Single Layer Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Cream Frosting

This easy single layer chocolate Guinness cake with Irish cream frosting comes together in one bowl and under an hour for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations!  The stout beer’s deep malty flavor pairs perfectly with chocolate cake, and you can use Bailey’s or any Irish cream liqueur you like in the fluffy frosting. No eggs or butter in the stout cake and no mixer needed either!

If you like this easy Guinness chocolate cake recipe, you should try my original single layer chocolate cake with chocolate ganache (the rich chocolate cake this one is adapted from) or my flourless almond butter brownies (so fudgy and chocolatey with no butter or flour!).

Developing the recipe and why you’ll love it

If you’re reading this, I don’t have to tell you that stout beer and chocolate were simply made for each other. In fact, there are plenty of chocolate stouts out there! I don’t usually choose a pint of Guinness or other stout beers for drinking because I prefer lighter beers like wheats or sours, but a few years ago, I needed a dessert to bring to a St. Patrick’s Day party. It’s a big day in Chicago, if you didn’t know — and out of that necessity, this simple one bowl chocolate Guinness cake was born.

This recipe is adapted from my ever-popular single layer chocolate ganache cake, and it bears all the same traits: fluffy, light crumb, super chocolatey, and made WITHOUT eggs, butter, a mixer, or multiple bowls. It’s my favorite chocolate cake recipe!

All I did was substitute Guinness in for the coffee in that recipe; it provides the same function in that the deep malty, caramel flavor complements and enhances the chocolate, and the slight acidity helps to activate the baking soda and produce the rise. Baking science is awesome.

And then, for good measure, I took my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe and added Irish cream. Guinness and Bailey’s, a St. Patrick’s Day match made in heaven.

You’ll love this cake because it’s:

• Easy: It comes together super fast in one bowl, with no mixer needed and no need to reduce the Guinness (many recipes call for this but I didn’t find it necessary)
• Fast: you can make the Irish cream frosting while the cake is baking and have this on the table in an hour tops.  Less time baking = more time celebrating.
• Deeply flavorful: Despite this quick timeline, the Guinness flavor really comes through in this delicious cake, and the Irish cream in the cream cheese frosting is a great creamy contrast to the deep stout chocolate. Don’t worry about the alcohol content – it cooks off during baking.
• Fluffy and light textured: I love making vinegar-based cakes (this is one!) because they produce such a great and light crumb with no need for eggs. This cake’s texture is so fluffy and soft!

Ingredients

Nothing weird here – all simple ingredients!

• All-purpose flour
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Granulated sugar
• Salt
• Espresso powder (optional, to bring out the rich chocolate flavor even further)
• Baking soda (necessary for the rise)
• Guinness beer or another stout beer
• Olive oil
• Vanilla extract
• Apple cider vinegar (again, for the rise as it reacts with baking soda)
• And for the Irish cream frosting:
  • Irish cream liqueur, such as Bailey’s
  • Cream cheese
  • Unsalted butter
  • Powdered sugar aka confectioners’ sugar

How to make chocolate Guinness stout cake

For the cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square pan or 8-inch round cake pan or line with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, espresso powder, and baking soda.
3. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture: Guinness, olive oil, vanilla, vinegar. Whisk it all together until a smooth batter is formed.
4. Pour cake batter into prepared pan, and bake for 32-35 minutes, until top of the cake springs back when touched and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. 
5. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert the pan onto the rack to release the cake, remove the parchment from the bottom, and flip back right side up onto a cake plate. Let cake cool while you prepare the frosting.

For the Irish cream frosting:

1. In a large bowl using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or a hand mixer, or even a whisk if you’re brave, beat cream cheese and butter at high speed until pale and very fluffy – this should take 2-3 minutes. You want to incorporate as much air as possible into the mixture to make it light and fluffy.
2. Add the powdered sugar, Irish cream, and salt, and beat at medium to high speed until fully combined and light.
3. Spread cooled cake with Irish cream frosting. 

How to create swirls in the Bailey’s frosting

Don’t you love those swirls of frosting?  It’s actually really easy to do.  Just spread a thick layer of frosting on the cake, then run a flat offset spatula (I used this one) just gently over the top in a swirling pattern, repeating the swirls in opposite directions throughout the frosting.  Make sure the frosting layer is thick (the recipe below should give you enough Bailey’s frosting for this one layer) otherwise you’ll cut into the cake by accident when you’re swirling.

Additions and Substitutions

• Guinness: use any stout beer you like (a chocolate stout would be great)
• Olive oil: use any other neutral oil you like
• Irish cream liqueur: you can substitute heavy cream or omit it entirely if you’re concerned about alcohol content
• Gluten-free: substitute an equal weight (188g) of gluten-free all-purpose flour mix that contains xanthan gum. I tested and like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour.
• Vegan: this Guinness cake recipe IS already vegan, believe it or not. Guinness recently made their products vegan-friendly through a new filtration process (per their website). To make the frosting vegan, use plant-based butter, cream cheese, and omit the Irish cream liqueur. It will still be delicious.

Storage

Due to the Irish cream frosting, I recommend only keeping this cake at room temperature for a few hours. Cake will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 4 days. You can also freeze the frosted or unfrosted cake for up to 3 months, well wrapped in plastic wrap and a freezer storage bag. Thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for 3 hours before serving.

More Single Layer Cake Recipes

• Single Layer Chocolate Ganache Cake
• Single Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Single Layer Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
• Single Layer Gingerbread Cake
• Single Layer Snickerdoodle Cake

Recipe

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