Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Buttercream

Do you like dark, deep, rich chocolate? A moist, heavy and delicious cake, with notes of coffee and cocoa topped with a dreamy buttercream. Say hello to Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Buttercream.

Obviously, you can make this for St. Patrick’s day, but really, do you need an excuse to make a dark, rich chocolate cake? Nope! So be bold and brave and make this any ol’ time of year!

I enjoy giving precise details in my recipe posts to lead my readers through any questions. If you’re just here for the printable recipe, use the Jump to Recipe to head straight there!

I’ve had this recipe for ages, the one note I should have made on it years ago, was the recipe recommends using a 9″ springform pan, 10″ would be better as the recipe tends to rise quickly, then sink, that extra inch of real estate would allow for it to rise without oozing over the sides of the pan.

Why you should bake with beer

• Baking with beer starts with flavor and moves into science. Because of its carbonation, beer assists in leavening baked goods, which is why Beer Bread is so darned tasty!
• When used as the liquid in a recipe, it gives extra lift and tender texture to breads and cakes.
• If you’re new to baking with beer; porters and stouts are the best place to begin. Because they’re brewed with dark roasted malt, they lend flavor notes of cocoa and coffee, ideal for chocolate desserts!
• Porter leans more toward chocolate and malted flavors with less bitterness. Stouts offer a more intense bitter coffee flavor and are often higher in alcohol. This is a great post from King Arthur Flour

What Can I Substitute for Guinness in Cooking

• If you are still talking beer, any porter or stout will still work. Try a Vanilla Porter, Chocolate Milk Stout, or your favorite!
• If you are looking to replace beer with a non-alcoholic liquid, these are my suggestions, based on some research, though I have never tried them. There are some sites that suggest substituting with cola or Dr. Pepper style of soda, but soda has sooo much more sugar than Guinness does, so please do not substitute with a full sugar soda.
• Instead, if you must, use a sugar free darker soda, my suggestion would be a natural soda that is sugar free, such as Zevia or Blue Sky.
• You may also use seltzer water or soda water.

Tips for baking with beer

• Freshly opened, room-temperature beer is best. Pour it out and let it sit for 5 minutes before adding to the recipe. This lets the foam dissipate and releases some of the carbonation.
• Beer works better with full-fat dairy. It’s acidic and can curdle lower-fat ingredients.
• Beer desserts are best when fresh. Beer can alter the flavors of the baked good over time, so if possible, bake and serve on the same day. Or keep unfrosted baked goods in airtight container for 5 days, refrigerate and bring to room temperature if frosted.

Ingredients for Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Buttercream

• Guinness or dark stout or porter, room temperature
• Butter – I used Kerrygold Irish butter, regular butter is fine, but make sure
• Cocoa powder – I used organic Dutch processed cocoa
• Sugar – I used all natural cane sugar, superfine or regular granulated sugar should all work
• Sour cream – full fat – see note on baking with beer
• Eggs – I always use large eggs at room temperature in my baking
• Vanilla extract – try my bourbon vanilla extract
• All purpose flour – my flour is always unbleached, usually organic all-purpose flour
• Baking Soda – Be sure your baking soda is fresh
• One recipe Irish Cream Buttercream

How to Make Guinness Chocolate Cake

While this recipe might seem complex, it’s really very simple, no creaming of butter; instead, it’s melting, stirring, a bit of whisking, and pouring pretty much in one pan. You can do this!

Step 1 | Prep Pan and Oven

Preheat oven to 350°F (176° C) and butter and line a 10″ springform baking pan with parchment paper (invert pan onto sheet of parchment, trace a circle, cut it out, then spray and dust pan with cocoa powder for best release.

Step 2 | Make Cake Base

Pour the Guinness (or other dark beer) into a large saucepan, adding the butter cut into slices. Heat until butter is melted. Once melted, whisk in cocoa powder and sugar, whisking gently until incorporated and dissolved.

