Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey's Buttercream

Some days you just need cake. A deep, dark chocolate cake spiked with beer and topped with boozey icing. The combination of Guinness and Bailey's is popular near St. Patrick's Day, but I think it's a perfect flavor combo any time of the year. The bittersweet cake is a perfect complement to the sweet icing. You need to make this cake!

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake
Source: Global Table Adventure

1 and 1/2 sticks butter

3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup Guinness Stout beer
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 and 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and line two eight-inch cake pans with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the Guinness, vanilla extract, and cocoa. Remove mixture from heat to cool.
Whisk together the sugar, flour, and baking soda.

Add the Guinness mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk in the eggs.

When the batter is shiny and smooth, pour evenly into two prepared cake pans.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Removed the cakes from the pans and cool on two cooling racks.

When cooled, spread Bailey's buttercream between layers and ice top and sides.

Bailey's Buttercream

2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2–4 tablespoons Irish cream

Cream the butter. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and Irish cream one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Continue beating until smooth and creamy.

Black Forest Cake

Isn't this tiny cake adorable? It has three layers of chocolate cake filled with cherry pie filling and chocolate chip whipped cream and topped with more whipped cream, cherries, chocolate chips, and festive fall sprinkles. It was so delicious! The tart cherries paired well with the bitter chocolate cake and sweet whipped cream.

Chocolate Chip Whipped Cream

1 and 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/8 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Place bowl of electric mixer and whisk attachment in fridge for 30 minutes. Combine whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold in chocolate chips.

Mermaid Cake

I used to make cakes all the time. But they are stressful to make. Between baking, leveling, smoothing, and decorating, they take a lot of time and a lot can go awry. Now I mostly focus on cupcakes. Every one in a while, however, someone will request cake. Sometimes I oblige. This time, my little cousin requested a mermaid cake (a simple vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream). I decided to keep it simple and focus on the tail of the mermaid and surround her with blue water and star fish. 

Chocolate Souffle Cake for Two

My husband wanted a Stove Wave pot after seeing it tested on television. I'm usually weary of those "As Seen on Television" products because they usually never work as promised. He first used it to make an omelet, and it came out perfectly! The booklet that came with it had a recipe for chocolate souffle cake that looked easy enough, so I decided to give it a try. I mixed together the ingredients, tossed a few chocolate chips on top, popped on the lid, and put it in the microwave. Two and a half minutes later, I had a chocolate cake—the perfect size for two, which fits this month's What's Baking theme: Small Servings. The cake tasted delicious! The texture was not perfect, and it could have been lighter, but it satisfied my chocolate cake craving. It would have been even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Chocolate Souffle Cake for Two
Source: StoveWave

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder
3 tablespoons milk
1 and 1/4 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons of a whisked egg
a dash of vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients except chocolate chips until smooth.
Stir in chocolate chips, reserving a few for the top.
Pour mixture into an ungreased Stone Wave pot and top with reserved chocolate chips.
Put on the lid and cook in the microwave for 2:15 minutes. (I had to cook mine for 2:30 minutes.)
Enjoy with ice cream, fresh fruit, or whipped cream.

Kitty Cake

Every year I bake my godchild a birthday cake. It's always vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream. She's not a risk-taker when it comes to food—just like her godmother used to be. Hopefully she'll grow out of that like I did. This year, she asked for a kitty cake and told me her favorite color was purple. I kept it simple and piped an orange cat with a purple bow with the birthday girl's name on top. The cat's tail cascaded down the side of the cake, which was decorated with a purple star border. She loved it!

Adventure Time Birthday Cake

I was recently asked to make my four-year old cousin a birthday cake. I happily said yes until I was told the design he wanted: Adventure Time. Adventure, what? I had no clue what it was or what the characters looked like, so I did a quick Google search. When I saw the simple little characters, I was relieved. I could do that! I think it came out pretty good!

