If you’re looking for one of the best chocolate cakes you’ll ever make, this is the recipe. I used the basic chocolate fudge cake recipe when I made custom wedding cakes, and it was the favorite choice of most of the brides who hired me. This version of it uses Bailey’s in the batter and Guinness in the icing, but you can make it without the beer icing if you don’t trust me on that one. But trust me, it’s REALLY good!
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Things to know about this recipe.
The recipe makes two 8 or 9″ round layers, but it’s a little dicey. The 8″ will be really full, the 9″ might be less full. I used this for 8″ rounds and planned on using a cake collar to prevent overflowing batter in the oven, because the pans were pretty full. I ended up forgetting about the collar but it was fine and nothing overflowerd.
Watch out for oven hot spots and pans that are darker or thinner metal. This can make the bottom of the layers scorch, but if that happens you can trim them off and it will still work.
This batter is thin and runny, but that’s fine. You’ll think it’s not right, but it’s very pourable and it bakes up fine.
This cake gives you a real chocolate flavor because it uses melted chocolate, so it’s closer to a fudge flavor than a basic chocolate cake. Once you make this you won’t go back to any other recipe.
The Bailey’s gives it the flavor, but it’s not really strong. If you want more Bailey’s flavor in the batter, you can increase the Bailey’s and decrease the water proportionally, but don’t decrease the instant coffee. The coffee enhances the chocolate flavor, so if you decrease that it will affect the fudge flavor.
Another way to add more Bailey’s flavor would be to brush the layers with a little liqueur before icing the cake.
For a version of this recipe that’s just the chocolate cake that doesn’t have the Bailey’s in it, click here.
Chocolate Bailey’s Cake Recipe
Equipment you’ll need (All links in the supplies section are Amazon affiliate links)
- Two 8″ round cake pans
- Parchment to line the pans
- Mixer and mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons
- Microwave or double boiler to melt the chocolate
- Rubber spatula to scrape the bowl
- Whisk or wooden spoon
- Wooden skewer to test the cake
- Cooling rack
- Cake boards
- Knife to level the cake layers
This makes two 8-9″ round layers, or one 9×13″ layer:
- 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 1/4 cups AP flour
- 1 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 4 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 3/4 cups hot water, or 3/4 cups coffee (decaffeinated is fine)
- 3/4 cups Baileys Irish Cream liqueur (another brand is fine but Bailey’s is best)
- 3/4 cups sour cream
- 3/4 cups vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
1. Line the baking pans with parchment paper or waxed paper on the bottoms, but don’t grease the sides of the pans. I used reusable 8″ silicone pan liners.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave on high for 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between. When it’s almost completely melted don’t heat it anymore, just stir it until the residual heat melts the final chunks. Overheating it can burn the chocolate!
3. Combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixer and combine well.
4. In another bowl, blend the coffee, Bailey’s, sour cream and oil with a whisk.
5. Break the eggs into another bowl and whisk to combine them.
6. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients while the mixer is running on low. Beat on medium speed to combine everything for about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl to make sure all of the dry ingredients aren’t sticking to the bottom of the bowl, and finish mixing until everything is combined. If you have lumps in the batter, break them up and stir it until it’s smooth.
7. Add the eggs to the mixer while it’s moving on low speed, mix on medium for 30-45 seconds until everything is combined.
8. Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and beat on medium speed until it’s all combined.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pans (it will be very liquid, this is right!) My 8″ pans were about 3/4 full, and I forgot to use a collar, but they baked fine without any overflowing.
10. Bake for 35-45 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. I could always tell when this cake was done because it started smelling like chocolate all of a sudden. Once you make this a few times you’ll be able to tell when it’s ready without timing it! I had to let mine bake for about 50 minutes this time until the tester came out clean, so the time can vary depending on how much batter is in the pans.
11. Put the pans on a cooling rack and let the layers cool completely in the pans. Once they’re cool enough you can wrap them with plastic wrap (still in the pans) and let them sit out at room temp overnight.
12. If you need to level the cakes before taking them out of the pans, use a serrated knife and cut the layers off even with the edge of the cake pan (if you used a 2″ tall pan this is a good way to get a layer that’s exactly 2″ tall.)
13. De-pan the layers by turning them out onto cake boards and decorate (as long as they’re totally cooled off.) To store them for longer, wrap them well in plastic wrap and freeze or refrigerate, or let them sit out at room temp if you’ll be using them by the next day.
Tips for the Guinness buttercream.
For this cake we’re using an Italian meringue buttercream, or IMBC as we bakers refer to it. DO NOT cheap out and make a different kind of buttercream for this!
This icing isn’t sickly sweet like the icing you’ll get at the grocery store, and as long as you follow the instructions and everything is at the right temperature you’re going to get a smooth and silky icing and you’ll never want to make confectioner’s sugar icing again.
The temperatures of the ingredients is the key to get the right consistency, though, everything has to be right or you’ll get a broken buttercream that looks like cottage cheese. If that happens, follow the instructions in this video and you’ll probably be able to save it.
I also have a separate article about this, you can read that here!
Full disclosure on this, I actually broke the buttercream when I made this! So the finished texture was a little too thick for my linking, but it will still taste fine.
The Guinness does NOT give this a super strong beer flavor. It barely even registers, it just gives it a mysterious flavor that you can’t really identify. It goes well with the cake, which has a mysterious Bailey’s flavor!
Guinness buttercream recipe.
- 2 cups softened unsalted butter at room temperature. DO NOT use cold butter!
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 5 large egg whites
- 1/2 + 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
- 3-4 fluid ounces Guinness
Instructions:
1. Cut the butter into pieces and set them aside for later.
2. Have a greased, heatproof measuring cup near the stove, at least 2 cups capacity.
3. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a stand mixer until stiff peaks form. You can do this with a hand mixer but it will be a little more awkward when you get to the cooked sugar steps.
4. Heat the sugar and water in a pan stirring to dissolve it, until it starts to bubble. Stop stirring and keep cooking until it gets to 248-250 degrees. USE A SUGAR THERMOMETER FOR THIS, don’t guess! The sugar has to get to the right temperature.
5. When the sugar syrup is hot enough, pour it into the greased heatproof measuring cup to stop the cooking.
6. Beat the sugar into the egg mixture slowly pouring a stream in as the mixer is moving on low to medium speed. Don’t use high speed or it will throw sugar onto the sides of the mixing bowl.
7. Beat on medium speed until the mixture has cooled down to room temperature. You can speed this up by wrapping the bowl with cool kitchen towels, but it needs to cool down before you add the butter or you’ll ruin it!
8. When the egg mixture is room temp, add the butter in a little at a time while the mixer is running on high speed. Continue beating until the buttercream is smooth. The buttercream will look like it’s not working, then BANG! All of a sudden it will come together and be ready, so watch it as it progresses.
9. Add the liqueur in a steady, thin stream while the mixer is running on low speed.
10. The liquid will probably not incorporate into the buttercream at first, but just whip it on high once there’s enough of the liquid combined in. That will make the rest of the beer emulsify into the icing.
11. Use the buttercream right away, or pretty soon. If you have to refrigerate it after you use it, you’ll have to let it get to room temp and re-beat it to smooth it out, and it won’t have the same consistency.
12. Store cakes covered with IMBC in the fridge, but let them warm up to room temp before serving.
This cake is delicious, and it’s perfect for events like St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s good any time of the year. Be prepared to have people ask you to make this again if you make it once, it’s that good!
You can also switch out the Guinness in the icing and put Bailey’s in it instead, that’s delicious too!
