Chocolate Bundt Cake

Slathered with chocolate buttermilk icing, this beautifully moist chocolate bundt cake is made with a blend of whole wheat and all-purpose flours, stout beer, maple syrup and brown sugar. It’s the perfect travel-friendly treat.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Slices of this chocolate bundt cake spent the better part of the past week in the car with me. Each piece, wrapped in parchment, was tucked between the Ak-Mak crackers and a jar of almond butter. It is a fine travel cake, one that can handle a day or two in the car- blizzards, bumps in the road, hairpin turns, and all. Topped with a generous sweep of chocolate buttermilk icing, it's unfussy, and ready to frost straight from the pan.

a close up photo of a slice of chocolate bundt cake with thick chocolate frosting on the top

Chocolate Bundt Cake: Key Ingredients

Flours: I make this bundt cake with an equal blend of whole wheat and all-purpose flours. Whole wheat flour brings a bit of heartiness and added structure (and flavor!) to the cake.

Sugars: This cake gets tempered sweetness and a moist, tender texture from maple syrup and dark brown sugar.

Stout: I use dark stout beer in the batter. It’s the wildcard ingredient that lends a malty base note and depth of flavor. Go for a not-too-hoppy porter or stout. Beyond that, chocolate porter or chocolate stout would both be good choices. I know many of you can get your hands on a Guinness, which is totally fine as well.

Yogurt and Melted Butter: The core liquids in this bundt cake batter help deliver a rich, flavorful cake that is effortlessly sliceable and a bit less decadent than typical versions (without sacrificing deliciousness!).

a chocolate bundt cake sitting on top of a table ready to be served

What If I don’t have a Bundt Pan?

For those of you who don't have a bundt pan, no problem! You can bake this cake batter in a wide range of pans. It makes great little cakes, and loaf cakes, and cupcakes. You know the drill, adjust the baking time, and bake until the sides of the cake start to pull away from the pan a bit, and a tester/knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

a slice of chocolate bundt cake neatly wrapped in parchment paper and tied with a piece of string
This cake travels beautifully wrapped in parchment paper or waxed paper bag. A stretch of common string secures the wrapper in place.
a large slice of chocolate bundt cake being held on a piece of parchment paper

Chocolate Bundt Cake: Variations

Coffee Version: A number of people over the years have asked about making a version without beer. You can use I cup of strong coffee in place of the 1 cup of reduced beer.

Chocolate Bundt with Olive Oil: Laura mentions, “ made this cake tonight with 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, which I mixed in with the yogurt egg mixture, instead of butter and it turned out delightful. Next time I might add thick pieces of dark chocolate into the batter, too.”
a close up photo of a slice of chocolate bundt cake with thick chocolate frosting on the top and a cake server

I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we have! It was just the thing to unwrap on a picnic table underneath a grove of sky-scraping redwood trees.
a road leading to a picnic spot in Oregon

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Chocolate Bundt Cake

5 from 2 votes

I use less butter here, than most other cakes of this sort. And I'd argue, you can't really tell. That said, scaling back much more beyond this wasn't a good idea, so i don't recommend it. Also, I use buttermilk in the icing because I typically have it on hand, but you can certainly substitute stout/porter or water. And if you love extra frosting, go ahead and double up.

Ingredients
Chocolate Bundt Cake:
  • 2 cups / 475 ml chocolate porter or stout beer
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
  • 3/4 cup / 75g natural cocoa powder (non-dutched)
  • 1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup / 4.25 oz / 120 g dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups / 355 ml plain whole yogurt
  • 3/4 cup / 180 ml pure maple syrup
Chocolate Buttermilk Icing:
  • 3/4 cup / 2.75 oz / 75 g powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup / 25g natural cocoa powder (non-dutched)
  • 2 tablespoons buttermilk
  • flaky sea salt, to serve
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C, with a rack in the center.
  2. Butter and flour (generously) a 11 or 12-cup capacity bundt pan (or equivalent). As I mention up above, you can bake this in other cake pans, just be mindful to avoid filling the pan(s) more than 2/3 - 3/4 full. Adjust the baking time as well, baking until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, and the center tests clean when you insert a knife.
  3. In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer the beer down to 1 cup / 240 ml, it will take 15 minutes or so. Remove from heat, add the butter and stir until melted. Stir in the cocoa powder, mixing until smooth, then set aside to cool, stirring occasionally to release heat.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  5. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt, and maple syrup. Whisk well, until nicely blended and uniform in appearance. Gradually add the (cooled) stout mixture, stirring all the while. Stir until well blended. Add the flour mixture, folding until just blended, using as few strokes as possible, a few lumps in the batter are fine.
  6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 35 - 45 minutes if using the bundt pan, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. You really don't want to over bake this cake - err on the slightly moist side if anything. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for ten minutes or so, and turn out onto a cooling rack.
  7. In the meantime, make the icing by whisking together the powdered sugar, cocoa, and buttermilk. Really go at it for at least a minute. The icing should end up smooth and creamy looking, adjust with a touch of powdered sugar or a few extra drops of buttermilk if you want to tweak the consistency at all. When the cake is completely cool, run the icing around the top with an offset spatula and let it set.
  8. Serve sprinkled with a bit of flaky sea salt. But don't sprinkle with flakes of salt until ready to serve, or you'll end up with little divots (see photos :).

Notes

Makes one chocolate bundt cake.

Serves
12
Prep Time
25 mins
Cook Time
45 mins
Total Time
1 hr 10 mins
 
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5 from 2 votes (2 ratings without comment)
Recipe Rating




Comments

Love Love LOVE this blog! Totally dig this recipe, and I also add avocado puree for a little more of the healthy fats. (I likah the fatsa.) (And the chocolates.) (Of course.)

serenity

I’m making this cake for the third time today, it’s great. So moist and I did not notice that the beer flavor was very pronounced. I too left out the baking soda the second time and it was still delicious, just more like a pudding cake. Fabulous recipe!