Creamsicle Cake

My mom requested a creamsicle cake for her birthday this year. I was never really a fan of orange-cream flavored baked goods, but after tasting this cake, I have since changed my mind. I used a cake mix as the base and added orange gelatin and orange juice in place of the water to pump up the orange flavor. I filled it with whipped topping mixed with orange gelatin mix and iced it with the remaining whipped topping. The result was a light and luscious orange-vanilla cake. It was a perfect cake for the end of the summer.

Creamsicle Cake
source: adapted from Bird on a Cake

Cake
1 package white cake mix (I used Duncan Hines french vanilla.)
3/4 of 3 oz. package orange flavored gelatin 
eggs, oil, and water per directions on box (I used orange juice in place of water.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray two 9-inch cake pans with nonstick spay.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and beat on medium speed for two minutes.

Pour batter into prepared cakes pans, and bake according to directions on box.

Cool pans on wire rack for 10 minutes, and then invert pans onto rack and remove cakes. 

Cool completely before frosting.

Icing and Filling

1 container whipped topping (You can also use fresh whipped cream.)
1/4 of 3 oz. package orange flavored gelatin

Fold remaining orange gelatin into whipped topping (or whipped cream) and fill cake. Frost cake with remaining whipped topping (or whipped cream).

Edible Images Part 1

This cake almost broke my spirit. A girl I went to school with contacted me for a cake and cupcakes. She asked if I ever worked with edible images and provided me with 24 edible images for cupcakes and one for a 9 X 13 cake. I never worked with edible images, but I figured it couldn't be that hard. The directions seemed easy enough: "Peel image from plastic backing and apply to cake."

Three hours later, I ended up with a headache, and a torn image. I did everything I could to free the image from the plastic backing. I Googled for help. I even watched YouTube videos. It looked so easy, yet my image was not coming off the backing. I again placed it in the freezer and it finally came free. Well most it! (The logo tore, of course!) All I had to do was apply it to the cake. Easy, right? Nope! I dampened the icing (that had since dried while I was fighting the image) and placed it on top. I smoothed the sides and guess what, it wouldn't stick! I peeled it back off and applied a bit more water and still nothing—well it did start to bleed.

At this point, I was ready to throw the cake in the garbage and start again. It was near midnight, though, and I was exhausted. Plus I still had to decorate two dozen cupcakes with more edible images. (I'll recant this story in another post later this week.) So I placed the image down as best I could and decorated around it. I hated this cake and it still makes me sick to look at it. The moral of the story: Never again will I use an edible cake image. (The customer loved it and was not mad at all, but it still broke my spirit a little bit.)

Butternut Cake with Buttered Rum Icing

I love the fall. I love when the leaves change and swirl from the branches of the trees to the ground. I love fall flavors of apple and pumpkin. Some of my favorites are pumpkin-flavored coffee, ice cream, and beer. For this month's What's Baking theme, I chose Fall Flavors. I also asked everyone to get creative and try to bake with something other than pumpkins and apples. I chose butternut squash as my fall ingredient and made an anniversary cake for me and my husband since we're celebrating our fourth anniversary. I decorated the cake to look similar to our wedding cupcake cake. I loved the way this cake came out. It tasted as great as it looked. The cake was moist, buttery, and nutty and the sweet rum-spiked icing was a perfect topping. 

Butternut Squash Cake
adapted from Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes

2 and 1/3 cups flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup butternut squash (cooked, mashed, and cooled)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used chopped walnuts.)
1/2 cup craisins (I omitted.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 24 liners. (I made two six-inch cakes plus 9 cupcakes.)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice and set aside. Add vanilla to milk and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter on high speed until smooth. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat butter and sugar an additional two minutes and then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in squash. With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Beat until combined. Stir in pecans and craisins (or walnuts).

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 20 - 25 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool.

