Bailey's Irish Cream Cake

Ireland was the theme of our CSG (Collier Small Group) dinner last Friday and my task was to create a dessert with that in mind. So off to the Internet I go. I was thinking green initially but I cannot stand, or sit for that matter, lime jello. When I think green, apologies to Al Gore, I think of broccoli. Beside green is my least favorite color. Green was out. As I started my search angst set in my thoughts...would the main ingredient in Irish cakes be potatoes, talk about your racial profiling, oh Jill! On my first hit I found a list of various cakes with Bailey's Irish Cream as the flavoring ingredient, all right!

To start my cake I cracked open the bottle of Bailey's and remembered how much I enjoy the cream. Does a little shot of Bailey's at 9:00 am make me a lush? After I get the cake in the oven, oh the smell, I wanted to see if my beer drinking cat Bailey would like the Irish Cream. Well I don't think Bailey is from Ireland but she loved it. I should have got a photo of her with her nose in that narrow shot glass from Hard Rock Cafe, Atlanta.

The cake turned out gorgeous! I was surprised at the end results. The darn thing looked professional.

This is for all you bakers who want St. Patty's Day to last the whole month of March. Or do you have some Bailey's Irish Cream in the cabinet collection dust, yea right. Well if you happened to have a cup of Bailey's on hand you might try this:

Bailey's Irish Cream Cake

from Cooks.com

Ingredients:

1 cup nuts

1 package yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker's French Vanilla)

1- 3 ounce package Jello instant vanilla pudding (again I used French Vanilla)

4 eggs

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. Grease and flour a tube or bundt pain. Sprinkle nuts on the bottom of pan. Combine the rest of the ingredients. Pour over nuts. Bake 1 hour. Cool cake completely. Prick cake and pour glaze over top and sides.

Glaze:

1 stick butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Melt butter. Stir in water and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. REMOVE from heat. Stir in Bailey's Irish Cream.

Note: If using cake mix which includes pudding, omit pudding from recipe, decrease eggs to 3 and decrease oil to 1/3 cup.

Note: The cake can be decorated with s sugar frosting or whipped cream. But I say why cover up the lovely nut decoration!

The evening was terrific. What more could you ask...Rubins, Bailey's Irish Cream Cake and dudes with tattoos!