Guinness Chocolate Cake

This rich, fudgy Guinness chocolate cake is layered with a decadent caramel chocolate fudge frosting. Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, but delicious enough for any celebration.

I urge you to use Guinness in your chocolate cake because the coffee, malt, and cherry flavors complement both the rich chocolate cake and the smooth caramel fudge frosting. This Guinness chocolate cake is so delicious that you will want to make it all year round, not just on St. Patrick’s Day!

For more festive St. Patty’s Day recipes try my Irish stew, traditional Irish soda bread with raisins or Irish brown bread, and a soft, pillowy loaf of potato bread.

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Professional Tips for Making Guinness Chocolate Cake

• Use room temperature ingredients. Use room-temperature butter, eggs, and sour cream for the best-textured cake. This will aid in the emulsion and help create a more tender crumb. 
• Make sure the cake is fully cooled before frosting. If it is even slightly warm, the heat will melt the caramel fudge frosting, which will slide right off the cake. 
• Don’t over-whisk the fudge frosting. It is made with a ganache base so that overwhisking can break the ganache. If this happens, you can try to save it by adding a small amount of cold heavy cream and folding it in. 
• Serve at room temperature. I know we say this about most cakes, but when it comes to this one, it is a must! Both the caramel fudge frosting and chocolate cake taste best at room temperature. 

Ingredients & Substitutions 

For the cake: 

• Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder: Dutch-processed cocoa powder is unsweetened cocoa powder that has been treated with an alkaline solution. This neutralizes the acidity, which means it will not react with baking soda or baking powder. It has a rich, deep flavor and a darker color, but you can use natural cocoa powder if that is all you have on hand.
• Bittersweet Chocolate: I love bittersweet chocolate because it helps balance some of the sweetness in the cake. Dark chocolate may be substituted in a pinch. Just use a higher percentage, like 60% or above, to keep the cake from being overly sweet. 
• Espresso Powder: Espresso powder enhances the chocolate and the Guinness in the cake. 
• Guinness Beer: The recipe only uses ¾ cup so open the beer, measure it, and then enjoy the rest! You could, of course, use the remainder to make these St Patrick’s Day cupcakes! 
• All-purpose Flour
• Kosher Salt
• Baking Soda
• Sour Cream: Sour cream has just enough moisture to hydrate the flour and fat to inhibit the gluten formation. It is acidic, and its job is to react with baking soda to create a perfect rise. Greek yogurt may be substituted, but use full-fat Fage yogurt for the best-textured cake.
• Unsalted Butter
• Light Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar adds sweetness and a little moisture, keeping the cake softer while adding a nice, rich molasses flavor. You may also use dark brown sugar or granulated sugar. 
• Vanilla Extract 
• Eggs: Whole eggs add fat, moisture, and leavening when beaten into the creamed butter and sugar. They also emulsify the batter, which helps create a tender texture. 

For the frosting: 

• Heavy Cream: I suggest using a full-fat (40%) heavy cream because it doesn’t break as easily as lighter whipping creams. The fat also helps create a rich and smooth frosting. 
• Light Corn Syrup: Light corn syrup thickens the frosting like sugar but isn’t as sweet. It will also create a thicker, smoother texture. You can also substitute honey.  
• Dark Chocolate: I prefer chocolate with at least 54% cocoa solids but up to 65% to balance the sweetness of the frosting.
• Vanilla Extract
• Kosher Salt
• Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
• Butter
• Caramel Sauce: You can use my homemade  salted caramel sauce or buy store-bought. If you make the caramel from scratch, make extra! Then you can make my salted caramel cupcakes, caramel pudding, caramel apple tart, or my salted caramel butter bars. 

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Possible Variations 

• Change the frosting. Pair this chocolate Guinness cake with caramel Swiss meringue buttercream, cream cheese buttercream frosting, or my chocolate buttercream frosting recipe. It would also be delightful with the bourbon cream cheese frosting from my red velvet cake. 
• Make it into a sheet cake. You can bake this cake in a 9×13 pan or a half-sheet tray. Line the tray with crisscrossing parchment paper for easy removal. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. 
• Add decorations. Decorate this cake with fun St. Patrick’s Day sprinkles chocolate shavings, or pipe the fudge frosting in a decorative border. 
• Mix-ins. Mix chocolate chips, white chocolate, butterscotch chips, or frozen cherries into the cake batter. 

