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).

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.

I didn’t use Springform, used 9 inch silicone round pan. Had to cook twice a long. I also used the Nigella butter ratio. This cake came out beautiful - so rich and chocolately! Real show stopper for a dinner party

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)!