If you love chocolate, this cake will be a life-changing experience. It's so easy and so chocolatey!
Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.
Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- Moist, fudgy dark chocolate cake that's even better the next day!
- Perfect for potlucks, parties, or family dinners.
- Dusting the pan with cocoa powder keeps the baked cake pretty.
Extra stout, double dark ales, and other really dark beers often have a chocolaty note that just works beautifully with chocolate.
The Guinness fudge bundt cake is deep, rich, dark chocolate, and the beer adds almost a coffee flavor to it. It keeps the cake moist, for sure. The ganache also has beer added to it. The richness of this cake is hard to describe - even for me and I love adjectives.
This is one of my favorite cakes, y'all. It's so moist and chocolatey, plus it's absolutely a dream to put together. The ganache glaze is always shiny and delicious.
It's a showstopper that's as perfect for a fancy dinner as it is for family movie night.
I think it is perfect for Valentine's Day, birthdays, or as a small snack when you have had a particularly difficult day - yes, I do mean the entire thing. If you have a PMS playlist, add this to the required food accompaniment.
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Variations
- Use any dark beer you like.
- Stir 1 cup chocolate chips into the cake batter before baking.
- Add 1 cup chopped pecans.
🍴 Equipment
- bundt pan
- electric mixer or stand mixer
🎥 Video
🥫 How to store leftover Guinness fudge bundt cake
This chocolate bundt cake is delicious on the first day but it's so much better the next day! Once the ganache has a change to set it will be solid and won't stick to plastic wrap. Just cover it in plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for up to 5 days.
You can freeze it for up to 3 months.
Expert tip:
Spray the cake pan with no-stick spray and dust with cocoa powder to keep chocolate cakes dark and chocolatey.
💭 Things to know
- If you don't have, or can't find, extra dark cocoa powder you can use regular cocoa powder. I use Hershey's Special Dark but King Arthur has a dark cocoa as well.
- The can is done when a cake tester comes out clean or an instant-read thermometer reads 210F when inserted in the center of the cake.
- This cake does NOT taste like beer! It tastes like the best chocolate cake you ever ate.
- There is a scant amount of residual alcohol in it - most is baked out or cooked out in the ganache.
- IF you prefer not to use beer you can use a good ginger ale or root beer. OR, try this chocolate sheet cake.
- A light sprinkle of Fleur de Sel is an amazing garnish for this!
👩🍳 FAQs
Try root beer as a substitute for beer in this recipe! The rich flavors of the soda combine with the chocolate really well. Other possibilities include: cola, Dr Pepper, apple cider, black coffee, gingerale, or port wine.
Yes. Stout is the type of beer and Guinness is a well-known brand.
The carbonation gives it an extra boost and the flavors deepen the flavor of chocolate.
Stout is darker and has coffee and chocolate flavors. The lager had a malty flavor with caramel flavors and a little bitter aftertaste that keeps this cake from being too sweet.
📚 Related recipes
📞 The last word
Resistance is futile. Look at this Guinness chocolate bundt cake. Shiny, rich chocolate, slowly caressing the moist surface of the most intense cake you have ever put in your mouth. It's sensual. It's sexy.
It's OMG. And you want it. Bad.
And so you shall have it. This is an easy, mistake-proof bundt cake. You really can't screw it up unless you forget about it in the oven or something like that. If you do, don't feel bad. I have been known to do that myself.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Guinness Fudge Bundt Cake
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup dark cocoa powder, I use Hershey's Extra Dark
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup Guinness Extra Stout or a double dark ale
Guinness Ganache
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons Guinness Extra Stout
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325F
- Butter and flour a bundt pan. If you use cocoa to flour the pan your cake will not have white streaks.
- Beat butter and slowly add sugar.
- Beat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add vanilla and cooled chocolate.
- Beat until evenly mixed.
- In a large bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a 3 cup measuring cup or large bowl mix the buttermilk and the Guinness.
- Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk mixture.
- Spoon into a 3 quart bundt pan. Drop on the counter a couple of times to get rid of bubbles and make sure the batter gets into all the crevices of the bundt pan.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. An instant read thermometer will read 200℉ when stuck halfway between the center and the exterior of the pan.
- Let cool completely.
- Loosen with knife and turn out from pan, carefully.
Ganache
- Heat the cream up until bubbles form around the edges and the cream begins to steam.
- Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth
- Heat the Guinness in the microwave until it is just warm. Pour it into the ganache.
- Mix until smooth and then spoon over cake.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
First published February 4, 2013. Last updated March 15, 2024 for editorial improvements, better images, and video.
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✍🏻 A note from Marye...
I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.
I have been known to be absent minded. In fact... I have been known to forget cakes in the oven.
More than once.
In fact it's getting worse. I really have been losing my reading glasses lately - on top of my head. I was rushing to fix supper last night and rushing around looking for them because I couldn't read the recipe in one of my old cookbooks. Here I was frantically searching counters and shelves when I heard a delicate cough - a clearing of the throat, if you will.
