This turns out to be a very moist and chocolatey cake. The Guinness just gives it a slight malty taste. It’s definitely not a major alcohol-flavored cake or anything like that. We love to make this cake for St. Patrick’s Day, but it also happens to be a nice, sweet ending to a dinner party too. Be sure to use the rest of your Guinness stash to make Beef and Guinness Stew or Guinness Corned Beef!

Ingredients needed:

unsweetened cocoa powder Guinness stout all purpose flour baking soda, baking powder and salt butter white sugar eggs vanilla extract buttermilk brown sugar heavy whipping cream semisweet chocolate

How to make Chocolate Guinness Stout Cake:

The full, printable recipe is at the end of this post. You will need an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan for this recipe. Grease and flour the pan. Warm the Guinness and cocoa powder together, and then let cool. Then sift the dry ingredients. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla separately. Add buttermilk to the cooled Guinness mixture. Then add the buttermilk and dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately.  Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes- until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Invert the cake onto a rack. Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom of the cake. Heat sauce ingredients in a small pan. Spoon most of the sauce onto the cake, allowing the cake to absorb the liquid. Then invert the cake right-side-up onto a serving platter. Poke holes in the top of the cake, and spoon the rest of the sauce on top.

The next step is adding the chocolate ganache. Bring the cream to a simmer in a pan. Remove the cream from the heat, and add the chocolate. Let the chocolate melt, and then stir it into the cream until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour the ganache onto the top of the cake. Use a spatula to cover the top evenly, and nudge it toward the sides.

The ganache will drizzle down the sides of the cake and pool on the cake platter. That’s okay. It’s decadent, wonderful ganache! Reserve any extra ganache in the refrigerator to spoon over ice cream or form into truffles.

Slice, and eat! If you want to cut the rich chocolate flavor a bit, serve your Chocolate Guinness Stout Cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

St. Patrick’s Day recipes:

Irish Soda Bread Spotted Dog Scones Corned Beef Cabbage Rolls Irish Stew Shamrock Sugar Cookies Colcannon