This Chocolate Stout Irish Cream Cake has chocolate stout cake layers frosted with a Bailey’s Irish Cream Ganache Buttercream.
As much as I am a holiday lover, I’m not really into St. Patrick’s Day.
It’s yet just another excuse for people to drink.
Now, I am all for drinking, but I don’t need a day in the year as an excuse to drink.
Need an excuse? Use mine.
Won my hockey game.
Lost my hockey game.
A drink for every bruise I got in the hockey game.
A drink for every time I mess up in the hockey game (though this is not wise because I usually pass out from how much I end up drinking). 😀
Need to avoid doing laundry.
Need to avoid folding laundry.
Stressed because I have no clean laundry.
I wasn’t killed by a giant orca at SeaWorld today.
Taxes. This covers you from January to April 15th.
Stress from work.
Stress from not having work.
Want to see how many free beers I can get.
The mail got delivered.
With excuses like those, I don’t need a special day of the year to drink.
First off, I’m not Irish.
When they have a Scottish-Canadian holiday I’ll be all over that.
But I’m not Irish, and I’m not being Irish for a day.
That’s lame.
No one ever goes Bosnian for a day.
Also, I’m not a big fan of actually going out on St. Patrick’s Day.
It’s amateur hour. I mean, if you are sitting around waiting for a day as an excuse to go drink, clearly you are not a good drinker.
You have not been properly training all year round to get in shape for the holiday itself.
Which is why there are so many stupid people getting DUI’s, stumbling around drunk telling me they love me, puking in the corner, and what not.
Now it’s too late for this year, but I challenge you, that if you do go out for St. Patrick’s Day, start training now for next year.
Oh sure, it takes lots of dedication, but if you are willing to commit, I feel you can do it. I have faith. 🙂
I may not usually go out for it, but I do usually like to cook something for it.
Usually with stout.
Last weekend, I was down in Portland.
We took the train actually into Vancouver, WA which is just on the other side (easier to get to our hotel from that stop).
While having some downtime waiting for our train (it was late due to running someone over on the tracks…yikes) it was suggested to me and my travel companion to hit up the Salmon Creek Brew Pub.
So I did.
For the sake of training and all.
I sampled quite a few of their beers (again, all for training purposes only), my favorite being the Belgian.
The other being their sweet stout.
You could actually take beer home with you in growlers or keg.
Since I was fresh out of a keg, I bought two growlers.
Sadly my favorite beer cannot be taken home (it’s just too expensive for them to sell) but I got the stout and the Scottish ale to go.
Got to love the train…you can just walk on in with beer no problem.
Once you open a growler though it goes flat pretty quickly.
And though I will drink flat beer no problem (years of training will help you with this), I decided to use the rest in recipes.
Hence, a Chocolate Stout Irish Cream Cake cake.
A Chocolate Stout Cake with Bailey’s Irish Cream Ganache Buttercream Frosting to be exact.
Proving you can be in training even when you are not drinking directly from a glass. 😉
But if you want to drink from a glass, I suggest serving a Stout Float.
Trust me they are good. I made mine here with vanilla ice cream because we had it, but it’s really good with Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream.
And in case you all were wondering, why yes, I was in training right before I frosted this cake.
My frosting job is even worse than usual. 🙂
Cheers! Now get to training!!!!
P.S. It’s a great day to buy my cookbook Holy Sweet!
Want more Layer Cake Recipes?
Circus Animal Cookie Layer Cake
Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake
Strawberry Mascarpone Buttermilk Layer Cake
Chocolate Stout Irish Cream Cake
Ingredients
- For Chocolate Stout Cake:
- 2 cups stout (such as Guinness)
- 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 4 cups sugar
- 1 TBSP baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups sour cream
- 8 ounces chocolate chips
- For the Bailey’s Irish Cream Ganache Buttercream:
- 10 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 TBSP Bailey’s Irish Cream
- 12 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
For Chocolate Stout Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper.
Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 ½ tsp salt in large bowl to blend.
Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend.
Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine.
Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.
For the Bailey’s Irish Cream Ganache Buttercream:
Place chocolate in a medium bowl.
Heat cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, pour over chocolate.
Let sit 3 minutes.
Add in the vanilla and Bailey’s Irish Cream and whisk until smooth.
Pour into a 8-x8-inch pan.
Spread evenly and place in fridge for 30 minutes, until the ganache is cool and almost completely set.
Using an electric mixer (or a stand mixer) beat the ganache, and add the butter, one TBSP at a time, until all the butter is incorporated.
Add the powdered sugar and beat for another 3 minutes.
Your frosting may look curdled a little. This is what the Bailey’s likes to do to the frosting. I add a lot of Bailey’s to mine so it likes to curdle. Tastes good. That is all that matters.
Livin Local says
Ok, so this post goes from avoidance behaviors to beer to stout to Portland to microbreweries to growlers to chocolate cake. Heavan, simply heavan!
MikeS29 says
Nice works, Peabs. I’m a fan of the train and a fan of Portland brews too! I’ll trust you on the cake. Looks delicious.
Ron Merlin says
Yo Peabody,
I think this is one of your funniest and best posts, ever!
I actually did laugh out loud, and I’m NOT lame like that.
Good Job.
Ha Ha
nina says
I am one of those who likes to eat my way through alcohol and not drink it. This cake is indeed an excuse for me to just that!!! Looks totally decadent!!
