Guinness Gingerbread Cakes

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.