Rachel

I just made this cake as directed, using chocolate stout. It is quite moist with a large crumb and not too sweet (almost like banana bread) and it cuts well. I was surprised that it tasted more of beer than of chocolate. I had expected a chocolate cake with a more complex flavor from the beer but it was really the other way around. Once I tasted a little bit of the cake I decided to top it with my usual chocolate boiled icing to intensify the chocolate flavor, so I didn’t try the chocolate buttermilk icing listed here.
I would make this recipe again for friends who like beer more than they like chocolate but it won’t replace my regular chocolate cake recipe.

B

Just made this INCREDIBLE cake for a good friend of ours who has spent the last 50 odd years of his life always putting others before himself (generally with a bottle of stout in his pocket to help him along! ). I couldn’t think of a more perfect cake to make and he couldn’t think of a nicer gesture- all the credit goes to you Heidi! Thanks a tonne!

Emi G.

Had this for dessert last night. It was perfection. Thanks!

Sawyer Riley

Thanks for all the great recipes, Heidi. This one turned out just perfect. I normally make Basic Chocolate Cake for my husband’s birthday but you posted this one in good time for this year and it was just great. 🙂

Heather

hello heidi, first of all i’d like to thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes, pictures and stories with the rest of us, it is a truly inspiring thing you’re putting together here!
I made this cake and made a few tweaks to it, but unfortunately it didn’t come out as expected 🙁
Instead of using whole wheat and all purpose flour i used white spelt flour (i always substitute all purpose with white spelt, there have been no problems so far), and replaced the natural cocoa powder with melted 70% chocolate. I used Guinness beer and plain whole yogurt, the runny kind, as stated in the recipe. The result was a cake very much like the ones Hannah and Tallin came up with. Pudding like texture, gorgeously baked on the outside but waaay underdone on the inside. Don’t know if this may be due to the tweaks i made, or whether i should have left it a bit longer in the oven. I baked it for 45′, did the knife test and seemed perfectly baked to me. Could it have something to do with folding the batter properly, i believe i am not very good at it, yet!
Anyway, i want to do this recipe again because, apart from the texture, the flavor was so delicious, but i’d appreciate if you could give me your opinion on what you think may have gone wrong…
Thanks and have a good day!

maria

I loved this cake – made it as two loaf cakes and put one in the freezer. I substituted the full whole wheat flour with King Arthur’s white whole wheat flour. Made the texture a bit smoother. A keeper! Thanks again, Heidi.

Lisa Durstin

I had so much fun making this cake. I really liked it but it seemed to need more chocolate flavor. Any suggestions?

Julie

I made this cake, and it literally disappeared. It was so moist, flavorful, I gave half to a friend, and my husband wouldn’t let the rest of it leave the house….it was that good. It came out of the pan easily (my gripe with bundt cakes), and the frosting was good with it because this cake is not very sweet. What a winner.

Catherine

This cake sounds crazy-delicious! I’m usually not much for sweets but OMG this looks good.

Ann-Louise

Have been thinking about making this cake for two weeks. Finally, it is sitting on my counter and it did not disappoint… Delicious. Perfect balance of flavors and texture. Thanks for the delicious addition to our family favorites. I followed the recipe to the tee with the added suggestion to use cocoa powder instead of flour for preparing the bundt pan. Gives the cake a beautiful, deep chocolate sheen.

sierrakn

Heidi… The only tweak was that I added a tablespoon or so of molasses because my brown sugar was a bit on the lighter side.
Can’t imagine that would’ve done it.
I also noticed the batter was a bit frothy and bubbly as it was baking. Never seen anything like that either!

Tallin

I had a similar experience as Hannah’s…cake totally collapsed and had this souffle/pudding texture. It still tastes ok so there’s that! I think my yogurt may have been too runny. ::shrugs:: Will have to try with a greek style yogurt next time.

HS: Hmm. That is a problem I haven’t had. And I’ve baked this cake with both plain yogurt (the runny kind – full fat), and Greek yogurt (2%)….wondering if you made any tweaks to the recipe?

Tallin

Fabulous, delicious cake, which I am just now making for the second time. Both times I ended up with a bit too much of the beer / chocolate / butter liquid mix, and this time I’ve used it as the liquid for the icing, to save it going to waste. Have taste tested that icing already -mmm. Thanks Heidi!

jo

I love this recipe. I like the fact that you used whole wheat flour instead of regular. I also like the buttermilk icing although instead of using all buttermilk I added some cocao liquor. Just a little…:-) Great recipe thanks.

Frank

heidi – first, belated congrats on the james beard nomination, fantastic and well deserved – your book is a go-to here, and elsewhere I am sure! 🙂
second – we have made this cake three times now (mom’s book club, FIL’s birthday, brother’s visit) – first and third times, spectacular – a moist, rich, bittersweet chocolate flavor that is just right. we have tried the icing with milk and buttermilk and both were really tasty – a nice hit of ‘sweet’ on a cake that is really not too sweet at all (just what we like!). also the third time we used almost 100% whole wheat pastry flour (just maybe a third of a cup of all purpose) and our results were only negligibly different – a bit denser but still really delicious.
the second time we made it something *really* strange happened – it puffed up like a souffle, then ‘crashed’ a couple minutes out of the oven, and the texture was like chocolate scrambled eggs. what on earth? never had anything like this happen to me before – and I bake almost daily around here. my husband thinks maybe an extra egg went in accidentally – has anyone else ever had anything similar?
making it again today, which is why I am back on the site to double check the recipe. we love all your stuff – but this is a keeper for sure. thanks heidi!

hannah

Heidi, I made this cake with a decoction of coffee (as I was serving it to children) and it was a hit! Next time I am going to double up on the icing on one side of the cake though.