Manggy says
Erhm… I’m not excited about St. Patrick’s Day either, but then again, I’m not really interested in drinking. It must be because I actually enjoy doing the laundry! (Well, I just wash my own clothes, so it can’t be that hard.)
But alcohol or no, I’m pretty sure I would enjoy this cake.
Rosa says
A terrific cake! The flavor of stout pairs so well with chocolate! Here, unless you are Irish, we don’t celebrate St.Patrick’s day…
Cheers,
Rosa
kristine says
That cake looks AWESOME. I am with ya on the drinking thing – who needs a holiday? That said, as a fellow Scottish-Canadian, I hope you celerated Robbie Burns day back in January!
thedelishdish says
what a good use of the flat beer!! i like to cook with wine a lot, but have never tried beer…i love that both the cake and the frosting have some booze in them 🙂
Amanda says
So… do you have to melt the chocolate (for the frosting) before you add the boiling hot cream to it? or does the boiling hot cream, sitting with the chocolate for three minutes do the trick? i was so excited about seeing this post that i have decided to make it this weekend and just want to have it all right before I go to it 🙂
katie says
Not only does this cake look fantastic, but I seriously love this post – so funny! I always need another good excuse to drink and the idea of training for St pats – genius. Love it. 🙂
dawn says
that middle, oh that middle is just heavenly!
Lynn says
My son’s wedding is next week. That’s all the excuse I need.
Seriously good cake here.
Jen T. says
I could probably be the favorite roommate for a while if I made this today. Our school has “Unofficial St. Patricks Day” tomorrow (which began because the bars were bummed about not making money off St. Paddy’s, because we were on spring break), and my roommates are having 6 am “Kegs and Eggs”. Ugh. I will be spending the night somewhere else so I don’t have to kill any drunk friends at that ungodly early hour. On second thought, maybe they don’t deserve this cake…
Mrs. L says
I too made a Guinness cake with Baileys Frosting. Probably not as good as yours but dang tasty!
Joanne says
This is hysterical! Loved this post.
I am not the biggest drinker but I do like to celebrate occasions such as getting the mail. With a rum and coke. Or a bloody Mary. So I feel you.
This cake looks amazing! I made Irish Car Bomb cupcakes not so long ago that are similar to this. I will have to try this cake though.
Karen says
This is my kind of chocolate cake – more booze and less chocolate – HOORAY.
As to the float how great. I eat ice cream and drink beer at the same time and it grosses My Hero out. This probably wouldn’t be any better for him but looks like fun. Especially when you have a bunch of crazy friends over.
Nutmeg Nanny says
Mmmmm this looks great! I have had a stout float before and it’s the best!
Barbara says
I wish I liked beer! Never have, never will. However, I might not notice it in a cake as dark and rich as this one!
I usually end up going to some party or other for St. Pat’s Day, although there is not a bit of Irish in me. Always the same food….and always beer! But think I will do a post on something Irish because so many people love the party day!
Bethany says
Ha! Thanks for the training inspiration. And I didn’t notice your frosting job, because I was focusing on the delicious oozing frosting coming out of the middle of the slice in your first picture. OH man that looks good.
Jena says
I actually despise alcohol but that cake looks amazing.
I actually find slighty messily frosted cakes to be much more delicious than perfectly smooth ones. I think it’s the texture(:
Jena says
Oh, and I don’t mean to be a snob about ‘hating alcohol.’ I’m only 17 years old, after all. It would be bad if I actually LIKED alcohol haha.
Perhaps in 4 years I will become sophisticated enough to pick up a glass of wine and not choke. 😀
Mary says
Best. Post. Ever. Must get training to keep up with you.
suzanne says
love love love me some stout. I made stout cake with bailey frosting last St Pat’s day. I ate most of it myself and enjoyed every last crumb. Might have to do it again this year.
Julie says
Great post!!! Gave me a good laugh after a long day at work! Cake looks delicious!!!
I like the taxes reason for drinking. Mine is I need to do my taxes. Keep putting them off!
ErinsFoodFiles says
I’ve been wanting to make a stout cake using this amazing chocolatey-coffee beer our local brewery, Yazoo, makes. And actually we always get our Yazoo in growlers! 🙂
Sarah says
I just fell off my chair this looks so good! Wowza.
Brett says
“No one ever goes Bosnian for a day.”
Great line and while I agree with you in principle, I have to say…
Have you ever gone to a party with an Irishman and a Bosnian?
Me neither. But I have hung out a few times with some Irishmen and I’m pretty sure that they are more fun than the Bosnians.
Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets says
You had me laughing out loud with that list! Although the Orca incident was a bit sad to be honest. I think the frosting job is nice and “rustic” ;p and the dessert is nothing short of mouth-watering.
WendyYWY says
Oooh.. u ahd me at the first pic. The soft cream oozing out really caught my eye.
Stout..Got to get my hands on a few cans soon. This looks real good!!
Elle says
Great cake even if the frosting job was affected by the training. 🙂
Dana says
I laughed all through this post. I’ve known this for a while now, but you are my kind of woman! I didn’t drink until I was 21 and have been “in training” ever since. My frosting jobs look worse than yours when I am stone cold sober, so congrats on that. Cake looks awesome, by the way.
Natalie says
Haha love this post, I think your cake looks delicious and I think the frosting still looks excellent :).
heide m says
Thanks for posting this. My mouth is watering!
The Food Hunter says
I just died and went to heaven.