolaty, decedent and moreish. Sadly mine did not have even a hint of Guinness flavour and my frosting was a quite loose. Any help or guidance you could give me to rectify this would be very welcome.
How much batter will this recipe make? I need to make a 3 later, 6″ barrel cake. Wondering if this is enough batter for this
Thanks!
Hi Donna, this will be a bit too much batter for a 3 layer, 6-inch cake. You could use this cake pan sizes and conversions guide to scale it down, or you can simply make the batter written, filling your cake pans half way and using any leftover batter for a few cupcakes on the side. And here is our 6-inch cakes post for bake time details. Enjoy!
This is the most delicious chocolate cake I have ever made. I added raspberry filling and Italian buttercream frosting. It must have been the Guinness.
I made this cake yesterday for my mom’s 80th birthday & it got RAVE reviews! I live at ~8,000 ft above sea level & I missing a couple of ingredients, so I had to make several adjustments:
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. reduced Guinness (I used non-alcoholic Guinness)
1 cup bread flour (what I had on hand)
SCANT 1 cup cake flour (what I had)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
HEAVY 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
SCANT 1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
3/4 cup plant-based sour cream (what I had)
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. buttermilk
I baked it at 365 degF for 20 minutes & that temperature/time was just right for my oven.
Both cakes did deflate a bit in the middle, but not any ridiculous degree. When I make this again, I will either use all-purpose flour or increase the bread flour while reducing the cake flour to reduce the crumbliness. I think using full-fat, real sour cream would’ve probably helped with that too. I think I will also add espresso powder, I suspect it would be delicious!
I made the frosting according to the directions & it was awesome. The chocolate cake plus the chocolate frosting was a LOT of chocolate.
Hi! Would I be able to cut this in half and bake a 9×9 cake? Or is that I’ll-advised?
Hi Sam! Here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions.
Can you substitute espresso powder with black coffee?
Hi Angelica, if you don’t have espresso powder you can leave it out. We don’t recommend adding additional liquids to the batter.
Hi sally!!! Mum loving the look of this cake, but I’m wondering if it would be any good for a 6” 4 layer tall cake?? Or will it be too crumbly to stack???
Thank you in advance
Hi Natalie, you should be able to use this cake for a 4 layer cake, yes. If it seems a little wobbly you can always add dowels for support.
Ah great!!! Thank you for such a quick response!!!
I have a friends birthday which I’m looking forwards to trying this for. I’ll report back !!
Hi, could this be eggless and alcohol free?
Hi Tee, eggs and Guinness are key ingredients in this cake. We recommend looking for an eggless and alcohol free cake recipe instead of adapting this one. Thanks!
I would love to try this recipe, but I am really struggling to find the right cocoa powder in Ireland any suggestions for a substitution? Thank you.
Hi JW, it’s important to use natural cocoa powder in the cake batter, not dutch-process. (See dutch-process vs natural cocoa powder for more information.) Can you order any online by chance? Because there is no leavening occurring in frosting, you can use either natural or dutch-process in the frosting. Hope you can give it a try soon!
Can I use cacao ?Unfortunately do not have time to order it online. It seems to be tough to find in Ireland.
Hi JW, You can use raw cacao powder in recipes calling for natural cocoa powder, but the two taste different, so the intended taste of this cake will be slightly different.
Natural cocoa powder is really hard to find in Ireland, quite an America thing. I’ve got it from nutsinbulk.ie, but you have to buy 500g.
There is currently a Guinness shortage, can I use some other beer?
Hi Zehava, You can certainly try a different beer (we’d recommend a stout) but we haven’t tested any.
I made this as a birthday cake and it was AMAZING!
According to the conversion, a 10” spring form pan has the correct volume (12 c) to handle the 6 c of cake batter. I’m just worried about burning it — I saw someone used a Bundt pan with success. Thoughts?
This was incredible and had the added bonus of making my house smell like the Guinness factory. I made it for book club and it was a big hit. This is now my go to chocolate cake recipe!
The Chocolate Guinness cake is delicious however I followed the recipe exactly reducing the beer to the desired amount and I couldn’t taste it at all. The cake still has a rich chocolate flavor and every step of the recipe was spot on so the only reason I give 4 stars instead of 5 is I would expect to taste a hint of Guinness since that’s what I was hoping for. Otherwise it looked perfectly beautiful and tasted great.
P.S. I also used a 9×13 cake pan (we moved and I still need to locate all my stuff). I baked at 350 and had to add 9 minutes to the time starting with 28 minutes. Worked great.
