Guinness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting -- The Cake That Made Forty Feel Like a Celebration

FORTY. April 22, 2022. Tommy Beaumont is forty years old. The party was seventy pounds of crawfish, thirty people, Mama's cake (chocolate, same frosting, handwriting that wobbles but holds), and Danielle's toast that this year made thirty people cry:

"To Tommy. Forty years of this man. Forty years of roux and bayou and a heart that is bigger than any pot he owns. Forty years of showing up — at the stove, at the pit, at the door when the neighbors need lights, at the table when the family needs feeding. Forty years of building — a business, a family, a pit, a life. Forty years of stirring and never, not once, not in the flood or the storm or the dark, not once stopping. He doesn't stop. He doesn't quit. He stirs. He feeds. He loves. And we are fed, and we are loved, and we are lucky. Happy birthday, Tommy Beaumont. Forty more, cher. At least forty more."

I didn't cry. (I cried.) The crawfish were good. The cake was good. The people were good. And forty, from the inside, doesn't feel like a hill. It feels like a pit — a brick pit, built by hand, cracked and patched and still cooking. The fire is strong. The smoke is rising. The ribs are on. And the man standing next to it is forty and his father didn't make it to sixty-two and the math is scary and the food is good and the people are here and here is where he wants to be. C'est bon, cher. Forty is bon.

Mama’s chocolate cake showed up the same as it always does — same frosting, same wobbling handwriting on the box, same way it makes everything feel like it counts. But when I went to make a cake worthy of a fortieth birthday for someone I love, I kept coming back to this one: Guinness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. The stout deepens everything, makes the chocolate darker and more serious, and the cream cheese frosting cuts right through it — bright and a little sharp, the way the good things in a forty-year life do. It’s the cake for a man who stirs and doesn’t quit. It holds up.

Guinness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup Guinness stout
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform or round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Make the Guinness base. In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine the Guinness and butter. Heat until the butter melts, stirring occasionally. Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
4. Combine wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla together until smooth. Stir the sour cream mixture into the Guinness mixture until combined.
5. Bring it together. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fold until just combined — do not overmix. The batter will be thick and glossy.
6. Bake. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 33–35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Make the frosting. Beat the softened cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat on low until incorporated. Add heavy cream and beat on medium-high until the frosting is light and spreadable, 2–3 minutes.
8. Frost and serve. Spread the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cooled cake in a generous layer. The frosting stays on top, like a pale head of foam on a dark pint — don’t cover the sides. Slice and serve at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 480 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 21g | Carbs: 67g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 340mg