Irish Car Bomb Cake: Three Alcohols, One Dessert

That's a really terrible picture, but hopefully the intoxicating deliciousness of this cake will make up for my lack of food photography skills. (I was working on a deadline, people wanted to eat it.)

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, here's a chocolaty, boozy, cake that will do you right by St. Patrick, Leprechauns, and the IRA. (Just kidding, bomb jokes are not funny. But seriously, this cake will blow you away. Ok, I'm done. Seriously.)  I made this for my friend's birthday last week...as it seems we've developed a bit of a pattern of baked goods-as-gifts. (Last year, it was these peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes.)  The cake was still warm when I applied the glaze, so it didn't quite stay on as well as I would have liked.  Thankfully, it could be ladled up off the plate.

It's a riff on this cake that I wrote about last year....and I think it's an excellent improvement.  The Guinness gives it a rich depth of flavor, and the Bailey's glaze (don't be afraid to skimp on it....clearly I did, by the looks of that picture) leaves you with a sweet, coffee note.

Irish Car Bomb Bundt Cake  


Cake:
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process) plus 3 tablespoons for dusting pan
1 1/2 cups Guinness Irish Stout
1/2 cup American whiskey
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


Glaze:
1/2-1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 tbls Bailey's Irish Cream
(maybe an extra splash of whiskey, just to round it out....)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter bundt pan well, then dust with 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, knocking out excess.

Heat Guinness, whiskey, butter, and remaining cup cocoa powder in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, whisking, until butter is melted...be careful not to let it boil. Remove from heat, then add sugar and whisk until dissolved, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and cool 5 minutes.

While chocolate mixture cools, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together eggs and vanilla in a small bowl, then whisk into cooled chocolate mixture until combined well. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined (batter will be thin and bubbly). Pour batter into bundt pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.

Cool cake completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours. Loosen cake from pan using tip of a dinner knife, then invert rack over pan and turn cake out onto rack.

Combine powdered sugar and Bailey's until your desired consistency is reached (mine was a little thin in that picture).  Drizzle over cooled cake (if cake it warm, the glaze will slide off, again, see picture).  Eat, accompanied by actual Irish Car Bomb shots. Find a friend to drive you home.