Perfect St. Patrick's Day Cake Recipe

Who'd ever guess that a recipe for chocolate cake that uses Guinness would turn out to be the best darned chocolate cake I've ever tasted?? Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? From here on, I'm going to keep a bottle of Guinness in the fridge, and I detest beer of any kind! This is now my go-to chocolate cake recipe. And that's no faint praise, coming from a pastry chef of many years! The stout really complements and rounds out the flavor of the chocolate, plus lends a lovely reddish hue. You never taste it, but it's there, lending its incomparable support to the star of the show (chocolate.) This cake is blow-your-socks-off good, incomparably moist with a very fine, tender crumb. I spiked the ganache with a Tb of Jameson's Irish Whiskey. I cut the centers out of each cupcake (mmmm...chocolate cake scraps to eat!) and filled the holes with the ganache, opting to use it as a filling rather than as a drizzle. I doubled the amount of Irish Cream in the frosting, as well. Served to ooohs, aaahs, moans, groans, swoons, and general paroxysms of pleasure.

I am in love with this cake, it is a five star cake, I gave it four stars due to the instructions. I am not proficient in my baking skills and this was my first attempt at a butter cream. The instructions and the video do not provide less experienced cooks with enough information. When you get to the frosting you MUST beat the stew out of that butter, like five minutes, until it is fluffy, pale and nearly doubles in volume due to the air you are adding. Only after you reach this consistency should you start adding in your powdered sugar at little at a time. Finally you will notice it is getting stiff, this is when you add the Irish cream. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID AND ADD IT ALL AT THE SAME TIME! I was nearly in tears, mine was more of a pasty crust. Don't get me wrong, the taste is absolutely spot on, but the consistency was off-putting. As with many other reviewers, I cut the ganache recipe in half and had plenty. I used three 8" pans and baked at 350 for 20-22 minutes. The cake was consumed in a matter of minutes and the taste reviews were outstanding. I will make this again, using the additional instructions above, again and again. Thank you for the submission!!!

Sooo GOOD! Here's is my pic. I made cupcakes and piped-in the Bailey's cream like other reviewers, but the BIG mistake I did was not spray the (gold) liners with anything to prevent the cupcakes from sticking...do no forget to do that! Other than that, I will definitely make this recipe again!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to me! This was a great cake! I melted my butter in the microwave then whisked in the beer (then zapped it for a couple more seconds) instead of melting in a saucepan - faster, I think. I also chose not to make the chocolate drizzle...thought it would be a bit too sweet for my taste. Just with the butter frosting its fantastic! Next time I will double the butter frosting - or at least 1 1/2 times. As is it barely covered the cake (guess if I would have done the chocolate drizzle it would have been enough). At any rate! GREAT! Thanks for posting it for us!

I was a bit skeptical of the method for this cake, but because of the excellent reviews, I took a chance. We were not sorry! It is indeed excellent. I did make it into cupcakes, and did not use the chocolate ganache. The only other change was the frosting needed a little more liquid, and instead of using more Irish Cream, I used about 2 teaspoons of 1/2 and 1/2. I didn't want the Irish Cream to overpower the cupcake. Perfect!

I used this recipe to make "carbomb cupcakes". The recipe as is was very good before my changes but the comments that follow are basically a how-to on this variation... Followed the measurements for the cake (added tsp vanilla) which produced two dozen cupcakes. Doubled the buttercream with Irish cream liqueur (adding about 7 TBSP in all). Next time I would use 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening since I prefer that combination. I added 2 TBSP of Jameson whiskey to the bittersweet ganache (reduced heavy cream by 2 TBSP to compensate). I was using the ganache just to drizzle on top of the frosting and had lots leftover. Next time I would half or quarter the ganache recipe. This time around I froze my leftovers. Also, the bittersweet was a nice balance to the sweet buttercream however you could not taste the Jameson. I intentionally added the whiskey at the end so it would not cook off. I think a better alternative would be to create a simple syrup out of the whiskey and drizzle that separately alongside the ganache. All in all I was very pleased with my initial results. The cake was very moist and rich with a dark flavor. Samplers couldn't detect the alcohol but very much enjoyed these treats. I'll be making again soon for a party and make work on a way to bring out more of the cocktail essence. Thank you Jowolf2 for sharing this great recipe!

