Guinness Chocolate Malt Cake Recipe

St Patrick’s day is around the corner, and of course, we’ve got a cake to help you celebrate (not that this cake should only come out once a year).

Guinness, and stout generally, can divide people, but honestly, a good stout can be a joy to drink, and in fact, I’m partial to a pint myself. Plus, it’s full of iron and has fewer calories than the equivalent of fresh orange juice (yes, I checked before typing). So it’s tasty, could be considered a healthy choice - in certain situations - and is banging in a cake.

There’s quite a range of Guinness cake styles out there. For our take on it, we’re going with a tried and tested chocolate combo but also embracing its maltiness, which gives it a really rounded and moreish finish.

The below recipe will see you making a delicious cake to celebrate with this March, not that it’s only for St. Patrick’s day as this can absolutely be enjoyed year-round. And while we’ve given you the recipes for all the decoration on top too, a lusciously malty Swiss meringue buttercream, a chocolate ganache, and a use for any extra crumbs, you can, of course, add your own decorations too, e.g., fondant four-leaf clovers or green leprechaun top hats.

If, however, the process seems daunting, we’d be delighted to make one for you - head over here for our Guinness Cake to buy!

Chocolate Guinness Malt Cake

Guinness Chocolate Malt Cake Recipe

For the Guinness Chocolate Malt Sponge Layers

Ingredients

  • 300g plain flour
  • 400g granulated sugar
  • 75g cocoa powder
  • 100g malted milk drink powder
  • 3.75tsp baking soda
  • 150ml yoghurt
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 250ml Guinness or any dark stout
  • 250g butter, cubed

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C (fan-assisted). Grease & flour three 6-inch round tins.
  2. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, malt powder & baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Whisk eggs, yoghurt & vanilla in a separate bowl.
  4. Heat Guinness & butter in a saucepan until the butter melts.
  5. Gradually whisk the Guinness mixture into the egg mixture.
  6. Combine wet & dry ingredients, whisking until smooth (it will be runny – don’t panic!).
  7. Pour into tins & bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean).
  8. Cool completely before slicing into even layers. Save any crumbs for decoration!
Chocolate Guinness Malt Layer Cake - layers

Guinness Malt Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 150ml egg whites
  • 225g granulated/caster sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 300g butter, softened at room temperature
  • 100ml Guinness stout
  • 100g Malted milk powder

Method

  1. Follow the Swiss meringue buttercream recipe to make a batch of neutral Swiss meringue buttercream.
  2. Simmer Guinness & malt powder, then mix into the buttercream.
  3. Whip until fluffy & dreamy!
Chocolate Guinness Malt Cake Recipe - slice

Guinness Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

  • 120g dark chocolate
  • 60g butter, cubed
  • 60ml Guinness stout

Method

  1. Melt chocolate over a bain-marie (or microwave in short bursts).
  2. Stir in butter until smooth.
  3. Add Guinness & mix until glossy.
Chocolate Guinness Malt Layer Cake - recipe

Decorating the Guinness Chocolate Malt Cake

Method

  1. Layer the cake:
    Spread buttercream between each sponge layer.
    Stack 5 layers high for an epic cake!
  2. Crumb coat the cake & chill for 15-20 mins.
  3. Apply final buttercream layer & smooth it out.
  4. Coat the base with sponge crumbs for texture.
  5. Drip Guinness ganache over the edges for a show-stopping finish.
  6. Decorate with buttercream swirls & extra crumbs on top.
Chocolate Guinness Malt Layer Cake Recipe

Kick back with a pint of Guinness and enjoy this utterly delectable cake on Saint Patrick's Day, or any other day for that matter. It's divine!

Chocolate Guinness Malt Layer Cake - slice

Pro Tips

  • Worried about sunken sponges? Check your baking soda isn’t old & bake at a slightly lower temp.
  • Want a taller cake? Scale the recipe by 1.3x for 8-inch tins.
  • Need it ASAP? Chill the sponges overnight for easier assembly.

Time to Enjoy!

Pour yourself a pint of Guinness & dig in! Tag @angesdesucre #angesdesucre with your cake pics - can’t wait to see your masterpieces!

Would you try this chocolatey, malty, Guinness-infused masterpiece? Let me know in the comments!

Lots of love,

Reshmi xoxo

 

4 Responses

Elizabeth

Elizabeth

August 04, 2019

Is there supposed to be butter in the buttercream?

Reshmi Bennett

Reshmi Bennett

April 03, 2019

Hi Annie,
Gah, sorry to hear you’re getting sunken sponges! At first thoughts I would also have assumed it’s down to over-mixing as oil-based cake batters as rule of thumb only need mixing till combined and as it’s a runny batter it tends to happen quite soon. I don’t use cake strips and just grease and flour the tins but I don’t think that would be the issue. The other things that could be the source for sunken sponge is old raising agents eg baking soda and baking powder, which are both used in this recipe, or too high of an internal oven temp whereby the cake rises super fast in the heat but then collapses as the inside hasn’t baked at the same rate as the edges in which case I’d recommend going low and slow ie drop the temp down to 150-160 and increase baking time till done. Hope this helps and so sorry for the late response! xoxo

Annie Solangon

Annie Solangon

April 03, 2019

Hi Reshmi, I’ve tried to bake this twice and I still get a sunken middle :( The first time it happened I troubleshooted it so that the second time I made sure not to overmix it, to put it in the oven straight away and I had an oven thermometer saying it was the right temperature. I put it in for an extra 10 mins and still sunken bottom :( Is it just my oven? Next time should I put it for an extra 10 minutes? I used cake strips – is this the cause? I’d be grateful for your advice! Annie

Emma

Emma

March 05, 2019

This looks unbelievable….but not sure it’s big enough! Any obvious issues with sizing it up to 8in? Thank you 😍

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