On A Pub Crawl with Sugar Plum for St Patrick’s Day!

When I saw this event I just knew I had to join in with the Irish pub-crawl food event with Emiline from Sugar Plum. This event is in honour of St Patrick’s Day 17th March and the requirements are, you make something foodie using beer, wine, or liqueur. The event runs from March 1st until Monday, March 17th.

In the wonderful lush green land of the Emerald Isle with leprechaun’s, fairies, shamrocks, shalaly sticks and The Blarney Stone, comes another great product from Ireland, Baileys Irish Cream liqueur. This is a smooth creamy whisky liqueur, which is my chosen alcohol for my “Irish Cream Liqueur chocolate cake”.

I also have a hidden ingredient in this cake that no one would ever suspect when tucking merrily into a slice. *Come closer so I can whisper to you my secret without anyone hearing us *, my cake includes mashed potato!! Gasp, horror, no my friend not at all, actually it makes a good moist sponge without tasting my secret ingredient. The sponge also has a double hit of chocolate and Irish cream liqueur with a white chocolate and Irish cream liqueur icing – slurp. For the grand finally, chocolate and sugar shamrocks! I used Green & Blacks chocolate throughout this recipe.

Go on treat yourself; I know you want a little taste from that fork while I quickly look away, wasn’t that lip smacking good ………. *Giggle*

Irish Cream Liqueur chocolate cake

Serves approx 8 - 12

Ingredients
Chocolate Green Shamrocks
75g (3 oz) good white chocolate
Edible green food colouring
For The Sponge
150g (5 oz) cooled mashed potato
175g (6oz) softened butter
175g (6oz) caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly whisked with a fork
175g (6oz) self-raising flour
50g (2 oz) cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
50g (2 oz) melted milk chocolate
3 tbsp Irish cream liqueur
For The Icing
75g (3 oz) softened butter
225g (8 oz) sifted icing sugar
2 tbsp milk at room temperature
100g (4 oz) good white chocolate
1 tbsp Irish cream liqueur
For decoration
Sugar shamrocks

You will need 2 x 20cm (8 in) sandwich tins greased with butter and bases lined with greaseproof paper. A piping bag with a small writing nozzle and a sheet of greaseproof paper for the shamrocks.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°C/gas mark 4.

Firstly melt the chocolate for the shamrocks and add a little edible green food colouring stirring through and fill a piping bag and pipe shamrocks onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Leave aside to fully set.

Melt the milk chocolate and leave to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg a little at a time until all combined now add the cooled mashed potato and melted milk chocolate beating then through the mixture. In a sieve over the mixing bowl, sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder, folding these in gently into the mixture until fully combined. Equally divide the mixture between the sandwich tins and smooth the tops of the sponge mixture before placing into the preheated oven. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes checking at 30 minutes to see if the sponge is cooked through. The sponge should be slightly leaving the sides of the tin and feel firm to a gentle touch in the centre, also a skewer inserted into the centre should come out when baked. Leave in the tins for 10 minutes to cool then turn out onto a wire rack to fully cool. When cold remove the paper from each base.

To make the buttercream icing, Melt the white chocolate and leave aside. Add the softened butter, sifted icing sugar and milk stirring through with a wooden spoon until combined, then beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Now add the melted white chocolate and Irish cream to the icing and stir well through until all combined. Sandwich the two sponges together with about quarter of the buttercream, then place the rest on top of the cake in swirls. Scatter the sugar shamrocks over the top onto the buttercream. Gently peel off the green chocolate shamrocks and place all over the top of the cake.