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Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

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Here’s an Irish Cream Chocolate Cake that is wonderfully tender, moist, and ultra chocolatey. The whipped cream frosting is light and fluffy, the perfect balance.

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Irish Cream Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

Despite Minnesota’s notorious “spring” consisting of an eclectic mixture of ice-snow-rain-mud….I super-like March. Tons of my family and friends celebrate their birthdays this month.

For my own birthday, the boys bought me enough dark chocolate to [hopefully] last me until summer. I’ve been having a blast enjoying all my freebies for coffee, ice cream, and slices of cake. All week, we’ve been tasting a variety of chocolate cake recipes from favorite bakeries. because birthday week and it’s fully legit. If we’re going to indulge, let’s do it right.

This Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Cake. It’s notably better than all the other chocolate cakes we’ve been tasting. There’s something quite magical and irresistible about this ultra tender, moist, chocolatey cake infused with Baileys Irish Cream. Frosted with whipped cream frosting. Every single luscious bite of this Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Cake is blissfully worthwhile.

By the way, the concept of a birthday week is a thing. One single day isn’t enough time to pay tribute to the awesome moment our favorite people entered the world. Which is why these Soft Funfetti Cookies and Easy Chocolate Ice Cream are also on tap.

  • 100% Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
  • Bailey’s Irish Cream

What makes this cake extra moist and tender

  • We use oil in place of butter, which provides supreme moisture to this Irish cream cake. Either olive oil or coconut oil work wonderfully, without leaving any distinct flavor to the cake itself.
  • Buttermilk is an acidic ingredient that tenderizes gluten, giving baked goods a softer texture.
  • The Irish cream is a flavorful substitute for milk, providing extra richness to the cake.

secret to intensifying chocolate flavor

  • Fresh, unsweetened, 100% cocoa powder is classic for chocolate cakes
  • The real secret is coffee. Not coffee you’ll undoubtedly be sipping with this cake, but coffee you’ll actually add to the batter.
  • Brew a cup of extra strong coffee (decaf is fine) and let it cool to at least lukewarm. You won’t taste any coffee in the cake itself. Rather, the coffee intensifies the chocolate flavor, like a chocolate booster.
  • Plain gelatin dissolved in warm water
  • Stabilized whipped cream holds its shape without running or melting

Stabilized Whipped Cream

This stabilized whipped cream yields a fluffy light frosting; the perfect accompaniment to any rich chocolate cake.

Use stabilized the whipped cream frosting so that you can frost the cake ahead of time and not worry about it becoming runny. Stabilized whipped cream is a cake’s best friend and we use it on every dessert possible, from Flourless Chocolate Cake to Tender Yellow Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting (yes, there’s a chocolate version!)

Stabilized whipped cream holds its shape at moderate room temperature all day long. You can even frost the cake and keep it covered/chilled for a couple of days without fear. 

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Bailey’s Irish Cream Cake is rich, chocolatey, and tender

More to Bake and Eat:

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Bailey’s Irish Cream Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

Try this Easy apple cake, made in one bowl:

 
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Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Cake with Whipped Frosting

★★★★★

5 from 14 reviews
  • Author: Chew Out Loud
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: 12 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Here’s an Irish Cream Chocolate Cake that is wonderfully tender, moist, and ultra chocolatey. The whipped cream frosting is light and fluffy, the perfect balance.

Ingredients

Scale

For the Cake:

  • 1 large egg
  • 2/3 cup olive oil or melted coconut oil
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream
  • 1 cup very strong black coffee (decaf is fine)
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup 100% unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp table salt
  • 1 TB baking soda

For the Frosting:

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup Baileys Irish cream, very cold
  • 2 tsp unflavored gelatin (Knox) dissolved in 2 TB water, in small glass bowl

Optional Garnish: chocolate curls or chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack on lower middle position. Generously grease and flour two 9″ nonstick cake pans along the bottom and sides. Gently tap off excess flour; set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, buttermilk, Baileys, and coffee. Whisk until fully incorporated; set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking soda until well combined. Add dry mixture to the bowl with wet ingredients. Use hand whisk to gently stir mixture until no streaks/lumps of dry flour remain (some tiny lumps are fine.) Batter will be runny.
  4. Divide batter evenly between greased/floured cake pans, ensuring that pans have even distribution of batter. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few tender crumbs attached. Let cool completely in pans.
  5. Meanwhile, make the Frosting: Place a metal mixing bowl and beaters into fridge/freezer to chill 5 minutes. Add cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and cold Baileys to the chilled bowl. Beat on medium-high until frosting holds together with stiff peaks.
  6. If dissolved gelatin is no longer liquid, microwave it for 5-10 seconds just until it becomes a lukewarm liquid (not hot.) Give the gelatin a stir and very gradually drizzle into the frosting bowl as you continue to beat on medium-high (try to drizzle gelatin into the beaters so it gets fully blended into the frosting. Cover and chill until ready to frost.
  7. Once cakes in pan have fully cooled, run a thin knife around the edges to loosen; carefully remove first cake from pan, and turn it onto serving plate. Frost with half of the frosting. Top with second round cake and remaining frosting on top. If desired, garnish with chocolate curls or chocolate chips. Cake keeps well covered in fridge.

