Taking your St. Patty’s dessert to the next level, using Guinness Beer in chocolate cake and Irish cream in Cream Cheese Icing! 
As we gear up for St. Patricks Day, some will be celebrating with corned beef and cabbage, while others are combining the very Irish Guinness beer and chocolate, making the decadent Guinness Chocolate Layered Cake with Irish Cream Cheese Icing.
Guinness + Chocolate
Layers of chocolate cake that is rich in flavor and infused with Guinness creates a velvety and moist texture. Whether you are a beer drinker or not, malted beer, sour cream and cocoa powder bring a lot of character to this simple and classic layered cake.
Irish Cream Cheese Icing
Smooth and creamy cream cheese icing is best in between thin layers of chocolate cake. The tanginess of the cream cheese combined with the sweet Irish Cream and a splash of vanilla extract is all you need to make this cake a hit.
Celebrating St. Patricks Day is always over the top with fun, and so is this cake. Throw on your green and serve up the most delicious Guinness Chocolate Cake for a unique and festive dessert!
- 1 Cup Guinness Beer
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
- ½ Cup Cocoa Powder
- 2 Eggs
- 1¾ Cups Granulated Sugar
- ½ Cup Sour Cream
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Cups All Purposed Flour
- 1 Tbsp Baking Soda
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line (4) 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, combine butter and guinness beer and warm until butter is melted; remove the saucepan from the heat
- Stir cocoa powder into the guinness mixture and whisk until smooth and fully combined; set aside
- In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking soda; set aside
- In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, mix the eggs, granulated sugar, sour cream and vanilla extract
- Alternating, add in the flour mixture and the guinness beer mixture until all ingredients are in and the batter is smooth
- Mix the batter on medium speed for 3-4 minutes
- Separate the batter into (4) 8 inch cake pans
- Bake the cake layers for 15-20 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched and the sides have separated from the cake pan
- Allow the cake layers to cool completely before layering them with icing
- Removes the cakes from the cake pan and place the first layer on a plate, cake stand or cake board
- Start layering with Irish Cream Cheese Icing
- Repeat cake and icing layers until the fourth cake is layered
- Finish the top layer with icing and garnish with chocolate shavings
- 2 Cups Unsalted Butter, softened
- 2 lbs Powdered Sugar
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
- 2 Tbsp Irish Cream
- In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth
- Add the cream cheese to the butter mixture and mix on high until smooth and there are no lumps Scrapes down the sides of the bowl, add in Irish Cream and continue mixing until icing is fluffy
- *Garnish: Chocolate Shaving
- Using a vegetable peeler, shave the sides of a chocolate bar to get beautiful chocolate shavings and curls
Diane Klein says
I enjoyed reading this in the Dallas Morning News. I did enjoy the Guinness at the brewery when we were in Ireland, but we aren’t beer drinkers. I have a bar full of all kinds of liquor and liqueurs. Could I substitute anything from my bar for the Guinness?
kristen massad says
Thank you so much for reading along! Another type of beer would for sure work, but I can’t say if a liquor would keep the same flavor as the guinness. But if you try it, I would love to know how it tasted!