Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake

This decadent and oh-so-rich Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake is laced with guinness beer and topped with Bailey’s Irish cream cheese frosting and salted caramel. It’s so moist and rich–truly what chocolate lovers dream of!
This is a great recipe for a special occasion chocolate cake, or for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in style! There’s nothing quite like a big piece of chocolate cake, and this rich beer-spiked version is the absolute best.
Table of Contents
The Best Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake
You may not know this about me, but I worked in the craft beer industry for several years in San Diego. At the same time, I was also teaching classes at a small cookware shop in Pacific Beach (Great News! IYKYK), where my recipes were all about incorporating beer in your cooking. In the same way that you cook with wine, you can also cook and bake with beer!
One of my favorite recipes that I ever developed was for a chocolate stout cake. I’ve made many iterations of it over the years, but it continues to be one of the best, fudgiest, and most delicious cakese I’ve ever had!
So, I decided to tweak the recipe a bit to make it into this beautiful guinness chocolate bundt cake which is an absolute show-stopper. It makes a great St. Patrick’s day dessert, but it’s honestly perfect any time of year and will satisfy any intense chocolate cravings.
This is a one-bowl cake recipe that is so easy to whip up at any time. If you’re a chocolate-lover like me, check out my other tried and true chocolate dessert recipes.
How to Make Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake
I recommend investing in a really high-quality nonstick bundt cake pan for this recipe! The last thing you want to worry about it having your cake stick. Otherwise, you don’t need any special tools–just a mixing bowl and a whisk!
Tools Needed
Step-by-Step Photos & Instructions
- Prep the bundt pan. Grease your bundt pan really well and dust it with cocoa powder, shaking off any excess. Place the bundt pan on a rimmed baking sheet and set it aside.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until everything is evenly mixed.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil, vanilla, and guinness until very smooth.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until everything is almost mixed. Switch to a rubber spatula, pour the hot coffee over the top, and fold the batter until no streaks of flour remain.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and transfer to the oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the cake is puffed but soft and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake for 20 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a plate or cooling rack to finish cooling to room temperature.
- Make the frosting. Add the softened cream cheese and butter to a mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat the two together until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat on low until smooth. Finally beat in the bailey’s until smooth.
- Frost the cake. Spread the frosting all over the cooled bundt cake in an even layer. Drizzle the salted caramel all over the top and sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if desired.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
Don’t skip the coffee! Even if you don’t love drinking coffee, I promise it makes all the difference here. It adds so much richness and depth of flavor to the chocolate. The temperature of the coffee also helps jump start the leavening agents.
Always use room temperature ingredients. If you’ve baked at all, you’ve probably seen this tip over and over again, and for good reason. Room temperature ingredients mix more easily and emulsify better. If a recipe calls for room temperature ingredients, it’s not a suggestion!
Don’t over-mix. We’re using a combination of mixing styles, whisking and folding, so that we don’t add too much air to the cake (we want her dense and fudgy) and so we don’t over activate the gluten in the flour and end up with a tough cake. Mix the cake batter just until mixed and there are no streaks of flour remaining.
Bake until a cake tester just barely comes out clean. The crumbs should look sticky and not at all dry. The cake will be puffed and soft to the touch.
Cool the cake completely before frosting. Unless you want frosting soup on top of the cake, make sure the cake is cooled completely before frosting. In fact, I typically bake the cake the day before I plan to serve it so that I can break up the work. Just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so that the cake doesn’t dry out.
Turning a Bundt Cake into a Layer Cake
I am a notoriously bad cake decorator. Maybe bad is a strong word, but I have zero patience for it (kudos to y’all that do!). Hence, I wanted to make this recipe as a bundt cake for ease of decorating.
That being said, this recipe is so easy to convert into a layer cake. To make a layered guinness chocolate cake, you’ll need 3 – 8×2″ cake pans. Make sure to grease, flour, and line your cake pans with round parchment circles. The baking time will have to be adjusted down to about 20-25 minutes.
Pro-tip: Use a scale to divide the batter evenly between the cake pans so that they all bake at the same rate.
Cake layers can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 3 months before frosting and assembling.
Storage Instructions
Leftover guinness chocolate bundt cake can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also wrap pieces in plastic wrap (I recommend doing this after the cake and frosting has been chilled), store in a freezer-safe bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Let the cake pieces defrost in the fridge overnight before serving.
When the chocolate craving hits, you need this Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake in your life! It’s perfect for a party or a St. Patrick’s Day gathering. If you do give this recipe a try, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram. I LOVE hearing about & seeing your SMF creations!
More Easy Dessert Recipes to Try
Skillet Brookies
Key Lime Pie Bars
Marbled Cheesecake Brownies
Skillet Wild Blueberry Cobbler
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Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Guinness Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 3/4 cup neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup guinness beer, room temperature
- 3/4 cup brewed hot coffee
Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting
- 4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/3 cup bailey's irish cream liqueur
- 2/3 cup salted caramel sauce, store bought or homemade
- flaky sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 F.
- Prep the bundt pan. Grease your bundt pan really well and dust it with cocoa powder, shaking off any excess. Place the bundt pan on a rimmed baking sheet and set it aside.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until everything is evenly mixed.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil, vanilla, and guinness until very smooth.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until everything is almost mixed. Switch to a rubber spatula, pour the hot coffee over the top, and fold the batter until no streaks of flour remain.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and transfer to the oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the cake is puffed but soft and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake for 20 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a plate or cooling rack to finish cooling to room temperature.
- Make the frosting. Add the softened cream cheese and butter to a mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat the two together until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat on low until smooth. Finally beat in the bailey's until smooth.
- Frost the cake. Spread the frosting all over the cooled bundt cake in an even layer. Drizzle the salted caramel all over the top and sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if desired.
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