Chocolate Baileys Mud Cake

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the ladies on the online Cooking board I follow decided to cook/bake together and make something with Bailey’s Irish Cream, Guinness, or Irish Whiskey. I thought that sounded like a great idea and I knew I had Irish Cream at home so I searched for just the right recipe to make. I came across this Chocolate Baileys Mud Cake, and knew it was the right one.

This recipe is from an Australian blog, so the measurements were originally in grams and milliliters. I’ve converted them here. The weight measurement is most accurate, but in case you don’t have a scale (you should get one, best investment ever!) I’ve given volume equivalents. This cake uses quite a bit of Bailey’s which is a wonderful thing. The ganache uses heavy cream and Bailey’s, but you could use all of one or the other. The alcohol in the ganache is very obvious and it was quite powerful using half Bailey’s and half cream.

This cake is made in a saucepan. It came out of the oven as the most perfect looking cake. Perfectly straight sides. Perfectly flat on top. It was beautiful. It looked even better topped with shiny ganache. I’m afraid my photos don’t do it justice. Visit the Citrus and Candy blog and see her beautiful photos. This is a lovely chocolate cake and the ganache is just fantastic. Thanks Alison, from Sparks in the Kitchen , for coming up with such a great idea!

Chocolate Baileys Mud Cake

11 tablespoons butter, cut in pieces

3.5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

3.5 ounces (about ½ cup) sugar

3.5 ounces (about ½ cup) brown sugar

1.75 ounces (about 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) cocoa powder

3/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream

6 ounces (about 1-1/3 cups) flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, room temperature

7 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

½ cup minus 1 tablespoon cream

½ cup minus 1 tablespoon Baileys Irish Cream

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. Butter an 8” cake pan and line the bottom with parchment. Butter the parchment.

In a large saucepan, combine the butter, chocolate, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder and Baileys. Heat on medium, stirring frequently, until the chocolate and butter have melted. Beat with a whisk to make sure the mixture is free of lumps. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Fold in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. The batter won’t be completely smooth, just make sure the flour is incorporated. Pour the cake into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake the cake for 35-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. You want this cake to be a bit gooey, so make sure you don’t over bake the cake. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the ganache: place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan or in the microwave, bring the cream, Baileys and the salt just to the boil. Pour over the chocolate and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Whisk the mixture to make the ganache; stir in the butter. Allow the ganache to come to room temperature and thicken (about 30-40 minutes).

Spread the thickened ganache on top of the cooled cake. Serve immediately.

Recipe from Citrus and Candy