How to Make Guinness Chocolate Cake

Use these instructions to make a perfectly rich Guinness chocolate cake! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Make the Guinness chocolate cake:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter or spray the insides of 2, 9-inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray, and line the bottoms of each with a parchment circle. 

Step 2: Combine cocoa powder, chopped chocolate, and espresso powder in a large heat-proof mixing bowl. 

Step 3: Bring Guinness to just barely boiling in a small saucepan. Step 4: Pour hot Guinness over the chocolate mixture and let sit for a minute to melt the chocolate.

Step 5: Whisk the chocolate mixture until completely smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature. 

Step 6: While the chocolate is cooling, combine flour, salt, and baking soda together in a small bowl and whisk. 

Step 7: When the chocolate mixture is cool, whisk in the sour cream.

You could also play God and cool the chocolate by adding cold sour cream, but that is your choice. 

Step 8: Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together on medium speed in a large bowl with an electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until pale and fluffy. If your butter isn’t room temperature, cream the butter by itself until it is light and fluffy. 

Step 9:  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Wiping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. 

The batter may seem to separate, but that is okay! It’s from the ratio of eggs to butter, and it will happen no matter how room temperature your ingredients are. 

Step 10: Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour and chocolate mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. To prevent overmixing and tunneling in your cake, fold the remaining dry ingredients in by hand. 

Step 11: Divide the cake batter between prepared cake pans. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick or cake tester comes out with some crumbs still attached; 30-35 minutes. 

Step 12: Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack, then run a paring knife or small offset spatula around the edges. Turn out on a wire rack to cool completely. 

Prepare the caramel fudge frosting: 

Step 14: While the cakes cool, prepare the frosting. In a large heat-proof bowl, add chopped chocolate, vanilla extract, and salt. 

Due to the amount of heavy cream in this recipe, I recommend chopping the chocolate even if you are using chocolate chips. The cream might cool faster than it can melt the chocolate. I had to microwave on 50% power in 10-second intervals to finish melting the chocolate in my ganache. This is not the best practice! 

Step 15: In a small saucepan, bring the whipping cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate, shake to distribute, and cover the chocolate. Allow to sit for 2 minutes.

Step 16: Slowly whisk, starting from the center and working your way out to create an emulsion.

Step 17: Sift in the cocoa powder and whisk to incorporate. You can also add it before the cream, but it tends to clump and create lumps that will not come out. Whisking enough to smooth them out risks breaking the emulsion. 

Step 18: Add butter to the still hot ganache. Switch to a silicone spatula and gently stir in one direction until all the butter has melted and incorporated into the ganache. 

Step 19: Stir in the salted caramel sauce. I used 1 cup, but you can add to taste if preferred.

Step 20: Cover the surface with plastic and allow to cool to room temperature. You can speed it up by putting it in the fridge and stirring it every 10 minutes. I recommend doing this if your room is warm. Mine was about 70°F, so it cooled to room temperature in a little under 2 hours. At 70°F the fudge frosting will hold beautiful lines. 

Assemble the cake: 

Step 21:Place one layer of cake on your favorite cake platter or cake stand. Add about 1 cup cooled frosting on the top and spread out into an even layer.

Step 22: Add the second cooled cake layer on top. Add another cup of frosting on the top, spreading it out and allowing it to extend over the edges. Using an offset or straight metal cake spatula, add a nice layer of frosting to the sides of the cake. Add additional frosting to the top and swirl as desired. 

Step 24: Serve room temperature or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. The cake will gradually lose moisture, so I love to make it the day before or the same day it will be served. You can also make the cake layers, cool them, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze for 1 month before assembling. Allow the cake to come to room temperature for the optimal texture. 

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this chocolate cake recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed cake recipes like my moist yellow cake or dive into caramel with this caramel brownie recipe.