Suba

This cake is everything it promises to be. I used Young’s Double Chocolate Stout for lack of any other good quality stout in local shops (Cape Town, South Africa). The cake is rich and flavoursome, has great texture, not too sweet and easy enough to make. I wasn’t sure if I should use Bicarbonate of Soda or Baking Powder for your Baking Soda. Chose Bicarb and it seems to be the right choice. Thanks Heidi!

Liezel

Wow, this looks so tasty, dense and rich! It goes straight to my fav list!

Sweet Faery

I used treacle as the sweet substitute and James Squire’s Spade porter (a tasty local brewery here in Sydney). It’s dark and beautiful with a texture that is almost like mud cake.
I was recently reading up on different types of salt and stumbled across fleur del sel at a providore. If you ever come across it, it’s worth it – it creates a lovely balance to the chocolate flavours in this cake.

Katherine

This was a big hit with my family. I made it to take on our weekend away. It survived 500 miles in a cool box and was eaten over two days. The only complaint I heard? Not enough icing! I will be making it again next weekend for my Mother in Law’s birthday.
Thank you.

margaret

That looks a great recipe, especially as it can stand up to the travelling, I’ll bear it in mind for my next camping trip! And what a beautiful to eat it! Happy and safe travels. 🙂
PS. Buttermilk is exceptional around here, I use a mix of yoghurt and milk when a recipe calls for it.

idiosyncraticeye

Heidi, just made this cake yesterday. Truly wonderful! I substituted the flours with spelt flour and almond meal. A dense chocolate-y cake that was not too sweet and a hit with ALL the family. Thank you for sharing. Loving your creativity.

MON MOORE

I made this for my birthday. It was my first attempt at cake baking and it turned out really well. My wife took part of it to work, and received glowing comments from a self proclaimed cake connoisseur. Thanks for the recipe!

Chris

This Chocolate Bundt was the most AMAZING cake I have ever made. Thank You for the delicious recipe..I served it at a Girls night In…Rave reviews…Thanks for sharing you love of food.

Michelle Herrera

Oh my goodness! Heaven! I finally found some free time and made this cake today after lusting over the recipe for the past week. I used Deschutes Obsidian. And instead of a bundt cake- I lent my pan out and never got it back 🙁 I poured the batter into buttered and floured cupcake tins, baked for 25 minutes (though I should have taken them out a few minutes sooner) turned them out, kept them “upside down,” frosted the bottoms when they cooled and ended up with 24 delicious mini-cakes! Even with the few extra minutes they are moist and fabulous! Since I can’t eat them all my roommate and co-workers will be very happy! Thanks Heidi!!

Alexis

REALLY want to try this. Although, the beer will be cooked out — I’d prefer to omit, being we don’t drink alcohol. Any suggestions as to a substitute?

melissa

This is DELICIOUS.! A very moist, slightly sponge-y cake. There is just a hint of the stout, and a subtle delicious chocolate flavor. Not your average chocolate – while I am a chocolate lover, I am not necessarily the biggest fan of chocolate cakes. This cake is an entirely different category (in a great way).
I used Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, and Dagoba cocoa powder. I also used Wallaby Organic Australian-style vanilla non-fat yogurt, instead of plain yogurt, because I had a huge tub on hand. Not too sure what much of a big difference this yogurt made compared to the original recipe.
I baked it in 2 dark metal loaf pans for about 33-35 minutes. I was a little worried it was a little underdone, but like Heidi said did not want to dry it out. It was moist and perfect!
Have 3 pints of chocolate stout leftover. I think I’ll make a beer float with some vanilla gelato! Thanks for the delish recipe Heidi!

Christina Beltran

I made this for my friend’s birthday yesterday – it was a huge hit. I used oatmeal stout and a combination of muscovado and moleasses sugars. The frosting was a little grainy, so I added a little vanilla and butter, and it was glossy and perfect. Sprinkled with fleur de sel, this cake was magical.

Shannon

I made it last night! It was amazing! I only had ale, not stout (I’m not even sure of the difference). It left an amazing hint of flavor in the cake, so I recommend it! My husband and I have dairy issues, so I substituted coconut fat for the butter, and coconut milk/vinegar for the yogurt. It turned out amazing! Thank you for the great recipe 🙂

HS: Thanks for reporting back Mary – glad the substitutions worked out.

Mary Lapp

I love the pictures! Having something sweet for a travel is good idea too. I’ll try it with my bicycle rides next time! thank u!

mateusz

I can’t wait to make this cake. I recently bought some molasses brown sugar that I hope will be perfect in this mix. Your photography is beautiful as are the recipes. Thanks for creating your blog.

Nikki

Best chocolate cake. Ever.
My sugar was only a little brown so I substituted a quarter cup of maple syrup with blackstrap molasses. Love that the cake is not too sweet but very moist. The chocolate is a soloist supported with a symphony of the other dark flavors.

Craig

Such an easy and delicious chocolate cake! I used Rogue Chocolate Porter and half full fat sour cream, half 2% greek yogurt. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly, mine cooked for about 40 minutes and is very moist. Thinking about serving it next time with some fresh berries!

Whitney

I made this cake a few days ago and it is really good! They were out of chocolate porter so I used a local creme brûlée porter instead. I substituted one cup of lightly packed brown sugar and used raw cacao for the icing (i ran out of cocoa).
It is fabulous! Mine baked at 35 minutes and was perfect. I agree with you about the flour frost on the outside of the cake after it comes out of the pan.
I also am really grateful for your photos and stories. I went to University in the bay area and grew up in Portland, OR. Now I live in Ontario Canada and miss the west so much. I get to live vicariously through you and some days it really helps me with my own memories.

Stephanie

Made this cake last night for my family, EVERYONE LOVED it. Very moist, good flavor–esp since it is a HEALTHY TREAT!

Deanna

What beautiful pictures!

Full-Flavored Life

Wow this looks so amazing! I love the combination of simplicity and richness.. YUM!!

