There was a bottle of Bailey's Chocolat Luxe in the house. In fact there are plenty of alcohol bottles just lying around in the house. I should really do a shot of all the bottles one day, just for fun ha. Anyway, I digress.
I never knew alcohol had an expiry date. I mean, I thought most hard liquor has no expiration date. Perhaps it's different for products that contain dairy - I mean, Bailey's contain cream, so perhaps there's a shelf life to it. Anyway. I noticed that for this bottle (yes, we have other bottles of Bailey's...) was expiring this year, and I didn't want it to go to waste so I scoured the web and found a recipe for chocolate cake.
If you've ever had a sip of Bailey's, you would know that it's really creamy and rich, almost like full cream milk, but with that alcohol punch. The Bailey's Chocolat, had a pleasant chocolatey note to it and I thought it would be a bonus to use it in a chocolate cake recipe to heighten the chocolate flavour. The resulting cake was pretty flavourful and moist, but I would probably remove it from the oven slightly earlier the next time I make it cos the sides and the top part of the cake were a lil dry. And yes, there'll be a next time cos I still have about half the bottle leftover...
Chocolate Bailey's Cake (adapted from Karen at Citrus and Candy)
Cake
150g unsalted butter, chopped
100g dark chocolate, chopped
100g castor sugar
100g brown sugar
50g cocoa powder, sifted
180ml Bailey's Chocolat Luxe (or regular Bailey's)
170g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, room temperature
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Meanwhile, grease and line a 7" (or 8") round cake tin.
Combine butter, chocolate, sugars, cocoa powder and Baileys in a saucepan and heat over low heat. When the chocolate and butter has melted, whisk to ensure that there are no remaining lumps of sugar or cocoa powder.
Remove from heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Add the eggs to the slightly cooled chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Gently fold in the sifted flour mixture. Pour into cake tin and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool in tin for 10 minutes before unmoulding and cooling it completely. Trim the top of the cake to level.
Ganache frosting
200g dark chocolate, finely chopped
100ml whipping cream
100ml Bailey's Chocolat Luxe (or regular Bailey's)
Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside.
Bring the cream and Baileys to a simmer in a pan.
Pour over the chocolate and sit for a minute. Gently stir to combine then beat in the butter. Set aside at room temperature and cool until it is thick enough to spread over your cooled cake. Gently stir the ganache occasionally as it cools to keep the temperature even and the ganache smooth. (*You can refrigerate it to hasten the process, but check on it every 20-30 minutes and stir to ensure it doesn't harden too much)
Spread the ganache over the cake with a spatula. Slice and serve.
I wonder if you can use the baileys to make a Tres Les-type cake...?
ReplyDeleteoooo that sounds lovely. i would think since tres les uses diff sorts of milk you prob can replace one of the milks with it? are you going to have a go? :)
ReplyDeletehaha all the alcohol i buy (except for ciders and wines) are for baking mostly. ^^
ReplyDeleteHaha nah, I don't have bottles of baileys lying around! hehe.
ReplyDeleteThis looks so decadent! I am planning to make this, but am I able to replace some of the Bailey's with some coffee instead? Does the Bailey's cream have a distinct alcohol taste in the cake and the ganache?
ReplyDeletehmmm im not sure how coffee would work, i mean i would prob suggest replacing with milk instead if u want it to be alco-free. the overall cake has a distinct alco taste to it, which was pleasant cos baileys and choco go quite well together... :)
ReplyDelete