A rich vegan chocolate cake with stout, iced with a Baileys-inspired dairy-free frosting
It's my Dad's birthday and this is his birthday cake! I've been planning it for a while and I'm so pleased with how delicious it turned out.
It's an intense chocolate-y and stout-y cake with an amazing "Baileys" buttercream frosting.
The frosting was inspired by my vegan Irish Cream Ice Cream which uses Irish whiskey, a little bit of cocoa powder and a little bit of coffee to recreate the flavour of Baileys.
You wouldn't know the difference! And the cake itself is slightly adapted from a recipe I found over at Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body.
At the time of creating this recipe, the only vegan Guinness option was Foreign Extra Guinness.
It's a lot stronger and more bitter but I think it works better in this cake as the flavour comes through a lot more.
However, I'm very very pleased to say that all forms of Guinness is now vegan-friendly.
More vegan Guinness and "Baileys" recipes:
Guinness Triple Chocolate Vegan Brownies
📖 Recipe
Vegan Guinness Chocolate Cake with "Baileys" Buttercream
A seriously indulgent vegan cake - Strong chocolate and stout flavour, with sweet Irish cream frosting. Great for birthdays or St Patrick's day celebrations.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Guinness cake
- 250 g / 2 cups plain flour
- 120 g / 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 220 g / 1 cup caster sugar
- 100 g / ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 480 ml / 2 cups Guinness
- 120 ml / ½ cup mild-flavoured vegetable oil
- 2 tsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the "Baileys" buttercream frosting
- 250 g / 1 cup vegan butter, such as Naturli block
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 600 g / 5 cups icing sugar
- 2-3 tbsp Irish Whiskey, I used Jamesons
- ½ tsp cocoa powder
- ½ tsp very strongly brewed coffee
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170c / 350f. Grease and line two 8 inch sandwich tins.
- In a bowl sift the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt and sugars. Make a well in the centre, pour in the beer, oil and vanilla. Whisk until there are no lumps.
- Pour into the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Once baked, let them cool for 15-20 minutes in their tins before transferring them onto a cooling rack.
- To make the buttercream, cream the vegan butter and vanilla extract together in a stand mixer. Add the icing sugar in a large tbsp at a time until well mixed.
- Beat in the whiskey, cocoa powder and brewed coffee. Taste and adjust quantities if needed until it tastes just like Baileys! Refrigerate for at least an hour before decorating, to make it easier to spread.
- Once the cake has completely cooled (I recommend freezing it or keeping in the fridge overnight before decorating) spread the chilled frosting on top of one layer, sandwich the two layers together and then top the cake with the rest of the frosting.
- Serve and enjoy! It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, covered.
Notes
The cake is adapted from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body
Christine says
Loved the flavor of this cake and the frosting! I must have done something wrong, though, because my cake came out dry and crumbly. It even broke on half when I turned it out onto the cooling rack. Frosting saves everything, though, so I made a little extra and glued it together that way!
Tatjana says
I baked this cake today and its so delicious! Could I blog it in my blog?
Of course I will link to your blog.
Have a nice day,
Tatjana
Laura Mayne says
Thank you very much for this recipe. I have just made it ready for the weekend. I am sure that my menfolk will really enjoy this, as will I!
pete cavert says
probably none left to freeze for PP
Esther says
Hi Amee,
this cake is to die for, I've made it many times now and it's has become our favourite chocolate so far. so thank you very much for sharing this yummy recipe!
Would you know if I could replace the plain flour with splelt flour??
Thanks!!!!
Aimee says
Hi Esther, thank you so much for your comment! Glad to hear you enjoy it as much as I do :-) I have started using spelt in place of plain flour a lot now but find you may need a bit more of the spelt flour in certain recipes. Perhaps an extra 2-4 tbsp in this one? Let me know how you get on!