little choc Guinness cakes

for Paddy's Day

Mar 14, 2025

What I’m reading: A Waiter in Paris, by Edward Chisholm. I’m told this is like a modern version of Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London (which I’m going to read next). I found it engaging and entertaining, if slightly self-indulgent

What I’m listening to: a lot of Joshua Burnside as I went to see him play in Islington this week and it was exceptional

What I’m eating: my first ever (but certainly not my last) Bleecker burger (below)

If you’ve followed my Instagram/Substack for while, you’ll probably recognise this cake. I’ve done some version of a chocolate Guinness cake for the last couple of years, and it’s never not good. I only wonder why I don’t make it more regularly - the addition of Guinness makes this fairly straightforward chocolate cake even more moist and complex (not to mention patriotic).

I’ve done a few full-sized Guinness cakes (see below, at Ballymaloe House for St Patrick’s weekend), but I think I prefer the baby size (5cm diameter, to be specific), as they almost look like little stout (in stature and flavour) pints of Guinness.

The place I’m working at the moment recently switched from Guinness to Murphy’s, and I’m afraid to say it doesn’t quite hit the same. I will still drink one religiously after most of my shifts, but if you’re interested, my hierarchy of pints of stout goes as follows:

Guinness
Beamish
Murphy’s

As a stereotypical Irish person living abroad, I am very judgmental about the quality (and price) of a pint. It has to be said that the Devonshire in London does a very good Guinness - but my personal favourite is my local, Angie’s. A pint of Guinness will set you back about £4.20 (although the price does vary day to day, which I find charming), and it’s consistently good. Here’s some pictures of hilariously bad pints of Guinness from the southern hemisphere, though, which you might find entertaining:

I don’t have much else to say about these cakes, other than you should make them! And here’s some pictures of my best pints from the past year - most of which were, of course, in Connemara, plus a few from my new fave spots in London.

This recipe uses the “reverse creaming” method, which is popular for chocolate cakes in particular. It’s like the classic “wet into dry” method, with one extra step where you “breadcrumb” the butter into the dry ingredients, before incorporating the wet. I find that this method works best for a cake like this. A can of Guinness is fine for this, although of course if you have taps on hand, draught would be lovely.

Ingredients

335g plain flour

2.5 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp baking soda

1.5 tsp salt

80g cocoa

500g caster sugar

150g butter, cold and cubed

75g vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

190g buttermilk

270g Guinness

4 eggs

400g mascarpone

400g cream

100g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line 15 5cm round cake tins with baking paper, and spray with neutral oil.

Heat the Guinness in a small pot over a medium heat, until just below boiling point.

Meanwhile, put the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cocoa, sugar) and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and mix on a low speed until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Mix the eggs, oil, vanilla and buttermilk together in a jug, and then add this mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix first on a low speed, then beat on a medium speed until smooth and a bit fluffy. Finally, stream in the warm Guinness and mix until fully combined.

Pour into the prepared cake tins, and bake for around 15 minutes, until risen and firm, and a skewer inserted into the centre emerges clean.

Allow to cool fully.

For the topping, beat the ingredients together with a whisk until light and fluffy - but don’t overwhip, or it will become too stiff.

When the cakes have cooled, use a palette knife to top each cake, and then level out the sides so it resembles a little pint of Guinness.