Toni @ NotYetAMommyBlog

I have never tried chocolate stout…sounds divine!! 🙂 I love that it still contains whole healthy ingredients. Would oat flour work with this recipe? If so, what measurement would you recommend? lovely photos! Thanks, Heidi…

Laurie @ limonata

muscavado sugar is a secret to many yummy cakes :O) this looks incredible.

Catering Supplies

muscavado sugar is one my most coveted items. i keep it hiding in the pantry, only using for something really special. i think it’s worth breaking it out for this.

brandi

Love your recipes! This cake looks delicious I can’t wait to try it. Love that it has yougurt in it. I really like the idea of a travel cake. I like to bake a cake or cookies on Sunday and pack them in the lunch box for sanacking on the go.

Martha

I’ve made chocolate stout cake many times but I don’t like the after taste that the stout leaves. Like another reader wrote, espresso coffee works fine in place of the beer but just remember to use only 1 cup of coffee.

Jillian Leiboff

To Sarah Brenner-
Thanks for answering my high altitude question regarding adjusting anything. I’ll keep the 50 min. baking time in mind. Going to make it on Friday before we leave for the weekend so that we can take it with us to share with family.

Barbara

I made this for my daughter’s birthday. We took it to a local restaurant (with permission) and gave a piece to all the servers who sang “Happy Birthday.” Our table server declared it was “the best cake I have ever, ever tasted!” I was very pleased. I live at 7050 feet elevation, and I made no adjustments except to bake it for 50 minutes at the prescribed 350° It remained very moist. It did fall a bit in the oven, but it maintained a nice shape and consistency, just not as tall. Oh, and I used my son-in-law’s home brewed Oatmeal Stout. He declared it a “very good cake.” They plan to take the leftover slices with them on their road trip this week through the Canadian Rockies. Thank you, Heidi!

Sarah Brenner

This looks amazing Heidi, I’m gonna try it soon…thank you for sharing. I adore guinness brownies, so I’m pretty sure this cake will be one of my new favorites!

Cameron

Chocolate, plus beer in a cake. This will make my husband cry tears of joy. Thank you!

Tori (@eatori)

I made this last night and it is THE MOST RDICULOUSLY MOIST cake EV-UH! Death by chocolate (and never fear, for those with kids etc you can’t taste the beer). The sea salt on top really added some zing. Delicious! 100% recommend this recipe. Thanks!

cheryl

hi – any suggestion to make this more kid-friendly by substituting the beer for something else?
thanks for any tips!

karen o

Questions. I live and bake at 6,800′ elevation. Should I make any adjustments in the recipe? I usually start with cold eggs, cold ingredients so that cakes don’t rise high quickly without baking through. Also, could I use Sweet Samovar Crystals instead of brown sugar? Picked up a bag recently when we were in San Francisco and ate at the Samovar Restaurant.

Barbara

I made this cake to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with my son who loves to cook with me. I made it using Guinness and followed the recipe exactly with the exception of adding a bit of vanilla to the icing and half of a tsp more buttermilk. I baked it for 40m in a vintage flame orange Bundt pan I scored at a yard sale for $3 and it turned out lovely. I doubled the icing recipe because I thought it wasn’t quite enough and I like to be a bit generous. The cake has a dense texture, moist and not too chocolatey or sweet. The icing is of course very rich and the combination is perfect. Thank you for a great recipe and beautiful images.. I’m in love with your blog and will check out your books soon!

Alejandra S.

I can’t wait to make this…by the way…congrats on the James Beard book Nomination! A great honor.

Kimberly

I made this recipe!!! It turned out fantastic. Here’s what I altered:
I used 1 cup espresso rather than the stout and it worked just fine.
I used 1/2 cup coconut flour and 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour instead of the white flour. I would not use the buckwheat again – it definitely gave it a buckwheat taste. But I don’t know why you couldn’t just use all wheat flour – the cake is so dense it will probably be unnoticeable.
I also ran out of cocoa powder so I melted dark chocolate pieces from a Trader Joe’s organic dark chocolate bar and added powdered sugar with some hot water – it worked perfect for the frosting.
And – I used the cocoa powder trick to dust the pan. But since I didn’t have enough, I also used powdered sugar (I hate the taste of regular flour on the outside of a cake) – it not only tasted great but it didn’t leave any white on the cake.
It was the hit of my luncheon and I will be making it again!!!

Kathy

Decided to wait until I could get undutched cocoa – the closest I could find here (Durban, South Africa) was raw, unsweetened cocoa.
Very easy to make, love not having to cream butter. I made a small ring and a loaf cake, both turned out very moist. Yummy, but probably could have cooked it a little longer. My icing was also a little runny and so it soaked into the cake. I love that it is not too sweet and feels ‘healthy’.

noodle

I love the storytelling element of this post! I’m sure the off-to-grandmother’s house touch makes it extra-decadent.

Jessie Kanelos

Thx, Heidi! This is my new favorite chocolate cake. I was out of maple syrup and a.p. flour, so I used a nice local honey and white spelt flour instead. I also halved the recipe for my 6-cup bundt pan. It was a perfect fit and baked in just a little over 20 minutes.

noelle

I made this yesterday. Whole Foods did not have chocolate stout so I bought a cappuchino stout made in California. I think I was not patient enough to wait until 2 cups boiled down to 1 so my batter was very runny. I tasted it and it seemed a little bitter so I added some Mexican vanilla and more sugar. Cake turned out great, definitely on the moist side, not as tall (it never really rose much) but perfect flavor. Due to the cake being very spongy, my icing was absorbed by it and did not crust on top like yours. I am going to try that cake again, for sure. I liked it.

HS: Janine – If you make it again, and don’t want to wait for the beer to boil down, you can use beer straight from the bottle – 1 cup. More than that, and things go awry.

Janine

I made this cake with Oatmeal Stout and took it to 2 Saint Patrick Day parties on Saturday. Lots of raves about it!