My Birthday is Saint Patrick’s Day and I made this for myself yesterday. It is REALLY GOOD! I used non-alcoholic beer and had to use Olive Oil. It is a favorite cake of my daughter and I really did this as a practice run for her Birthday. Highly recommend!
Absolutely wonderful! I’ve made several stout cakes over the years for St. Patrick’s Day and this is by far the best! I have never used beer in frosting before and wasn’t sure how it would taste but the flavors worked perfectly together! Great tip on reducing the beer also. Definitely will be making this again! Another dynamic creation from Sally!
Delicious chocolate cake, possibly the best homemade cake I have ever made. I am reviewing the cake only as I used a different frosting. I tasted the cake scraps from leveling to sample. While I rarely bake cakes from scratch this will become my go to when I do. I admit I was a little hesitant to even try due to the Guinness but I am glad I gave it a go. It tasted like a rich dark chocolate cake. I did not think it was overly bitter like a few reviews I read. If I had not known it contained Guinness I would not have guessed it. I think this cake would pair nicely with a variety of frostings or none at all.
The cake and frosting pairing are really wonderful together. It’s not too sweet, and the reduced Guinness adds richness and complexity. I wanted to add that I used Dutch process cocoa in the cake and it rose perfectly fine. There’s enough acidity in the buttermilk and sour cream to react with the baking soda.
I’m making this cake now, in honor of my Dad’s St. Patrick’s Day birthday. He passed two years ago, but I miss him like crazy and I bet he’d love this cake!
I’m hoping to make the frosting vanilla instead of chocolate. Would I still add the guinness if I’m not adding chocolate? And would I add a tsp of vanilla extract?
Thanks so much. I always love Sally’s recipes. I have no doubt this one will be a winner.
Hi Brenda, you could certainly use regular cream cheese frosting instead and use some reduced Guinness for the liquid. Please do let us know how it goes—we hope it’s a special way to remember your Dad!
Made this as my birthday cake this year — and WOW. It is not an exaggeration to say this was the most delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever made or tasted. And I’ve made many versions of Sally’s chocolate cakes (and her other non-chocolate cakes). Like the post mentions, it did not taste of beer. (Even my kids loved it.) I’ve never had chocolate cream cheese frosting, and I loved how velvety and chocolatey it was; however, the cake was the real star. Perfect texture, beautifully moist and strong chocolate flavor. Nothing worse than baking a chocolate cake and it doesn’t taste of chocolate! I will also mention that I used 2 8″ pans as I prefer thicker cake layers, and it worked wonderfully.
Thank you for another great recipe! I used this recipe for cupcakes for St Patrick’s Day today & everyone loved them. The smell of the Guinness cooking down brought back memories of my Gran. Thank you!
Made this for a birthday cake with a St. Paddy’s theme. I was a little nervous about the Guinness, but it was so perfect. I don’t even like chocolate cake, but even thought it was delicious. It’s important to follow the directions almost exactly with this one, although I do always use less powdered sugar than what Sally calls for.
This cake is very moist and delicious. I did not have enough cocoa powder for the frosting so I used Williams Sonoma Dark Chocolate hot cocoa mix and the frosting was delicious too. I made it in a 9×13 pan so I could split it to take 1/2 to a neighborhood party in a couple days. I will definitely make this again.
Well, Sally you did it again! A FANTASTIC recipe. I did not have espresso powder or Guinness in the house, but I did have a craft beer from Divine Barrel brewing. The brew is called Campfire Fairy Tales, a Porter with marshmallow, vanilla, cocoa nibs Graham cracker and cinnamon notes. The cake has a beautiful moist crumb and delicious not too sweet flavor.
I only had half of a brick of cream cheese so I only made half of the frosting recipe, frosted the top and filled the cake between layers. A wonderfu cake!
Absolutely delicious. Nice depth of flavor without being heavy. Everyone loved it.
I will never bake with Guiness again. The bitter taste aftertaste it gives the cake & frosting is horrible.
Skill Issue Eliane. Get good. Your comment left me with a bitter aftertaste. This cake is delicious.
I won first place at a St Paddy’s Day party last night with this Guinness Chocolate Cake. Every recipe I make from Sally’s is a winner and this was no exception!
Would it work to make this cake in a Bundt pan?
Hi Jodie, We have not tested this cake as a Bundt cake but it would probably work. Same oven temperature but we are unsure of the bake time. Let us know if you give it a try!
I made it for a teacher potluck at school today in a Bundt pan. It was a big hit! I baked it at 350 for about 50 min.
Did you try the Bundt pan? Curious how long you baked it and how it turned out. I would like to do the same!