Amazing cake! OMG. Made it for St. Patrick's Day & me/my family & guests loved it. I added green food coloring to frosting & left out chocolate ganache cause I ran out of time. Also, I used bunt cake pan vs. 2 rounds like recipie suggested. Just extended bake time to 55min total. Came out delicious. I cut cake in half after cooling to create a middle layer. It really needed to set in fridge before cutting cause it was a bear to cut. Layers slid everywhere trying to serve & looked a mess by it tasted delicious! Great recipie overall. Next time if I use bunt pan I'll leave the cake whole. Also, recipie calls for 3 cups of confectioners sugar; WAY too much!!! Reduce by 1 cup minimum... With Iridh Cream Liquor it comes out WAY Too Sweet. I had to add another half cup of butter to balance out. Like I said though, fantastic recipie. Cake was moist & yummy with hint of Guiness Beer. Mmm. I will definitely try this again.

I had someone request guinness cake so I tried this recipe and loooove it. Definitely keeping this one. I made it into cupcakes since people seem to dismiss the guilt of indulging in sugary sin when it's served in paper cups. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the recipe was easily enough for 24 cupcakes. I personally don't care for frosting much so for me the two seemed a little much. I followed the suggestion of a another brilliant review and substituted 1 c powdered sugar for 3/4 c. Cocoa powder for the frosting and skipped the ganache/drizzle/whatever that stuff was. It was awesome! Although I ended up doubling it added a couple tablespoons of whipped cream, just enough to bring it to a lighter consistency for piping. I checked them after 15 mins and took them out shortly after. As cupcakes, they DO NOT need 30 mins! These changes made these little guys scrumptious and exactly what I was looking for (but the original recipe is great as it is). Thank you so much for sharing!

This cake was spectacular. Very moist and had a rich chocolate flavor. I used a high quality cocoa powder called Valrhona. I followed the cake recipe exactly, however only baked for 23 minutes on the convection setting. Instead of the Bailey's icing I used the "Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting" from this site. Rave reviews. This will be my go to chocolate cake from now on.

I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 just because of the frosting. What is listed is definitely not enough for a layer cake. I made a batch and a half and even that was barely enough. Next time I will make a double batch and there will be a next time because it was fabulous! One other thing I will do differently next time is making the ganache. Instead of heating the cream and pouring over the chocolate, I will melt it all together in a double boiler because not all of my chocolate melted. Put your frosted cake in the fridge while the ganache is cooling. I drizzled the ganache in a pattern over the top of the cake because I don't like it too thick and overpowering. For the frosting, I used the amount of Bailey's that it called for but found that it needed more liquid so I alternated adding more Bailey's with milk. It was perfect.

This cake is quite amazing. I used three 6” pans . It still took 30 minutes. For the ganache I used a thermometer and waited until it was about 70 degrees before applying to the cake to prevent the buttercream frosting from melting.

This cake is quite amazing. I used three 6” pans . It still took 30 minutes. For the ganache I used a thermometer and waited until it was about 70 degrees before applying to the cake to prevent the buttercream frosting from melting.

I came, I cooked, I’m full.

Great recipe. Perfect for a St Patrick’s potluck.

Excellent Recipe! LOTS of steps. I made mine in a toaster oven in cup cake tins. I made 28 cupcakes with this recipe. Well worth the time and effort!

The bittersweet chocolate sauce is overkill. Makes the cake way too sweet. Cake is delicious on it’s own.

Turned out wonderful! This brownie textured moist cake is officially a family favorite.

Lots of steps and lots of ingredients, but it was fairly easy. I added a 1/2t. vanilla to the batter for a little extra richness. This the best chocolate cake I've ever made. And my guests agreed.

The best way to describe this cake? HMMM.... when you cut a piece of this you cannot use the word "slice". The only way to describe it is a "slab". The Guinness really adds a unique flavor to it and it is not overly sweet. It was moist, rich and dense. I may have added more Bailey's to the frosting than was called for, but I really like Bailey's :-). The amount of bittersweet chocolate needed is equal to 2 candy bars, but I ended up halving that and it was enough for me. I have never made a scratch cake because I was always a little intimidated by the recipes. But although it can look rather daunting it was really pretty easy, and I think even a beginner could make this.

This was very good and I would make again. I used a baileys buttercream frosting instead.