Categories: Cakes, Coffee Cakes, Holidays, My Baking & Cooking, St. Patrick's Day

Irish Cream Bundt Cake

I haven’t posted in a LONG time (almost 8 months, yikes!). I had gotten into gaming right before the summer. And while it was partly my sweetie’s fault influence, I liked it. A lot. I’d never really been a gamer (whereas my sweetie’s been gaming for most of his adult life), and I didn’t wanna majorly suck at it, so I played for hours on end so the keys and mouse maneuvers became second nature.

Also, my sweetums and I got married in Austin (Texas) at the beautiful Chapel Dulcinea in October. We had decided just a little over a month before. It took me 16 days to plan both the ceremony and honeymoon (moreso the latter since we were traveling through four Southwestern states). We were on the road during the 1st half (driving to national parks each day) and then stayed put in Vegas for the last half. I posted 100+ photos on my Instagram account using the hash tag #ourNVUTAZNVhoneymoon.

Now we’re back in the real world. I’ve decided because I’ll continue doing most of the cooking and baking (in the 3+ years we’ve been together, my sweetie only cooks on very rare occasions), I may as well start sharing recipes here again. I can’t wait to tackle the dozen or so recipes I have in mind.

This “comeback” recipe is something I baked in March.

I was in the mood for making something Irish or green for St. Patty’s Day.  My 2nd requirement was it couldn’t be too complicated. On Allrecipes, I found this seemingly wonderful recipe with Irish cream liqueur in the cake as well as the icing, totaling one cup. I rarely drink alcohol, so it was perfect.

The snag I ran into is I wanted to make the cake on the day before St. Patty’s (a Sunday). I called close to a dozen nearby liquor stores, and no one picked up. I called a 7-Eleven to ask if they sold Baileys, and learned some interesting info.  Apparently, the reason why  all the liquor stores I called didn’t answer their phone is because here in Texas, they’re closed on Sundays!  Also, hard liquor (which Baileys is classified as since it’s whiskey-based) is only sold in liquor stores, and not in any convenience or grocery stores. When I called a “super” grocery store, the employee said suggested what they had on hand:  O’Mara’s Irish Country Cream, which is wine-based.  She claimed there wouldn’t be much of a taste difference if I were to use it as a baking ingredient.

After running it by my sweetie, I postponed my baking plans by a couple of days.  His take was I’d likely wonder what it would have tasted like if I hadn’t used Baileys (and he was right; he knows me soooo well).

All the ingredients to make this delightful cake

I made this recipe twice.  The icing on the 1st cake wasn’t pretty at all.  Both cakes tasted the same, but this one looks 10x more presentable.

What it looks like without the icing

…and with. Tada!

Such a wonderful cake to make with Bailey’s

The cake’s texture was super light, like chiffon cake

My slice (from the 1st cake)

Some of the things I did differently from the original recipe are only using 1/2 of the called-for pecans, then chopping them even more with a knife. Also, I used a pastry brush to brush glaze onto the bottom of the warm cake (while it was inverted in the baking pan).

Recipe
Irish Cream Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans*
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package Duncan Hines French Vanilla cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup Bailey’s Original Irish cream liqueur
• Baking spray
• Bamboo skewer
• Pastry brush

PREPARATION:

*Because I’m not a fan of nuts, I used a knife to chop up my 1/2 cup chopped pecans (sounds a bit redundant to most of you, I’m sure :p ).  If you love nuts, go ahead and use a full cup.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Generously spray Bundt pan with baking spray. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, water, vegetable oil and Irish cream liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes at medium-high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick/cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then invert onto cooling rack. Poke holes on top and sides of cake with a bamboo skewer (I poked well over 100+ holes all over the cake).
4.  Set aside the Bundt pan. Make glaze (see below).

Irish Cream Glaze:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup Bailey’s Original Irish cream liqueur

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine butter, water, and sugar. On medium-low heat, bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the Irish cream liqueur.
2. Pour 3/4 cup of glaze inside Bundt pan. Use 1/3 of remaining glaze (from saucepan) to brush along the outside of the cake (I used a pastry brush).  Return the cake to Bundt pan.  Tilt pan a few times to distribute the glaze.  Poke holes in the “bottom” of the cake before brushing the leftover glaze.  After 35 minutes, invert cake onto serving dish.

(Recipe adapted from Allrecipes)

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Tags: Baileys Irish Cream