Laurie

Yum, being a big fan of your Chocolate Loaf Cake I just had to try this one. Delish!
I think it’s been said but watch your beer it will boil over super fast, I just turned for a moment when I heard it boil over.
I used Rogue Chocolate Stout and regular dark brown sugar as we were out of Muscovado. It was perfect and my picky sister loved it even though she had to comment about the salt, she didn’t get it but ate it all.

Shannon

Heidi, Many, many congratulations on your James Beard Foundation nomination! Hope you will toot your own horn about this! I had to read it elsewhere! Félicitations!

Anonymous

This looks great, but I do have a question. I really hate maple syrup. (really really hate it) What would be a good substitute? I see someone else used honey – would that be a 1:1 substitution?

Cwen

Made this last night with great success for my roommate’s birthday. Heidi, you have a way of posting something just when it’s needed. Infused the stout with some lavender flowers (had on hand) as it was reducing and then strained them. Sprinkled some lavender flowers with flaky salt on the buttermilk icing, too. A lovely spring cake, Heidi, thank you. So delicious. Thanks for the tip to err on the underdone side! It’s perfect.

Taylor

Made this today, and it was delicious!!
Love your blog— thank you for sharing.
m.

mario

Heidi, I cannot stop looking at this cake. CANNOT. The photos are just dreamy. And that icing! I just tried to make a bundt cake using honey as a sweetener, and it fell completely flat. 🙁 How does using maple syrup affect the texture of the cake?

HS: Thanks K! Hmm, problem cakes are no fun. Shoot me the recipe if you want me to take a look. Did you use any granulated sugar (I tend to use a blend these days). Like honey, the maple syrup brings some moisture. But honey vs. maple are definitely different beasts.And I’ve found baking with honey (w/o other sweeteners can be super tricky at times!)….

Kasey

I just finished making this cake and it was by far the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made– unbelievably moist and the stout (I used Guinness) really enhances the chocolate flavor. I ended up baking the cake in two 8-inch cake pans for about 30 minutes. I doubled the icing so I could spread some on the inside. Heavenly! I can’t wait to eat another slice.

Brenna

looks utterly scrumptious!

joy

Well….I have been dreaming about this cake ever since I received it on my phone! I was camping on a beach in HI….and could not wait to get home to make it. It rained the entire time….what can I say! It is in the oven now! Can’t wait….trying to stay away from the beautiful icing resting on my counter….to be continued…..

Marla

I baked this cake tonight with Guinness (as others have noted, it took a good 15 mins to boil down and was at risk of boiling over at the start, so keep an eye open), non-fat Chobani yogurt, and the last of my maple syrup topped up with agave syrup and honey.
I don’t have a bundt pan so split the batter between a loaf tin and an 8X8 glass lasagna dish. As Heidi warns, do not over-fill your tins! I was careful (I thought!) and the loaf tin still overflowed in the oven! The two cakes probably took 75 minutes in the oven.
Instead of making icing, I whipped cream with a drop of vanilla and served the cake warm. Delicious! But we decided to call it Guinness Cake, since the chocolate flavour is not very pronounced when compared to a chocolate cake but is decently chocolatey when thought of as a Guinness Cake! Next time I might add chocolate pieces. Thank you, Heidi. Gorgeous recipe, very moist and flavourful.

jularcher

Ok, so I made this cake late last night so I could eat it for a special ‘treat’ day today. I was a little worried about the runny batter also, but it turned out so moist and delicious. I also used 0% Fage bc that’s what I had (should have thought to add some cream, but I think it still tastes delicious). Also ran out of wheat berries, so I ground some kamut and substituted it with fingers crossed. Worked out fine! One more change – couldn’t find chocolate porter but I did come across coffee porter, which I thought would be perfect with the chocolate. Flavor in the end was amazing. And I loved the buttermilk dressing. Thanks for the recipe!

nita

That cake looks amazing!

Sarah @ Fresh Living

Love the chocolate and stout combination, adds a much deeper flavour that you often find in chocolate cakes.

Adam Levy

I made this cake the other night for a friend’s birthday party. It turned out really well, but the batter was very runny and it took about an hour and a half to bake. I’m not sure if this is something I did wrong. Anyway, the cake eventually set and was a hit, quite light and spongy, almost like pudding cake. I’ll make it again for sure, but will take the extra baking time into account. Thanks for the great recipe!

Chelsey

Heidi,
I made the cake last night . . . Good GAWD!! It is just incredible!! I made mine in two loaf pans and only had 0% Fage on hand, so I added in about 1/8 heavy cream to give back some of the fat ;). I also tucked shards of 85% dark chocolate into the top of each loaf which melted into lovely chocolate pools inside. The loaves are just barely solid — deep, dark, rich, super-moist, chocolatey richness! But since it isn’t a terribly sweet cake, it’s not overwhelming. Thank you for yet another amazing recipe!!!

Kathleen in MO

I couldn’t agree more with AnaMaria’s comment from March 16th. We were scanning for tips last night as we were making it because I didn’t think the batter tasted right, and we were thinking exactly what AnaMaria said! More comments from people who have actually made it, please!
In that vain, we made this last night and it tasted better today than it did right out of the oven. It is really good, but it is a deep and rich chocolate dessert, not for people who like super sweet chocolates. We used a dark porter beer and I think it may have made the batter bitter at first and needed time to settle in – I’m not sure.
I felt the same about the icing – I didn’t love it at first last night, but as it all settled together overnight, it seemed to come together really well.

molly

One of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted. Truly!

