… with Baileys buttercream. I don’t like long-winded recipe titles, but you should know what you’re getting into here. This is a St. Patrick’s Day celebration cake!
My recipes usually feature seasonal Florida fruit, vegetables, or seafood. This one does not, unless you count the weeds I used to decorate the cake. Those faux shamrocks are really wood sorrel, and they’re available to Florida gardeners year-round whether we want them or not. Let’s make the best of them for St. Paddy’s Day decor. (I’ve read you can eat them, but I don’t recommend it.)
I look forward to this boozy cake every year. Once I served some inferior chocolate muffins as a kid-friendly alternative at a party. It did not go over well. Burke: I promise not to make muffins and tell you they’re cupcakes ever again. I’m sorry.
This recipe was given to me 12 years ago by a fellow Guinness-loving librarian. If you’ve never heard of putting beer in cake, you’re probably skeptical. I’m always game for a kitchen experiment, so I gave it a go. As it baked, the house smelled amazing, beyond the usual wonderful smell of cake. It smelled like chocolate doughnuts. ?
It tastes like chocolate doughnuts, too. The beer is very faint and only enhances the deep, dark, not-too-sweet chocolate. This is definitely a grown-up chocolate cake.
The icing is a more recent addition. It’s a simple buttercream spiked with as much Baileys Irish cream as possible. It’s divine. Pile it on thick. It makes the cake look like a pint of frothy Irish stout.
May your hearts be light and happy,
May your smile be big and wide,
And may your pockets always have a coin for a pint inside!
I hope you all have a happy St. Paddy’s Day!
- 1 cup stout beer
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (plus more to grease the pans)
- 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons Baileys Irish cream
- clovers, shamrocks, or weeds that resemble them
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease two 8- or 9-inch cake pans* with oil or butter. Cut circles of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the pans and grease those as well.
- Add the stout and butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, stir in the chocolate. Once that melts, stir in the cocoa powder. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- In another large bowl, beat eggs and sour cream. Slowly add in the cooled butter/beer mixture and beat until combined.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold them together until combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the cake pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pan.
- Beat the butter for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar about a cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the Baileys about a tablespoon at a time.
- Don't attempt to turn the cakes out of the cake pans until they're completely cool.
- Gently turn the cakes out and peel away the parchment. Place one cake on a plate or cake stand. Pile half of the icing in the middle of the cake and smooth it out to about 1/2-inch from the edge. Place the other cake upside-down on top of the icing, and very gently press them together. Smooth the rest of the icing over the top.
- Add a few clovers or shamrocks.
- Cheers!
- *Makes about 24 cupcakes. Use paper liners.
- **Cake recipe adapted from Bon Appetit.
Wow! That looks incredible, d! I just wish I could have a slice.
You can count on it! Cheers, bt!