Buttered Rum Icing
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rum
2 - 4 tablespoons water (as needed)

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and rum and beat well. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Here's our cake from the big day:

Puppy Cake

I was asked to make a last minute cake for Manny's first mommy. I was told she likes sprinkles and dogs. I didn't have much to go on, but I was pleased at how well this cake came together. I didn't really have a plan, but as I decorated I found my stride. The cake is a confetti cake (white cake with tons of sprinkles) and it's topped with vanilla and chocolate buttercream. To pull the cake together, I piped tan dog bones and pink paws on the sides. Manny's first mommy was a huge fan and wouldn't even let anyone cut it for two days because it was so cute.

Princess Castle Cake

I was asked to make a cake for my niece's third birthday. I was told she had her eye on a castle cake from  a local grocery store. I went to check out the cake and knew I could do better. Then there was a heat wave. I'm talking five days of over 90-degree temperatures, with one day coming very close to 100. So I decided to forgo the huge castle cake and make the birthday girl her own personal castle cake. This cake was very easy to make and came out better than expected, despite the weather. My niece loved it and was so surprised!

Wedding Cupakes (The Big Day)

I recently was asked to take part in a couple's special day. I was so honored to be asked to make a wedding cupcake cake. After a few weeks of planning and numerous test cupcakes, I was ready for the big day. I spent the week before the wedding making drop flowers for the tops of the cupcakes and side of the cake. Two days before the wedding, I baked a carrot cake and 120 carrot and vanilla cupcakes. On the night before the wedding, I decorated the cake and cupcakes to look like roses. On the day of the wedding, I set up the cake and cupcakes on my new Cupcake Tower, which I love and highly recommend. It was a lot of work, but I was thrilled with the way everything came out and the buzz the cake generated at the wedding. It was a hit! Congrats to Carol and Paul!

Here's a close ups of the cake and the cupcakes:

The white ones were carrot  with cream cheese icing and the purple ones were vanilla with vanilla buttercream. I decorated them with white edible pearls and purple and white flowers.

The cake was carrot with cream cheese icing.

Happy Birthday Carrot Cake

I was recently chatting with my hair stylist about the upcoming wedding cake and cupcakes I was making. I told her the flavors and she told me her husband loves carrot cake. She asked me to squeeze in a cake order for her. (What girl in her right mind would say "no" to her stylist?) I added walnut and raisins to my grandmother's carrot cake recipe and decorated it with orange roses as requested. I usually love decorating round cakes, but had problems smoothing the icing on this one. Plus I had shaky hands and was worried about my roses, which were not my best. My stylist and her husband loved the cake, which is all that matters in the end. 

Rose Wedding Cake

I've been asked to make a very special cake: a tiered wedding cake! I've never made a tiered cake before, so I was nervous. Just as I gathered everything I would need to make a sample tiered cake, the bride threw a surprise my way. She asked me to change the tiered wedding cake into a wedding cupcake cake with a tiny cake on top. I was thrilled as I love cupcakes and was full of ideas!

I whipped up this cake as a sample for the bride and groom: carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I decorated it to look like a rose with leaves around the edges and she loved it! We're going to go with a rose theme for the cake and cupcakes and adorn them with accents of purple and white. With a few tweaks, the cake and cupcakes will be perfect, just as I hope her day is and her life with her new husband.

Old-School Birthday Cake

My husband's coworker is one of my best clients. She has ordered a few cakes from me in the past few months. I love how busy she keeps me. It helps that she's nice, pleasant, and easy to work with! She asked me to make a double-chocolate layer cake (Hershey's recipe) topped with buttercream icing for her two dads' (father and father-in-law's) birthdays. She also asked me to top it with roses, which really aren't one of my specialities. I used some old-school styles that I learned in cake class: shell border, rope border, roses, and leaves. I don't think it came out too bad. The roses looked pretty decent and I loved the color scheme. Maybe old school birthday cakes will make a comeback after all.