Amy

This looks really awesome! Also, I would be greatly interested in your take on a chocolate rum cake if you ever feel so inclined. Thanks for all the great posts! 🙂

Meredith

Feedback: Wow, it was good. I’m in Belgium so I sub in ingredients for what I can’t find. Here’s what I did and how it worked: I used a high quality baking chocolate, not cocoa powder, couldn’t find maple syrup, and used a Rochefort 10 for the beer. Thus I increased the sugar, added milk to keep the volumes similar, and made some slight tweaks to follow Heidi’s directions.
1. Since my beer volume was smaller to begin with and more aromatic (dates and plum), I let it reduce down to about 1 cup, then I dissolved the butter, and the 150 g of bar chocolate in the beer-sauce.
2. Since I omitted the syrup, I increased the brown sugar by 2 tbsp (up to 140 g); and added 1/2 cup milk to the yogurt (taking the total volume up to about 400 ml, or 14 oz; approx 2 cups).
After whisking in the flour, the batter looked very wet, with lots of bubbles, and I wasn’t sure if it would set. It makes for an excellent, moist cake. I thought the whisking was a bit dubious at first, but it really is key. Do no overmix. Omitting the syrup might make for a less sweet cake, but I found that I enjoyed this revelation; the icing really stands out. If you can find Southern Tier’s Creme Brulee Stout, I would highly recommend that (it was awesome in some tiramisu, and would lend it’s sweetness to the cake very well). Hope this helps!

HS: Happy it worked out Neeli!

Neeli

This cake manages to be the most magnificent chocolate cake, Guinness cake AND bundt cake I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait to make it!

Cookie + Kate

This cake looks amazing! Moist and wonderful. I bet the beer adds great flavor.

Katie@Cozydelicious

Mouth waters. Must make.

Kelly

anamaria, i am so with you. hope this helps!
i just took this cake out of the oven (my first bundt!) and turned it out after 10 minutes – it came out in one piece and looks beautiful. i couldn’t resist cutting a small slice and i have to say, it’s airy and delicious… kind of like spongecake. i think it’ll be much better once cooled though- thicker with more of the chocolate flavors coming through. one note – it took about 15-18 mins for the beer to simmer down to 1 cup so everyone should account for that when making the recipe.
thanks for posting another winner!

amy

I made this cake tonight. Words can’t even begin to describe how scrumptious it was. So moist and flavorful. Yumm, yumm, yumm!!! I used the chocolate stout beer (it really does taste like chocolate). I followed the recipe exactly and added some mini chocolate chips sprinkled on top. Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful recipe!

HS: You know, every time I bake this cake I consider adding a good dose of chocolate chunks – I can imagine it’s +++

Laurel

This cake came out great even though I was a little imprecise on the measurements. I also used homemade 2% yogurt. Love the stout and chocolate combination!

monica

Heidi, this cake is amazing! I made it with Deschutes Obsidian Stout (’cause I’m an Oregonian!) and dusted the pan with cocoa instead of flour. I love the deep dark brown color of the cake. It’s so moist and malty-tasting. I let it cool 10 minutes before easing it out of the pan (no problems).
Last weekend we cooked brunch for friends using Super Natural Every Day and it was a hit. And they didn’t think they liked natural healthy cooking–ha! Thanks so much for the terrific recipes!
HS: It’s hard to beat brunch with friends! And I think the Obsidian was a brilliant call. 🙂

Becki

Your photos are always beautiful, making me wish I traveled more. But even though I can’t travel right now, I can enjoy some of the beautiful food you make.
This cake is calling for me to bake it.

Pk

I made this last night for my dinner party tonight!! I cannot wait to serve it up! I had fun making it and posted about it on my blog, too. Thanks for sharing the best recipes!

HS: Hope your party was fun Liana, glad to be a small part of it.

Liana

i just got my first bundt pan recently. well, actually my second – my first one as an adult that’s not my mom’s. can’t wait to try this!

lynn @ the actor's diet

Hi Heidi!
You have gotten me into Bundt cakes and i just cant stop! Yahoo! A new one!
Could you please tell me where you got your pan from? I see it in other bundt postings like the lemony olive oil banana bread post. Is it new or vintage? I am on the hunt for a pan for home ( i usually do my baking at work, i am a chef at a small restaurant in toronto)
for interest’s sake i have tried the oatmeal stout cake from Regan Daley’s book in a bundt pan and it was fabulous. id love to see you do a spin on it!
thanks!

HS: It’s vintage Amy – I saw it in an antique shop and for some reason, didn’t buy it – I think it was quite expensive $200+?. But I went back to that same shop a year+ later, and it was still there. I took that as a sign, and brought it home with me. There are no marks on it – if I can ever figure out who made it, I will give everyone the heads up. It has become one of my all-time favorite pans to bake in. xo

amy webster

Wow. You have my attention. This looks fabulous.

Denise | Chez Danisse

I made it! Had to make a special trip or the stout, but there was aplenty for st pats day!
Oh HS, you are brilliant with ingenuity and creative recipes! Thanks!! My version of your bundt was tres delicious! I used a ring tin and six additional patty cakes! So good! It’s going to go to wrk with e everyday this week! And … I’ll share it!

Sheila

Wow, amazingly beautiful cake! I like bringing some snack and eating while driving. This must be perfect one:-)

Yuri

I noticed Trader Joe’s sells Chocolate Stout. I will have to get some and try this cake. It looks delicious.

Vickie

I can’t get Maple Syrup where I live. Any suggestions for a substitute? Thanks.

Kate

OK, it’s done, gorgeous, delicious and moist. Mine turned out a little darker than yours i think and with a slightly looser crumb. I used an Espresso Stout from Laurelhurst Brewing in Portland and used half stout and half heavy cream for the icing. Perfect! Thank you Heidi. A total keeper. Happy St. Paddy’s day.

HS: So happy to see you K – I like the icing made w/ beer too – but I’ve been doing beer + buttermilk.

Katherine

Thank you for responding, Heidi! I made this cake tonight with 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, which I mixed in with the yogurt egg mixture, instead of butter and it turned out delightful. Next time I might add thick pieces of dark chocolate into the batter, too 🙂 This is a great recipe, thank you!

