This recipe involves chocolate AND booze. It doesn’t get much better than that.
What better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Or just any day, really. Because some days require chocolate & beer. And that might be because you’re celebrating something great… or because it’s been a long day.
The cake component of this recipe is super simple. You don’t even need an electric mixer! So you only have to clean your stand mixer bowl once (for the frosting).
The cake base contains sour cream to give the cake a ton of richness and moisture and the Guinness beer as the liquid to give it that kind of deep, roasted, slightly coffee-like taste that pairs so wonderfully with chocolate.
Feel free to get creative with decorating this cake! We went for a ‘naked’ look where the sides of the cake peek through the frosting. That focuses the attention on that drippy chocolate topping. You could go crazy with green food coloring, shamrock sprinkles, or gold coins for a festive look.
Or keep it classic with chocolate shavings or even a drizzle of salted caramel for an extra tasty garnish.
How to Make Guinness Chocolate Cake with Irish Buttercream
How to Make MOIST Cake
Be very careful not to accidentally over-measure the flour and cocoa powder in this recipe. This will lead to dense, dry, or tough cake. The best way to ensure this never happens is to measure your ingredients by weight using a digital kitchen scale. This will forever improve your baking!
If you don’t have one, then use the spoon and level method to measure your dry ingredients.
How to Prevent Your Chocolate Cake from Sinking
Make sure your oven is at the correct temperature, your baking powder & soda are fresh, and that you’ve measured all ingredients properly. Avoid over-mixing the batter. Bake the batter soon after mixing it up (don’t let it sit for hours). Bake in the center of your oven and don’t open the oven door unnecessarily. Lastly, don’t underbake the cake. A cake tester or toothpick should come out clean!
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 or cake leveler to level off the cake for a flat layer.
Perfect Bailey’s Irish Cream Buttercream
Be sure your butter is completely at room temperature so it blends into a smooth buttercream icing. Also be sure to use finely ground powdered sugar. Not sure if you’ve got the right sugar? Check out my post on 6 Secrets to Perfect Buttercream.
Whatever you do, don’t skip sifting the sugar!! Otherwise you will end up with unattractive lumps. If you’d prefer to keep this recipe free of any un-cooked alcohol, feel free to replace the Irish Cream with regular cream.
Can I bake this with different sized baking pans?
Probably! You’ll just need to do a little math to adjust the timing and calculate the volume. Check out Wilton’s handy guide for converting cake baking pans.
How to Make Cake Ahead of Time
You can wrap unfrosted un-cut cooled cake layers completely in several layers of plastic wrap. Place inside a freezer bag. Store at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge (do not defrost at room temperature or you will end up with mushy cake).
How to Store Frosted Cake
Since frosting acts as a protective seal that keeps the cake moist and fresh, frosted cakes can be stored at a cool and dry room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Especially this frosting since it has some alcohol content to further preserve. Cover with a cake keeper to keep the frosting and decorating intact. Don’t use plastic wrap, which will not only ruin your frosting but also create condensation that can cause the frosting to separate.
More Chocolate Cake Recipes
For the Guinness Chocolate cake:
-
1 3/4
cups
(222 grams) all-purpose flour
-
2
cups
(400 grams) granulated sugar
-
3/4
cup
(64 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
-
2
teaspoons
baking soda
-
1/2
teaspoon
baking powder
-
1
teaspoon
fine salt
-
3/4
cup
(170 grams) sour cream or plain full fat yogurt
-
1/2
cup
fresh vegetable oil
-
3
large eggs, at room temperature
-
1
teaspoon
vanilla
-
1
cup
Guinness beer
For the Irish Buttercream:
-
4
sticks (454 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
-
6
cups
(750 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
-
1/4
cup
plus 2 tablespoons Irish cream,
such as Bailey’s
For the chocolate drip:
-
4
ounces
(113 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
-
1/2
cup
heavy cream
Make the cake:
-
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease two 8-inch cake pans and line with parchment rounds.
-
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
-
In a medium bowl whisk together the sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and beer.
-
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined.
