Using Guinness is the key ingredient for fluffy and soft sponge cake layers!

When I made my Vegan Chocolate Guinness Loaf Cake a few years ago, it was such a success that I thought it would be nice to do a non-vegan one and make it bigger. Bigger cake is always better right? I wanted to see how the Guinness reacted with other emulsions such as the eggs and the buttermilk which help to leaven the sponges and it worked beautifully. I could tell just by looking at the silky cake batter how the blend of liquids really helped to keep the moisture within the cake. It's essential that chocolate cake is not dry, that would not be good.

Sometimes I become wary when I need to make two sponges, I want them to be the same depth and it's always a pain when one comes out thicker than the other, but this time was perfectly even! Having two layers means you get double the helping of the cream cheese icing which creates a beautiful tang against the stout and slightly bitter chocolate flavours. The icing has a velvety texture which balances nicely with the fluffy sponge. I use to think chocolate cake always had to have a chocolate fudge icing, but cream cheese is such a game changer. If you're looking for a smaller chocolate Guinness cake then definitely use my vegan recipe here, but if you need to feed a few more mouths, this is definitely the cake recipe you need. And it's not just for St Patrick's day, chocolate Guinness cake can be enjoyed all year round!

If you love chocolate cake....

Check out my other recipes for more inspiration!

Recipe

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 25 minutes

Serves: 10

Notes:

If you can't get buttermilk, sour cream could also work as a replacement but I prefer buttermilk flavour.
Guinness also have a non-alcoholic beverage which work just the same.

Ingredients

Cake

175g butter, melted
150ml Guinness
250g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
150g dark brown sugar
100g caster sugar
150ml buttermilk
3 medium eggs
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt

Icing

150g butter, room temp
300g full fat cream cheese, room temp
150g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
20g chocolate

Method

Preheat the oven to 160℃ and grease and line x2 8-inch cake tins with baking paper. Set aside.
Melt the butter, then add to a large bowl along with the sugars, buttermilk, cocoa powder, eggs and Guinness.
Whisk together till well combined.
Sift in the plain flour and bicarbonate of soda and whisk in till you have a smooth batter.
Divide the batter into the cake tins and bake for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Meanwhile make the icing. Cube the butter and place into a large bowl. Use an electric hand whisk or standing mixer to beat the butter till smooth.
Add the icing sugar in stages and mix in till combined and there aren't any lumps of sugar or butter.
Add the cream cheese and vanilla and mix in. Scrape around the bowl to make sure everything is mixed well. Set aside.
Once the cakes are baked leave them to cool in their tins for about 15 minutes, then remove and leave to cool completely.
To assemble, place one cake layer onto a cake board or plate. Spread half of the cream cheese icing on top, then place the other cake layer on top.
Spread the remaining icing on top evenly. You could always pipe if you wanted a neater decoration.
Use a microplane tool to grate small shavings of the chocolate on the top layer of cake to decorate.
Store in the fridge till ready to serve or can also be kept at room temperature in a container. Will keep up to 5 days. Enjoy!