Cake Class Round-Up

I finally finished basic cakes at culinary school. I learned some new things, but mostly brushed up on the basics. We worked with buttercream and learned different baking techniques in this class. Next January, I will learn how to work with fondant in advanced cakes. It was a lot of fun. Here are a few cakes for your viewing pleasure:

Black Forest Cake

Boston Cream Pie

Basketweave Cake

Carrot Cake

Banana Spring Cake

Pumpkin Birthday Cake

Chocolate Layer Cake

Fernando the Lamb Cake

Dynomite Character Cake

German Chocolate Cake

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Final Cake - I got an A.

Springtime Baptism Cake

My husband's family keeps expanding and we have another baby girl on his side. This makes three girls under three years of age. So again, I was commissioned to bake another baptism cake. This was a marbled chocolate-vanilla double-layer
9 X 13 cake topped with vanilla buttercream.  

SpongeBob SquarePants Cake

This was a last-minute cake and it started with a few hiccups. The first cake slipped out of the pan and crumbled all over the table. It ended up in the garbage and I started again. The second cake came out wonderful. It wasn't as high as I hoped it would be, but it was much better than the first cake. The client requested a SpongeBob SquarePants cake with beads around the sides. I really loved the way this cake came out. The cake was vanilla and I iced and decorated the whole thing in vanilla buttercream, even the sides.  

Butterfly and Flowers Cake

My little cousin Julia just turned five. And she is the girliest little girl you'll ever meet. Her favorite colors are pink and purple and she loves to dress up in ballerina and princess costumes—gloves, rings, shoes, and all. She's adorable. She called me on the phone and asked me to make her a white cake filled with strawberries. She stressed that the strawberries must be "fruit" and I assured her they would be. She also told me she likes pink, purple, and butterflies. I made her a white cake and dyed one layer pink and the other layer purple. I sandwiched a ton of strawberries (the fruit) inside and got ready to top the cake with fresh whipped cream. I wasn't sure how well it would hold up if I piped it, so I decided to forgo the whipped cream and use a smooth swiss meringue buttercream instead. This frosting takes a little longer to prepare than traditional buttercream, but it's worth it. The consistency is more like whipped cream, so it's not as easy to pipe as buttercream. It's whippy, creamy, and buttery—and don't forget heavenly. I used merignue powder in place of the egg whites and the results were nothing less but perfect.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

6 teaspoons meringue powder

6 tablespoons warm water
3/4 cup sugar
2 sticks butter, cut into 16 pieces (room temperature)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a large heatproof bowl (or stand mixer bowl) combine meringue powder, water, and sugar. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and transfer to stand mixer.

Using the whisk attachment, whip mixture on high until it holds stiff peaks (about 6 - 7 minutes). Continue beating and add the butter a few pieces at a time. Add coffee. Continue beating until buttercream is thick, smooth, and glossy (about 3 - 5 minutes).

*If mixture starts to look curdled, keep beating.

Handy Manny Cake and Cupcakes

I had never heard of Handy Manny until I was asked to do a Handy Manny cake and cupcake order for a special little boy's second birthday. (Happy Birthday Anthony! We'll be praying for you next month little buddy.) As I researched, I found that Handy Manny is a Disney cartoon with Wilmer Valderrama (aka Fes from That ’70s Show) voicing the carpenter boy. I fell in love Handy Manny's adorable little tools: Pat the clumsy hammer; Turner the grouchy flathead screwdriver; Felipe the ambitious Phillips screwdriver; Dusty the motherly saw; Stretch the perfectionist tape measure; Rusty the fearful wrench; and Squeeze the curious pair of pliers. As I piped their little faces (all freehand by the way!), I loved each one more than the other, but I think my favorite was Rusty the wrench (the orange one). These were so much fun to decorate and I loved the way they came out and so did the client, which is what matters most! The cake was vanilla and the cupcakes were a mix of vanilla and chocolate, all topped with vanilla buttercream. Here's a closer look at some of the cupcakes and cake: