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.

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).

Used 1 3/4 cups regular sugar, half tsp salt in cake and quarter tsp salt in frosting. Used Bailey's instead of cream in frosting to moisten--didn't take much. I served it last night and folks loved it. Very moist and I could definitely detect the slight malty bitterness of the Guiness

Thanks, Queenoid, for the high altitude adjustments. Worked well!Texture and deep, slightly bitter chocolate flavor are spot on. Will be making this again SOON.Recipe also works well in a bundt pan

I made this cake twice in the past two weeks for gatherings- -the second time today for Easter Sunday. The crowds loved it, the thick chocolate, the delicious cream cheese icing equally.BUT and this is a big but, both times the middle sunk as if it were a fallen soufflé. I measured perfectly. The stove is flawless. Please, someone suggest how to rectify the center falling, not greatly but enough to cause me to seek help here. I want it perfect.

Added 1/4 tsp salt, used regular sugar, baked for 50 mins in 9.5 springform pan, released from the pan after about an hour. I think the frosting could use some vanilla and I also used about 2-3 tablespoons of half&half, you don’t need heavy cream or a half cup, that’s too much. Came out great, moist and dense. Used regular Guinness, but will try chocolate stout next time. Easy to make, I baked it day before.

Needs salt.

Made the cake according to the recipe using King Arthur’s black cocoa powder and it wasn’t chocolatey at all. Bit of a disappointment. I might try again but use a chocolate stout.

The topping instructions are incorrect. The original recipe asks you to whip the cream first, not pour it in as liquid.

easier by weight:~ 150 grams Guinness~ 135 grams olive oil (save the butter for a recipe that can’t do without it)~ 90 grams of cocoa~ 200 grams of confectioner’s sugar~ 190 grams of sour cream~ 240 grams of all-purpose flour~ 15 grams of baking sodabig bowl, mix everything except flour and baking sodamix flour and baking soda in a separate bowl to ensure well mixedmix flour/baking soda into everything elsebake and remove when tester comes out clean or ~200 internal temperature

Made the cake according to the recipe and it was delicious, moist, chocolaty! The frosting needed some flavor in my opinion so I added vanilla and a pinch of salt - made a world of difference!

I found the amount of cream made for a very runny icing and had to redo it. No saving it. Would adjust to 1-2tbsp

This cake was very easy to make but not very flavorful. Pretty meh. It sort of leaves a weird aftertaste, but that could be because I used Hersheys cocoa powder and didn’t splurge on a better brand.

Did anyone else have a problem with the topping being way too thin? I consulted some other frosting recipes and it took a pound of powdered of sugar to get anything spreadable with the stated amount of cream cheese and heavy cream.

I used regular sugar and salted butter, added a couple of pinches of kosher salt, and baked for 45-50 minutes. Yes, the middle sunk, but no harm was done; just a little more delicious topping went on that section. I whipped the cream prior to adding it to the confectioner's sugar and cream cheese. Otherwise, I followed the directions. I generally have no luck with baking, but this turned out great. I also used a high-quality cocoa powder; it was worth it.

The New York Times doesn't specify refrigerating the cake after its frosted but you should. The original from Nigella makes it clear and an experienced baker would know but the recipe should say

Delicious! I could have ate it all in one sitting. I swapped out Guinness for a cinnamon dolce nitro stout I had on hand. The cake seemed a little dry but with the frosting and a little ice cream, I loved it. Ended up freezing slices individually for when I need a treat. The frosting and the cake came out of the freezer beautifully.