Guinness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- PREP 20min
- COOK 40min
- TOTAL 1hrs
You’ll use about half a bottle of Guinness stout for this easy Guinness cake. It does an amazing job of bringing out the rich chocolate flavors of this cake and helps, alongside sour cream, to keep it tender and moist. The frosting is intentionally light and creamy and does best when you swirl it onto the top of the cake with a spoon or spatula (it’s too soft to pipe on).
You Will Need
Guinness Cake
3/4 cup (180ml or 6oz) Guinness stout beer
3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
1/2 cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder, spooned and leveled
1 ½ cups (195g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (113g or 4oz) sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces (225g) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ¼ cups (140g) powdered sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch, optional
1/3 cup (80ml) cold heavy cream, not plain whipping cream, see tips
Directions
Make Cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round or square baking pan with butter.
Melt 3/4 cup butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add 3/4 cup Guinness and warm through. Remove from heat, and then whisk in 1/2 cup cocoa powder until completely smooth. Cool for 1 minute.
Whisk 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl.
In another bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sour cream, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until well blended.
Pour cocoa and stout mixture into the dry ingredients, then fold them into the flour with a spatula. Add the egg and sour cream mixture and fold everything together until incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then bake for about 40 minutes. It’s ready to come out of the oven when you can insert a toothpick into the middle, and it comes out clean, or when you tap the top of the cake, it bounces back.
Transfer the cake still in the pan to a cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes. Then, turn the cake out of the pan onto a cooling rack and cool it completely before frosting.
Frost Cake
In a large bowl, beat 8 ounces of cream cheese with a handheld mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy, for about 1 minute.
Beat in 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar and optional 2 teaspoons cornstarch. I like sifting the powdered sugar and cornstarch over the cream cheese to remove lumps. If you do not have a fine mesh sieve, beat in the cornstarch and powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time until combined.
Pour in 1/3 cup cold heavy cream. Beat at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until the frosting is whipped and creamy. This frosting resembles the texture of whipped cream. Chill covered until ready to frost the cake.
When the cake is completely cool, frost the top, swirling the creamy frosting to make it look pretty. Serve!
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Frosted Guinness cake lasts up to 1 week in the refrigerator. I keep it covered with plastic wrap or use a cake keeper or large bowl turned upside down to cover the cake. I do not recommend freezing the frosted cake (the frosting does not thaw well). You can refrigerate the unfrosted cake for 5 days or freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before adding your frosting.
- Measuring the cocoa powder and flour: Weigh it or use the “spoon and level” method. Fluff the flour, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level off the top with a flat edge.
- Heavy cream (US bakers): Heavy cream has more milk fat (about 36%), while whipping cream has less (around 30%). Use “heavy cream” or “heavy whipping cream.” Plain “whipping cream” does not whip as well and can cause your frosting to be too soft. If you only have whipping cream or cream with less than 35% fat content: If you only have whipping cream or are unsure what you have in your kitchen, whisk it in a separate bowl until soft peaks. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the whipped cream to the beaten cream cheese mixture and combine to loosen. Then, fold in the remaining whipped cream.
- UK & Australia bakers: Use plain flour for the batter and “double cream” or “thickened cream” with at least 35% fat content for the creamy frosting.
- This recipe was inspired by two fantastic Stout cakes, one from Nigella Lawson’s book, Feast, and the other printed in Bon Appétit Magazine, September 2002.