Step 3 | Finish Chocolate Guinness Cake Batter

Beat the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla in a small bowl until creamy and smooth. Pour into the buttery beer batter, whisking until smooth. Finally, whisk in flour and baking soda. DO NOT OVERMIX, mix until combined, might be a few lumps and that’s okay.

Step 4 | Bake Guinness chocolate cake

Pour batter into greased and lined springform pan; if the pan is really full, place it on a half-sheet pan to protect the oven from spillage. Bake on the center rack in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove once the toothpick inserted comes out without crumbs.

Allow cooling completely in the spring form pan on a cooling rack; once cooled, the cake may be wrapped and frozen until ready to frost.

Making Irish Buttercream

If you choose to frost your Guinness cake, be sure to cool the cake completely in the springform pan before frosting. PS. This would be delicious just dressed in a little whipped cream or with a dusting of powdered sugar, like this Easy Chocolate Loaf cake.

Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitting with the paddle attachment for 1-2 minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar with the mixer on low, alternating with a bit of Bailey’s Irish cream, vanilla, espresso powder and salt. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, scrape the sides of the bowl and turn the mixer on medium-high speed, beating buttercream for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.

How to Prevent a Fudgy Cake from Sinking

Sometimes cakes sink! It’s a fact of life, especially for those of us living at high altitude! Here are a few tips to help prevent sinking cake syndrome.

• Make sure your oven is at the correct temperature, ovens vary a lot! Mine runs a bit cool, invest in a decent oven thermometer.
• Be sure your baking powder is fresh. It should last about 9-12 months covered and stored in a cool cupboard, but can you test freshness? Yes, and it’s simple. Stir half a teaspoon of baking powder into a cup of hot water. It should immediately start to fizz and release carbon dioxide gas if it’s still fresh enough to use.
• For baking soda, if it’s past the best by date, it is still good and won’t hurt you, though it will lose some potency over time. I write the open date on the lids for my baking powder and baking soda and typically toss it if I haven’t used it (or use to clean a drain) within 6 months.
• Be sure to scoop and level your dry ingredients properly.
• Avoid over-mixing the batter, especially the eggs.
• Bake the batter soon after mixing.
• Bake in the center of your oven and don’t open the oven door unnecessarily.
• Lastly, don’t underbake or over bake the cake. A cake tester or toothpick should come out clean!

How to Fix a Sunken Cake

In fact, this cake DID sink, but instead of re-baking the perfect cake, I wanted to show how easy it is to fix a “sunken” cake.

This is an extremely moist and rich cake recipe, so if your cake does sink slightly in the center don’t worry. It’s definitely not ruined! Simply use a serrated knife to level off the cake for a flat layer, save those sliced-off pieces. Give them to your family to enjoy or freeze and crumble over ice cream!

You can get all fancy and pipe or frost the entire cake, I chose instead to frost the cake a little more willy-nilly (that’s a word, right?) resembling the black and tan look of a pint of Guinness with the foam on top.

Best Main Dishes to Serve with Guinness Chocolate Cake

Personally, this cake goes with just about any dinner, but we’ll focus on a few hearty main dishes that also feature some beer for a beautiful compliment.

And be sure to check out all of my comfort food recipes that will make this chocolate Guinness cake with Bailey’s frosting shine.

Great drinks to serve with Guinness Chocolate Cake

Because every great dessert deserves a great drink to enjoy along with it.

Be sure to check out all of my drink recipes.

More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes You’ll Enjoy

Whether you host a St. Paddy’s day party, or just want to enjoy some delicious food from the Emerald Isle, I’ve got numerous from main dishes, desserts, sides and drinks for you! Check out my St. Patrick’s Day Recipes post.

More Chocolate Recipes You Need to Try

• Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
• Crumbl Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
• Best White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake

I hope you loved this Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish buttercream — if you did, would you share your creation on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest? And be sure to comment below!