Laura

Love the look of this! I’m all for an easy, no-fuss chocolate cake. Can’t wait to hear/see more on the Portland jaunt ;-).

HS: Come down for a city visit Lia! xo

Lia Huber

OMG!!! I have to try this recipe!

The slow pace

Oh, dear… I have some chocolate stout in my refrigerator and I’ve been searching for a good baking use for it all week. My brownies were mildly successful, but left me wanting more… I have just found my more, thanks! And love those Ak-mak!

Amy @ CookingScraps

Looks wonderful, Heidi! I think this would be the perfect thing to take on a camping trip to Big Sur next month!

EatLiveRun

Always on the lookout for a nice new cake recipe. The buttermilk icing sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing Heidi!

HS: I think you’d like it Sneh 🙂

Sneh | Cook Republic

I really enjoy your food blog! Cake looks so good!

Push to Cook

Making this right now. It’s going to be amazing, I can tell. Be careful when you simmer the stout though. Mine boiled/foamed over like crazy since i had the heat turned up pretty high. Now it’s simmering along nicely but I gave myself a nice clean up job!

Katherine

Heidi, this sounds, and looks amazing. Humble, pretty, and I can already taste its sweetness. Thank you for the recipe!

Jill @ 42potatoes

looks amazing, as do the pics of your trip into the redwoods, nasty weather and all. the icing is really what’s pushing my over the edge. well, that and the beer, even if you can’t taste it :).

heather @ chiknpastry

Just made this with what I had on hand, substituted Anchor Steam Beer for the stout/porter, honey instead of maple syrup, and straus non-fat plain yogurt for the plain whole yogurt, turned out awesome! Very moist and not too sweet. Perfect dessert to bring to girl’s night out tonight, thanks heidi!

Rebecca

Hi, I just made this recipe, except subbed hard apple cider for the stout, sorry it was all I had. It was exceptionally yummy. Very dark, very rich, and not nearly as dense as I seemed to think it would be. It reminded me very much of the consistency and moist quality of a gingerbread, minus the spicy notes. I didn’t so much taste the alcohol, but it certainly was a different flavor than the normal chocolate cake! Much more grown up and complex. I thought it was going to overflow my bundt pan since I haven’t made much in it before, so kept back a little batter, but it would have fit just perfectly if I had been braver. The icing is extremely rich and chocolatey, and just the right accompaniment. Yum! Does that help, AnaMaria?

Anonymous

Gotta love some beer in that cake 🙂

Sandy @ tinytinyfork

Delicious looking cake! I loved to see yoghurt in the ingredients, look forward to trying, thanks for the recipe!

Ozlem's Turkish Table

Lovely cake & redwood trees! I may make this cake for my St. Patty’s day dinner party tomorrow night:) Maybe I’ll use Guinness for the beer?! Happy & safe travels!

Liana

The combination of chocolate and beer is perfect for St. Patty’s day! And I think the amount of butter here, 1 stick, is just right.

EatFree

My husband’s birthday is tomorrow and I loved the addition of beer for a St. Paddy’s day birthday. I just pulled it out of the oven and will enjoy with friends tomorrow!

Anne-Marie Sargent

This is wonderful, I have chocolate and coffee flavored porters in the fridge since Christmas, no one liked them but everyone loves chocolate cake!!! woo hoo! thanks

cris

That looks delicious! I can’t wait to try this one.

Rebecca in NC

Stout is my favorite beer and I have never baked with it. I love the idea of mixing dark full-bodied beer with rich chocolate. Your bundt cake looks delightful – even more so with a big strong man carrying a hearty slice of it 🙂

Julia {The Roasted Root}

We have to make this for our next dinner party. The photo of the trees are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

jerick

Heidi,
Printed this and will try with carob powder and let you know. Can’t give up a dark chocolate-like cake, but so it goes…I’m sensitive to caffeine… love that it travels well.

HS: Would love to know how it turns out.

Anonymous

finally a blog where you can find the ingredients also in grams! Beautiful blog 🙂

Rosa

I was just thinking that a delicious cake would be nice to have around the house for the weekend. Perfect timing!

Noelle @ GreenLemonade

Oh my, this is gorgeous and delicious and seems pretty sturdy. We’ll have to try it with some of this season’s maple syrup.

Lisa in Vermont

I love a sturdy cake like this, road-hardy and ready to travel. The pic of the trees is so beautiful!

la domestique

Hello Heidi,
I am more in love with the write-up than with the pictures and the recipe (although I did put this in my to-do box). You have a great writing style.

Heidrun Perez

Instead of using butter and flour on the pan and getting the white glazy look on the outside of the cake, use butter and some of the natural cocoa. It doesn’t leave the white film on the cake and more chocolate can only improve the cake!

HS: Brilliant tip Tammy. I sort of like the dusty look, maybe I’ll try a blend?

Tammy

Could I sub olive oil for the butter, like in the banana olive oil cake you posted previously? I am obsessed with that cake!

HS: I haven’t tested it with this particular cake Laura, but I suspect it could work. Let me know if you try it.

Laura

This recipe sounds and looks so good. Your photo of the trees is beautiful. I wanted to say thank you for the favorites list last week. It sent me to interesting places once again.

Kathleen

I really like this; it’s got a lot of things I like in it and the result looks awesome. How much does the maple syrup come through? Could another sugar be substituted realistically without taking away from the flavor too much?

Todd

Beautiful!

Blog is the New Black

This post inspired me to make a new pinterest board called “picnic food”. Now picnic weather just needs to come so I can make this cake!

Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar

oh this is just beautiful! Definitely saving it and hope to make next time we have company!

Simply Life

Heidi, this looks incredible! I can’t wait to try it. I have never been so adventurous with cakes and I love all the ingredients you’re using here.
Thank you!

