Kramer recently discovered his love for gingerbread at one of our favorite restaurants where they serve you mini gingerbread muffins. Kramer is a somewhat picky eater, so I had never thought in my wildest dreams that he would like gingerbread. When I found out he liked it, I was really excited to make some gingerbread cake because I absolutely adore the sweet and spicy awesomeness that is gingerbread. I wanted to do something a bit different though, and remembered that we had some Guinness to use up! I found a recipe for gingerbread made with Guinness and got to work.
You’d never know that there was Guinness in this cake, so don’t worry about not being able to serve it to little ones or picky eaters! The beer just adds a richer flavor to the already delectable cake. It’s got a good amount of spice, still nice and sweet, and perfectly moist. The crumb sticks to the cake so you don’t have to worry about it crumbling apart if you decide to cut it into squares, like I did. Everyone loved these seasonal little cakes, especially because I topped it all off with a delightful honey-cinnamon frosting and a little candy-corn pumpkin. These are perfect for the cold winter months and are a welcome treat to any home!
Your ingredients.
Bring the Guinness to a simmer, then set aside while you assemble the other ingredients.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ground ginger, ground white pepper, and ground cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.
Beat together the eggs, sugars, molasses, and vegetable oil.
Scrape down the bowl to make sure everything is evenly combined.
Add in the flour mixture and the Guinness alternatively, starting and ending with the flour (flour, beer, flour, beer, flour).
Pour the batter into a greased and/or lined 9×9 pan (or 9×13 if you doubled it, like me) and bake at 350 degrees F for 45-55 minutes (or 60-70 minutes if you’re using a larger pan). Bake until it’s set and doesn’t jiggle when lifted.
I doubled my recipe, so I had enough for a 9×13 cake pan and about 12 muffins. Bake the muffins at 350 for 20 or so minutes, until risen and set.
Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan.
You can frost the cake if you want, or just dust it with powdered sugar. I frosted mine with leftover cupcake frosting that I had, which will be featured in a later post.
Slice into small squares.
I topped mine with candycorn pumpkins for a more ~festive~ look.
Enjoy these delicious treats with a glass of Guinness or some coffee!
I just dusted my muffins with some powdered sugar, and you can do this with cakes, too.
- ⅔ cup Guinness stout
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, firmly packed (dark or light, I used half of each)
- ⅔ cup molasses
- ¾ cup vegetable or canola oil
- powdered sugar (for dusting)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and/or line a 9x9 pan.
- In a medium sized pot, bring the Guinness to a light simmer and remove from heat. Set aside until ready to use.
- Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ground ginger, ground white pepper, and ground cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
- In a big bowl, beat together the eggs, sugars, molasses, and oil, scraping down the bowl to be sure it's all mixed well. Add a third of the flour, then half of the beer, then a third of the flour, half of the beer, and finally, the last of the flour (you want to add these ingredients alternatively so the batter doesn't get exhausted and dry/overbeaten).
- Pour the batter into your pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, until set and the cake doesn't jiggle when picked up. Allow to cool completely before slicing, then frost with your frosting of choice or dust with powdered sugar.
Mmm these sound and look amazing! Definitely saving this recipe!
the cake looks really yummy!
just 1 question, can i replace molasse with maple syrup? cos i really wanna make it rite away, like NOW!!!!
Lululu: I’ve never tried it before, but I think it would work! Either that or honey or corn syrup.
Looks great and very appetizing! I have never tried gingerbread with cocoa before!
Yum, it was just last year that I learned I liked gingerbread myself! Your cake sounds terrific especially topped with that cinnamon honey frosting!
Happy Halloween!
~ingrid
you have JUST officially made my day…thank you
Does this keep well?
Whitney: Yes, I kept them in the fridge for about 5 days and they were still great!
This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing
I’ve got a question about these, and it may be an overly obvious one, but….does the alcohol cook out during baking? I’d like to make them because they looked so moist, but the group I wanted to make them for is largely made up of non-drinkers….
Lauryn: Yes, it does. You’d never know there was beer in the cake! It’s mostly just for depth of flavor.
I’ve just made this. Amazing… For those in Australia, “all purpose flour’ is ‘plain flour’. If I made them again it would be with a little less molasses, and a little more overall liquid content. Mostly due to local factors I’d think.
Molasses (hard to find in .au) could be replaced with golden syrup or maple, but honestly, one of the best sensations is from the molasses… that flavour is really full on.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. Earl Grey and some of this, is just a perfect morning tea.
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