Notes

If needed, pound hard on back of inverted cake pan to release cakes once cooled.

This cake’s texture and flavor become even better the next day, so if you want to make it completely the day before, including frosting/assembling, just cover airtight and chill finished caked until ready to serve.

If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating ♡

  • Category: dessert
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: Bailey’s Irish Cream Cake, Irish Cream Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Cake

Chocolate and More Chocolate:

Bakery Style Double Chocolate Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Ganache Frosting

Chocolate Dump-it Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. notquitesupermommn says

    This cake is everything I would want my birthday cake to be, chocolate, coffee, and moist (and the bailey’s, yum!). We don’t normally do desserts around here either, but when we do we go all out. Happy belated birthday, and enjoy the warmer temps 🙂 We enjoyed watching the melted snow running down the road and into the drain on our Minnesota walk earlier today.

    Reply

  6. Elizabeth O says

    Oh my, this looks incredible. Definitely one for St Patrick’s Day that is coming up with the Irish cream! Yum yum.

    Reply

  12. Ayana Christine Nell says

    Birthday weeks are totally legitimate!!! And OH MY WORD. This cake looks SO AMAZING and there is no way anything I make to satisfy my now raging sweet tooth will ever live up to this!! *drooools*

    Reply

  20. Thelittlelai: Beyond limits says

    I really love sweet a lot and this made me like saliva is almost drippin’. Anyway, I wish to learn how to bake before and would surely bake something like this. I envy you for owing a talent like this, will try in the future. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

    Reply

  21. Jen ~ The Tipsy Mama says

    So many great recipes here! I am absolutely saving this for my next girls night! We get together and trade recipes and they are all going to LOVE that Bailey Irish Cream Cake – even though it’ll be well after St. Patty’s Day! 🙂

    Reply

    • chewoutloud says

      Ha, LOL – Jen, this is one of those cakes where St. Pat’s is only an excuse to make it…. but honestly, this cake is so so good anytime all year ’round. Nobody will be mad at you for making it 🙂

      Reply

  22. Daisy says

    Saving this link to make this later! It looks and sounds absolutely delicious and amazing!! I can’t wait to try it out!!

    Reply

  24. Jagriti Roy says

    I love chocolate flavour and and want to say you thank you for sharing this . The yummy pics of this Cream chocolate cake is making me go crazy to have a bite of it.. SLURP!!!

    Reply

  25. Tiffany Yong says

    I’m not sure if I can get Bailey’s Irish Cream here in Singapore, but it doesn’t really look that difficult to make. I think the coffee will be the thing that makes the cake taste yummy!

    Reply

  26. Pris says

    I made the Irish Cream Chocolate cake yesterday. The cake came out well, had a good texture, was moist and tasty. But the frosting was kind of curdled, but still tasted light and good. I followed the recipe as instructed, added gelatine to the cream when it formed stiff peaks. Could you advise what could be the problem please? I whipped the cream by hand using a whisk.

    Reply

  28. Chelsea Korkowski says

    Just made this! Half of a piece is currently sitting in front of me so I can stop and write this wonderful review! My husband says it’s the best cake I have ever made! Absolutely delicious!!!

    Reply

  30. Cindy says

    This is a REALLY moist & delicious cake. I went with the melted coconut oil when I made it, plus in between my cake layers I added some Raspberry pie filling, absolutely YUMMY! Thanks for the great recipe.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  32. Kylie says

    It’s my birthday and I literally could not have found a more delicious recipe to try! Thank you so much! 🙂 x (p.s your photos are stunning!)

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  43. Stine Mari says

    This cake is so tender and moist and I love the thick layer of whipped cream. This would be perfect for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day too!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  44. Marta says

    So glad you used a stabilized whipped cream here. I hate it when I go to make a recipe and the whipped cream deflates into a pool of goo before I can enjoy it.

    Reply

  45. Julie says

    What a great cake recipe! I was looking for something to make for St. Patrick’s Day and this is it. Such a fun use of Bailey’s too!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  46. Robin says

    Whipped Cream Frosting is an absolute favorite because it’s so light. The Bailey’s makes it completely addictive – bless you for this recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  50. Natalie says

    Oh wow, this cake looks fantastic! I’m literally drooling right now just by looking at the pictures. I must make this for St. Patricks. Thanks, for this lovely recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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