Magda | My Little Expat Kitchen

That buttermilk frosting is over the top. It looks gorgeous. As luck would have it, I’m a big fan of guinness. And it seems to me that there is an upcoming event that features the stuff … interesting …

A Plum By Any Other Name

I love the ingredients in this cake. I’m going to try chestnut & buckwheat i/o the wheat/all purpose because husband has tummy issues. I can’t wait to see how it goes. I hope to freeze as well because let’s face it, there are only so many good things one can make, that they then have to actually eat. Hope your day got better and thanks for posting nontheless.

Oana from dishchronicles

also fyi I *love* that you post recipes with both american and metric. if you can find Belgian dark brown Candico sugar it is the best.

neeli

beer and cake! this is def on my list.

neeli

My list of things to do just got longer. We will be eating this befor the week-end is over.

David

Oh, what a wonderful looking cake! I’m going to have to try it soon. Maybe with a berry sauce when the first of the spring berries come out, yum.

Louisa

This looks so delicious, I’m a big choc fan so a choc bundt cake seems pretty perfect.

Domonique

Sounds delicious…. wish there was a non-alcohol version.
john

HS: John – try swapping in another flavorful, concentrated liquid if you like – I suspect strong coffee would be nice, or as mentioned, ginger juice….milk….

John

Wow, this looks awesome! The flavors look like they will go great together. I can’t wait to try it!

Laura

I love it when you post sweets!! Makes me feel better and you always do such a beautiful job capturing them.

Becky

Where do you get your parchment paper?

HS: I buy unbleached parchment paper by the roll at Whole Foods, but I also have a supply of waxed parchment baggies I brought back from Japan.

Allison

Heidi, thanks for this recipe. I absolutely love my Bundt tins and have been looking for a new chocolate cake recipe for them, since exhausting all of those in my bundt tin recipe book. I love Guiness, buttermilk, et al, but sorry don’t know what non-Dutched cocoa is – havent seen it on the shelves here in the UK – so hopefully good ol’regular cocoa will suffice. I print up and make many of your recipes, so thanks again.

Suzanne in Manchester, UK

i’ll take one cake and one batch of redwoods both, please, thank you very.
in exchange, sending calm travel thoughts for the balance of the trip!

HS: Thanks Molly 🙂

molly

Gorgeous photos of a chocolate bundt cake!

Mid Mod Tom

Oh no… This is serious business. Have to make this!

Sini

Gorgeous! I’ve been craving cake–chocolate cake in particular–but, like you, I’m currently fighting my way through the snow. I guess my date with bundt cake will have to wait until early April.

katy from diningwithdusty

I always make a chocolate stout cake at this time of year because I work in a bakery and that’s what we do for St. Patrick’s Day BUT, stout and porter, especially the chocolate or espresso stouts do so enhance chocolate that I personally make use stout just as often as I use espresso in my chocolate desserts. ALSO – since you mentioned having buttermilk on hand (one of my best friends), I like it in cake batter and use it the way you use the yogurt in this one. I’d never think of using whole wheat flour in a dessert, but I’ll give it a try!

theresa k.

On the issue of substituting the stout/porter – do you think coffee would make an okay substitution? I’m sure it would alter the flavor, but hopefully not too drastically and maybe in a nice mocha-type of way.

talley

Never had a chocolate bundt cake that looked so amazing.
I also really like the way you wrapped it in parchment paper, and carried around with you.
Gonna have to try to make this really soon!

Mike @TheIronYou

Yum! I’m so glad I literally just bought a bundt pan. I’ll have to break it in with this tasty cake!

Katie

This cake looks amazing – the addition of beer sounds really interesting and tasty.
I love the idea of a chocolate buttermilk icing as well – yum!

Harriet

If I don’t make this soon, I might end up doing something drastic, like licking those fabulous pictures of this cake on my comp screen. But I came to the comments section to see if there is a substitute for stout beer or chocolate porter, whatever that is, which is unfortunately unavailable here.

pRiyA

OK Final this is my birthday cake!!!
OH God!!! I love chocolate cake… and this deliciousness is calling me…
Beautiful, I feel like reaching inside the monitor and taking a slice for me…

Reem | Simply Reem

yumm, wish i had some maple syrup right about now… i never get tired of trying new chocolate recipes, this will go on my to bake list for sure.

lidia

The cake is just…gorgeous. I grew up in a Bundt cake making family…there was always a bundt for most every occasion.
Yours is picture perfect.

Averie @ Averie Cooks

I love the idea of a travel cake. I try to take the it’s-never-the-wrong-time-to-bake-a-cake approach, myself.

emmycooks

yummm..this bundt cake looks so dense and moist, which is my favorite type of cake. i love the chocolate frosting on top. it gives a very rustic feel to it.

Caitlin

It’s 12:21 am. I’m ready for bed…..but I want to make this cake NOW.
Help.
🙂

Mmm mmm mmm! Can’t wait to try this one out!

Amy

wow!!!!!! It looks so yummy! I have to try this!

Samira

This cake looks really delicious! Great pictures!

Katarina

I am loving the ingredients in this cake, and it looks great. Can’t wait to try it!

ileana

This looks incredible! Adding it to my “To Make” list 🙂

Maria @ Orchard Bloom

those who are substituting the beer, let us know how it goes! i wonder if the fizz from the beer helps the cake to rise – perhaps try it with ginger beer?

taghag

I wonder if this cake would still be as amazing if you substituted out the alcohol? And what would you substitute it with? I’m thinking prune or blackberry juice, but thoughts to play around with would be welcome. Thanks for your no-holds-barred dedication to your lovely blog and its readers.

Anonymous

oh man, this looks so perfect. hope you get some rest, sounds like a long day. you’re a champ for posting regardless. can’t wait to try. xo

sara

That is a good looking cake.
Is there a reason why you specified using non-dutched cocoa? I am thinking of making this cake and I only have dutch cocoa at home.

polly

What a beautiful cake!! I might make it for my birthday next Monday. Possibly use it as a bottom layer for a mousse cake.
By the way, you take beautiful pictures.

Greta

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