Chocolate Cake with Bailey's Glaze

A cake filled with the goodness of cocoa, sandwiched and covered with Bailey's glaze. 

This is for all the birthday boys of November.

Line two 8-inch baking tins

Cream the butter  & sugar*

* usually creaming would give you a very light & fluffy texture, but because this recipe called for more sugar than butter, your mixture would turn out very gritty but no worries - after mixing in the eggs, you'd get a creamy mixture. 

Add in the eggs and beat until smooth

Sift the cocoa-flour mixture

Dissolve 1 tbsp of coffee grounds into 125ml of hot water;
cool the hot coffee in the fridge or like here -- in a cold water bath.

Combine the milk, coffee & vanilla.
Mix well.

Alternately, beat in the flour & coffee mixture into the cake batter mixture (butter + sugar + egg).

I suggest you use a cloth to cover if you're using a manual electric beater like I am..
it's like a flour war in there.

Look at the cloth, that mess was on my apron & everything around the baking table (this  is the 2nd batch of this recipe, I got smart & used a cloth, ha)

Divide the batter equally into 2 tins

Smooth the top; this is pretty important -- gives your cakes less cracks & bubbles when baked

Bake at 180ºC for 30 minutes until the skewer comes out clean.

Now, let's make the glaze !

Melt the butter over low heat in a pot.
Slowly stir in the cocoa.

Sift the icing sugar and stir it into the butter-cocoa-mix.

Mix in the baileys and milk (a little by little) until the glaze is smooth.

Use 1/2 of the mixture to sandwich both the cakes.
Use the remaining to glaze the top of the cake.

My very 1st attempt of making chocolate shavings/curls, woohoo!         

Thank you Jonathon Stewart for the kick start.

Making chocolate curls from milk & white chocolate.
(The chocolates are easier to work with when they are a little chilled).

Sprinkle the curls on the top of the glazed cake

All ready for the birthday boys

p.s the recipe says this cake can last for 5 days in an air-tight container, in a cool area.
given Singapore's humid & hot weather -- being in a cardboard-box in room temperature (~30ºC) for  1 day, I'm not quite sure how long it would last.
hopefully no one gets a tummy ache from that. oops!
 

Serves 10

Ingredients (Cake)

• Butter, unsalted, 100g
• Sugar, 250g
• Eggs, 2
• Self-raising flour, 200g
• Cocoa, 75g
• Baking Powder, 1 tsp
• Coffee grounds, 1 tbsp (dissolve in the 125ml hot water)
• Hot Water, 125ml
• Milk, 125ml
• Vanilla essence, 1 tsp

Ingredients  (Glaze)

• Butter, unsalted, 125g
• Cocoa, 25g
• Icing sugar, 155g, sifted
• Bailey’s irish cream, 1 tbsp
• Milk, 2 tbsp

Ingredients  (Toppings)

• Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate

Methods (Cake)

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
2. Line two 8-inch round cake tins.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until slightly creamy.
4. Slowly add in the sugar until the mixture is well-mixed but a little gritty.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time and whisk well after adding each egg.
6. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl.
7. In another bowl, mix together the milk, coffee liquid and vanilla.
8. Beat in the dry and liquid mixture alternatively into the creamy batter.
9. Once mixed well, divide equally into both tins and smooth the top.
10. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
11. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Methods (Glaze)

1. Melt the butter in a pan over low heat.
2. Add the cocoa and stir continuously for 1 minute, cool slightly.
3. Beat in the sifted icing.
4. Whisk in the bailey’s and milk.
5. Allow to cool a little.
6. Use ½ mixture to sandwich the cakes.
7. Pour the remaining on the top and smooth it around the cake.

How we do (Topping)

1. Use a vegetable peeler to make chocolate shavings (see pictures above).
2. Scatter the chocolate shavings on top of the cake.

Adapted from:

How was it?
Personally, I think the cake was pretty dry & the cake a little too sweet. Almost everyone got really thirsty after eating it, oppsy. Still, not bad for a decent birthday cake eh -- just sayin'.

Better it up!
- Add 100ml milk
- Reduce sugar of cake to 200g