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A dark chocolate Guinness cake topped with fluffy white icing
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5 from 16 votes

Guinness Chocolate Cake

A lightly sweet and moist chocolate cake, with wonderfully interesting spicy notes from the stout Guinness Foreign Extra Beer. Perfect for St. Patrick's Day or for the chocolate lover in your home! 
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate cake
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 886kcal
Author: Tricia

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 9 ounces unsalted butter melted (18 tablespoons or 255g)
  • 1 cup Guinness Stout Foreign Extra beer (250g)
  • ¾ cup all-natural unsweetened cocoa powder measured before sifting (70g)
  • 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar (386g)
  • cup sour cream (142g)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (285g)
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

For the icing:

  • 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (170g)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup whipping cream (100g)

Instructions

To prepare the cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Grease the bottom of a straight sided tube pan (9.5 inches) and line with parchment paper cut into a circle to fit. Grease the sides, center tube, and parchment paper or spray with a non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
  • Melt the butter and add to a large mixing bowl. Add the beer, sifted cocoa powder, and granulated sugar. Whisk until blended.
  • In a small mixing bowl combine the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
  • While gently whisking the beer mixture, slowly pour the egg and sour cream mixture into the large mixing bowl.
  • Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Fold the flour into the egg and beer mixture and whisk until blended.
  • Pour the batter into the greased and lined tube pan. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out with no raw dough - moist crumbs are okay.
  • Cool completely before removing from the pan and icing.

To prepare the icing:

  • In a small cold bowl, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Set aside.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together until smooth. Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and beat on low until combined. Top the cake with dollops of icing to resemble the frothy head of a pint of Guinness.

Notes

Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition

Calories: 886kcal | Carbohydrates: 99g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 52g | Saturated Fat: 31g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 181mg | Sodium: 581mg | Potassium: 278mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 1766IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 100mg | Iron: 3mg