Baileys Layer Cake — Wallflours

Guinness Layer Cake

1 cup Guinness Draught
1 cup butter
¾ Valrhona cocoa powder (Dutch-processed cocoa powder)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Baileys Ganache Filling

4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz heavy whipping cream
Splash of Baileys

Baileys Buttercream Frosting

2 cups salted butter, softened
5 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Baileys
3 to 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Simmer butter and beer. Whisk in cocoa powder. Cool mixture slightly.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl beat together the eggs and sour cream.

Add Guinness mixture to sour cream mixture and stir to combine. Pour this mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine.

Lightly grease two 6” cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Add (12) scoops of batter using a #30 portion scoop to each 6” cake pan. (Make cupcakes with leftover batter or make a thin loaf cake.) Bake until done and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or until an internal temperature of 200F to 210F is reached.

Cool cakes for about ten minutes or so, then remove from pans and set on a rack to cool completely.

To make the ganache:

Heat heavy cream and Baileys in a small pot. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth. Pour mixture into a bowl and place in the fridge to cool and thicken, stirring every ten minutes or so.

To make the frosting:

Cream butter with the powdered sugar and salt. Add vanilla extract, Baileys, and heavy whipping and beat mixture until desired frosting consistency has been achieved.

Assembling the cake:

Refrigerate cake layers until firm and level them using a bread knife. Pipe a thick ring of frosting around the top of one layer. Fill center with ganache. Stack second layer on top and create crumb coat using frosting.

Freeze or chill cake for ten minutes.

Decorate cake with a Wilton 402-2004 No. 2D Large Drop Flower Piping Tip.