-
Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans for 30 minutes before carefully turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. If possible, freeze the cakes while you prepare the buttercream.
Make the buttercream:
-
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar then the Irish cream. Beat the mixture on high speed until very light, fluffy, and smooth, about 3 minutes. If the frosting is too thick, add a splash more Irish cream. If it’s too thin, add some more powdered sugar.
-
Assemble:
-
Place one cake layer a cake stand or serving plate. Frost the top of the cake generously, as this will become the filling. Use even more if you're decorating as a 'naked' cake as shown in the photos. Top with the other cake layer, flat side up.
-
With an offset spatula, spread a very thin layer of frosting all over the cake. This layer is a crumb coat and should act like spackle. For the smoothest frosting, return the cake to the fridge or freezer until firm to the touch.
-
Spread the remaining frosting all over the cake. If desired, focus the frosting on the top to maintain the 'naked' look. Refrigerate while you prepare chocolate drip.
Make chocolate drip:
-
Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer then immediately remove from heat and pour over chocolate. You can also do this in the microwave. Cover for a few minutes then stir until smooth.
-
Allow to cool until it has thickened but is still pourable, about 10 minutes. Don’t place ganache in the fridge to cool. Test the consistency of the drip by pouring down the side of a glass. If it’s too thick, microwave for 5 to 10 seconds. If it’s too thin, allow to continue to cool.
-
The cake can be stored, covered, at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the fridge for up to 3 days.
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and recently updated with weight measurements and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
This looks insanely delish! All the chocolate…irish buttercream, I could definitely go for this today! Pinned
This looks delish! I’m headed over there now!
That buttercream, oh my word!
This cake looks so gorgeous!
I just made this and it came out great! Any thoughts on reposting it on your site with the weight measurements?
Yep, that’s happening soon 🙂
what a creative and very yummy way to cover St P’s Day, thank you for perfecting this one, would never have imagined Guinness in this kind of recipe!
Hi Tessa! Your chocolate cake looks so fudgy and moist I really want to make it but I don’t want to use Guinness beer. What can i use instead? Thanks for replying, much love from the Philippines!
Hi Tessa, I am going to make this cake today and was just wondering what kind of cocoa you used for that deep dark color?
We’re going to a family friendly pot luck on St. Pat’s. My mom tells me the alcohol content will bake out of the cake itself, but can I make this kid-friendly by using Irish Cream coffee creamer in the frosting?
WOW! this Chocolate Cake looks so delicious!
Perfect for my Guinness-loving husband’s birthday. Rich and moist, huge hit with everyone. FYI – I used the weight instead of volumes (always my preference when I’m writing recipes, much more consistent).
awesome recipe, I used extra stout beer. It taste delicious and it was very moist !
The cake looks like a deep chocolate color – what type of cocoa powder is used for this recipe? Does the type of cocoa powder make a difference in the recipe? Can black cocoa be used in this recipe?
Could you use the Irish Cream in the cake in place of the beer?
I tried this cake over the weekend and WOW! it was great! Maybe my new favorite chocolate cake. I divided the cake in 2 pans like it said, but it was two much for the pans. Did anyone have problems with it being two much for the pans?
Yes! Mine overflowed 8 inch pans!
I made this. The flavor was fantastic. Next time i will use just one cake mix. Two was too much cake for us.
Will this recipe translate into cupcakes?
I see others asked this question but I can’t see your reply….for this recipe would you recommend the Dutch processed cocoa or not?
I tested this recipe with natural cocoa powder, not Dutch process 🙂
How did you get your cake to look so dark, almost black? Also, what brand cocoa powder do you use?
Would this recipe work for cupcakes?!?
Do you need to line the sides of the pan with parchment?
This is a ten star recipe! This may be the best cake I’ve ever made and ever tasted. Ever. Ever. I love Tessa’s specific instructions. Yes, make sure your oil is fresh. I’ve never done a naked or drip cake. I followed Tessa’s tips and it came out great!