My husband was sitting at the table, looking at me with an expression somewhere between pity and hysterical laughter. He pointed to the top of his head...and I suddenly felt them up there on my head. Yes, I walk away from the kitchen and totally forget about the stuff in the oven. It's ok.
But try not to with this because scorching a cake this magnificent would be a travesty of the worst type.
John G says
OMG! I haven't even made it yet and I'm drooling! The ingredient list and the pictures are superb. I'm sure you have a winner here!
Thanks for all your great recipes.
Diane Grimes says
Love some cho cake - thank you and God Bless
Theresa says
Well, RATZ! It was my husband's birthday yesterday and I always make "scratch" birthday cakes for the family. Guess I'll have to make him a "Belated Cake" and have the family over again! Deserves a 5 star rating before it's even out of the oven!
My Mom was a self-proclaimed "beer connoisseur" - wish she was still with us to try this one - beer & chocolate - two of her favorites!
Bob Kernodle says
Two of my favorites together makes for a must try!! Extra stout plus the chocolate sounds like heaven.
Maureen says
When you mentioned guiness you grabbed my attention. I can't wait to try this cake. You describe it as being moist and better the next day and that is what I always look for in a chocolate cake. With just the two of us it's good to know that you can freeze it. Buuttt my husband will probably guzzle it before I can freeze. I will have to make this for our daughter the next time she visits. Definitely have left overs to take home. This cake deserves 5 stars.
Leslie says
While this cake is baking does the house smell boozy?
Marye says
No.
Adella Hansford Lear says
First off, Happy Birthday to you on Sunday April 21!!! Today, April 19, I turn 63. Hubby treated me to a fajita lunch...but alas, he doesn't bake. I have ALWAYS wanted a Bundt pan, but just haven't broken down to buy one. If I'm fortunate to be chosen as the winner, I will make this cake, in that pan, for MY OWN birthday cake!!! It looks decadent and full of sin...we 60-somethings KNOW how to get our party on!!!
Hope your special day is filled with light, love, laughter and everything extra sparkly!!!!
Your fellow Texan from the heart of the Hill Country!!!
Terrie Williams says
You had me at ganash and Guinness! Sending the Hubs to the RedDot to grab said lager with the promise he could have a few! This is going to be Sunday's family dinner dessert!
Jody says
I love bunt cakes, they always look so beautiful, I have the plain old fashioned bunt pan that I have had for years. But, that being said, it still came out looking beautiful And it was absolutely delicious as well. Thanks for posting!
Judy Burrell says
This is the cake for me to make for my sons birthday next week. Sounds so
delicious. Thanks for all your recipes.
Judy
Ali Berndt says
I have never seen a cake that looked so moist and tempting. My hubby will love it!! I can't wait to make it for him!!!!
Jennifer A Stewart says
I am not a huge beer drinker. Not because I don't' like the taste but because I can't burp and the bubbles get to me after a while. One beer that I do like is Guinness! I like it for a whole meal! I really need to start using it more! Like in this recipe!
Marye Audet says
Let me know what you think.
Citra Kale @Citra's Home Diary says
Hi Merye... Love any chocolat'y cake/ dessert.. and like your recipe here. Any suggestion for substitute the guinness?? yeeaahh..I know..it wouldn't be guiness bundt cake anymore... ^,^ Any idea?
Marye Audet says
Gingerale!! It will be awesome!
Sabrina says
That ganache looks delicious! My husband would eat this up in a second!
Marye Audet says
Thanks! It really is good.
Kim Beaulieu says
This is fabulous. I love a good Guinness cake, this bundt is perfection. That glaze is amazing.
Marye Audet says
Thanks Kim!
Megan {Country Cleaver} says
How can I say no to chocolate and stout?!
Marye Audet says
I don't know... I know I can't!
Nutmeg Nanny says
This cake is perfection! I'm a huge lover of Guinness in just about any form 🙂
Marye Audet says
🙂 it goes so well with chocolate.
Julianne @ Beyond Frosting says
I am loving the sound of this cake!
Marye Audet says
It will definitely handle your chocolate cravings.
heather @french press says
now this is the perfect way to end a st patty's day meal! that glaze is drool worthy
Marye Audet says
Thanks Heather!
Marilyn Kennedy says
Last year we made a Guinness Chocolate Bundt cake, which I thought was from the Guinness Store house, so I didn't copy it down.. It was a wonderful cake that seemed to have a life of it's own and survived Christmas and our trip into another province in early Jan and eventually ended up in a teacher's staff room.. Not that it was not any good, it was just so darn rich and did seem to mellow in the two weeks with rave reviews. This was to become another Christmas tradition as we also served it with single Malt Carmel sauce!
Do you think we could find it! My husband who found the recipe had burnt the last Chocolate squares in the house as he was melting the squares, luckily we had one of those lovely but heated discussion about me always interfering with his baking as I tried to explain that he could also cocoa powder with oil as a substitution.
So this morning as we tried to find this recipe unsuccessful, we remember the dissuasion on chocolate sguares and cocoa!
I do think this is the recipe!