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.

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).

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?"

Whaddaya think- could I get away with using a NEIPA in lieu of the stout? Don’t feel like running out to pick up a different beer.

Somewhere in here I believe I posted a lukewarm review. I wish to take it back. This cake gets better each day and by day 3 I was SOLD. Admittedly the stout flavor is subtle. But the cake stayed moist and fresh-tasting for almost a full week. I added salt to the dry ingredients. I would sweeten the frosting a bit more, or add a splash or two of my homemade Irish cream. The frosting technique gives the smoothest, satiny finish.

Don’t make my mistake: make sure you use regular cocoa powder (NOT dutch process)!

Easily backed off the sugar by a 1/3 and added the 1/2 tsp of salt suggested by others. Wonderful cake. Even better when the edge has time to stiffen into a sugary chocolate brownie like crunch. Wow!Used the nine inch springform pan with parchment paper.

This was outstanding! Made as directed other than used only a few tablespoons of milk (not cream) in the frosting plus a teaspoon of vanilla. Served a sour cherry compote on the side. Delicious!

Our favourite chocolate cake ever and we make it every St. Paddy’s Day. Perfection! (The icing is a runny mess, however. Use less cream. )

I made this for St. Patrick's Day and it was a big hit. People loved that it wasn't too sweet. The only changes I made were to use dark chocolate cocoa powder; and to sub half-and-half for the heavy cream, which made the frosting soft so I added a bit more powdered sugar. Also of note - it tastes great even a few days later!

This recipe made 96 mini cupcakes for me. Cooked on 325 convection for 9 minutes and they were perfect. I doubled the frosting recipe for the increased surface area but shouldn’t have. After tasting I felt each only needed a small dollop of frosting or it overpowered the cupcake.

I didn’t read all the notes, just 15 or so, and not one mentioned that if you add 1/2 cup of cream to the frosting, you’ll have a runny mess and need to add a lot more powdered sugar to thicken it. I do think it would be helpful to indicate in the ingredients something like, 1T to 1/2 cup of Heavy Cream. And then, in the instructions “add cream a little at a time to desired consistency.” I won’t be adding any cream next time as it didn’t need it.

Made this last week and it was amazing! Only thing I did differently was that I went to Nigella's website and found the recipe and added cornstarch to the frosting. Next time I think I'll try to add Bailey's and see how that is.

Delicious and moist. Added a little espresso powder. Frosting is too sweet. Better with just whipped cream or whipped cream and whole milk yogurt. Good just with sprinkled confectioner's sugar as well.

Has anyone used a Bundt pan?

Lucious but too much sugar--way too sweet. The recipe says the amount of butter was decreased. I will also use 1.5 cups of sugar rather than 2 (and possibly less on subsequent tries). And use half "raw" sugar which should add to the caramely taste of the stout. Otherwise terrific.

The Guinness adds a special zing. Definitely does not fit in an 8” spring form but filled with enough room to grow stayed moist and rich tasting.

Nigella Lawson’s recipe calls for 2 sticks butter plus 2 Tbsp. I used this recipe today calling for 1 stick plus 2. Frosting it tomorrow. We shall see.