I’m not a big cake baker. I had two 9” pans and baked for 20 minutes so perfect. Whether you’re Irish or not, Make it! Your friends and family will love you for it! (Oh, be careful, did you know Guinness is like draft and semi explodes) Lol
This amazing cake sold for $300 at our school auction! I had made some mini cupcakes as samples to be sure the texture and taste were there. My only concern was that the cake itself was a little too sweet. I’ve since purchased a digital kitchen scale and will try to make this by weight rather than by dry measure. I’m making it again for a friend’s birthday on St. Patty’s Day. Wish me luck!
This is the best chocolate cake ever! The frosting is divine!
So easy to make. Great instructions and tips!
Turned out perfectly and sooo delicious! Great for St. Patrick’s Day party☘️
1 3/4 cups (222 grams) all-purpose flour
2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar
grams for sugar seems a lot compared to cups. I am wondering if you can check this..
I have made this cake twice and the second time I reduced the sugar by about a half cup. Doing that allowed me to pull more of the Guiness flavor from the cake. Hope that helped!
What can I use to substitute the Irish Cream?
Amazing cake, thanks Tessa! This was the perfect cake to make for mine and my twin sister’s birthday. We don’t like really sweet dessert, so I only put 5 cups of powdered sugar in the frosting and it still turned out perfect!
I made your cake and passed it out to several people and asked for their feed back about mousture, sweetness, flavors they tasted, whether its over powering, not enough or the right amount, over all, everyone gave a thumbs up. What I mainly found that it’s on everyones specific preferece. One person said it was a little to dense, one said frosting was a bit sweet, but all said, cake was moist and very delicious. One lady ate her piece and said that the only thing bad was that I didn’t give her enough. So good job on this recipe. Over all, A’s all around.
I made this cake during the 2020 quarantine. It was delicious. Very Rich! I am going to slice it up and deliver to friends. I used butter instead of oil and only used 5 cups of powdered sugar in the frosting. It was plenty sweet. I also used Dark roasted coffee instead of Guinness because they did not have any at the grocery store.
Regina, I don’t want to use veg oil did you melt the butter so the consistency is oil like? Thanks, Mary
What is the substitute for guiness beer ?
I just baked this cake and it cooked in 20 minutes. I checked the oven temp and it was correct. I would suggest checking the cake at 20 minutes and continuing checking every couple of minutes. I just pulled it out of the oven and it smells delicious! I might change my rating after I taste it!
The bailey’s is a nice off set to the guinness cake. Two comments, I found the cake to be VERY oily. I’d probably cut the oil by half. Also, I have NEVER made buttercream with 4 sticks. Holy Moly. I cut it to 3 sticks and it was still very heavy butter forward. I’d probably cut it by another stick.
Loved this recipe and all the tips. I made this and would prob put a homemade unsweetened whipped cream filling inside as the Baileys buttercream is VERY sweet. Otherwise it was amazing!!!
I made this cake for my husband’s 50th birthday and I used a lot of the comments from others in the comment section. I always think things are too sweet so I was looking for ways to reduce the sweetness. I reduced the amount of sugar specifically. I used Dutch processed cocoa and the cake came out really dark. I also made whipped cream icing rather than butter cream.
Since I live in Kentucky, substituted Bourbon Barrel Ale and Bourbon Cream (made by Buffalo Trace). For the whipped cream, I did 3 cups of heaving whipping cream and 1 cup of Bourbon Cream. No extra sugar was used. The Bourbon Cream was sweet enough and I had more than enough to ice the cake. I will use the excess to do some designs,
Because of the whipped cream icing, I will skip the chocolate drip and do some decorations. But it looks fabulous and I love that I was able to make it with Bourbon-based beer and cream.
I made this cake yesterday, for my husband’s bday and it turned out so moist a flavorful. You can really taste all the dementions of flavors.
Can you freeze the cake over night ?
I used applesauce instead of oil
Easy recipe to follow and delicious cake!
This is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten! My favorite used to be Barefoot contessa’s Beatty’s chocolate cake but this surpasses it!!
Especially love the Bailey’s buttercream.