Chocolate. And. Alcohol. What could make for a more amazing frosting?
How could you resist? I certainly couldn’t! The weekend that I made this cake, there were technically three celebrations going on (Fathers’ Day, my boyfriend’s dad’s birthday plus my boyfriend’s birthday!), so I certainly covered all my bases with this one cake. To make the cake, I used My Favourite Chocolate Cake recipe and used two 23cm (9 inch) cake tins to bake the layers in. I often find it easier to bake the layers in two separate tins and then you can just layer them without needing to cut them in half, however if you don’t have two tins of the same size, you can just bake the cake in the one tin and then carefully cut it into layers.
Just look at all that amazing chocolate! The cake is a perfect base for this frosting, because it is so moist and has such a wonderfully rich dark chocolate flavour without being too sweet. The frosting takes care of the sweetness! Although, the frosting is definitely not sickly sweet, as the cocoa really brings through a deep chocolatey-ness, the cake and frosting make for a very nicely balanced pair. Of course, the Bailey’s helps to kick it up a notch, taking it from a rich chocolate cake to an awesome-filled chocolate cake! If you don’t like Bailey’s, you could use a different liqueur, depending on personal preference. Also, if you happened to have some Chocolate Bailey’s (which tastes like melted chocolate with a little bit of alcohol, sooooo yum!) you could use that instead which would also taste pretty amazing.
How amazing does that frosting look?? This cake would be perfect for any chocolate and alcohol lover in your life, as the chocolate and Bailey’s is a match made in heaven. It was certainly a winner for my boyfriend’s family and my boyfriend’s dad loved it! I hope you enjoy the rich and creamy frosting, packed full of chocolate as much as we did… Happy baking!
- 350g (3 sticks) butter, softened
- 4 cups icing (powdered) sugar
- 3 Tbspn cocoa powder
- 1 tspn vanilla essence
- 3 Tbspn Bailey’s Irish Cream (or other liqueur)
- Add the softened butter to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl and using an electric hand beater). Whip the butter until it is pale and creamy, around 3-4 minutes.
- Add two cups of the icing sugar to the butter and continue beating until combined. Then add the vanilla essence, cocoa powder and Bailey’s before adding the rest of the icing sugar. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. If it’s not the right consistency, either add some milk (or more Bailey’s) to make is softer and more spreadable, or alternately add some more icing sugar to make it a bit stiffer.
I loved your icing recipe, but how did you get your icing to be so dark? Mine came out a very light tan and I followed the recipe exactly?
Hi Liz, thanks for that kind comment! I think firstly, the icing looks a little darker in the photos than it did in real life, it was a light brown in real life. I’m wondering what sort of cocoa powder you used? I find Cadbury always makes things too light, so for the last couple of years I almost always use Homebrand cocoa powder from Countdown (I’m hoping you’re in New Zealand). It’s $5 for a big box and is a really rich dark colour, so I would highly recommend trying that to see if it makes a difference. 🙂
Thanks for your reply. My icing was almost tan. I used Hersey’s. it was really good though. I live in the states.
Ahh ok, maybe try either Hershey’s special dark or a Guittard dark cocoa powder? 🙂
Yes! I thought of that after you wrote back. Bailey’s also makes a salted caramel cream!!! I am definitely going to try that.
It seems delicious!!!