For a wonderfully rich dense sweet treat, you must try my Baileys Irish Cream Cake. It has a mild Irish Cream flavor topped with an unforgettable glaze.
Preheat oven to 325°F Prepare 12 cup Bundt pan by spraying with nonstick baking spray.
Combine flour (3 cups), baking powder (1 teaspoon), and salt (1/2 teaspoon) in a small bowl and set aside. In a small liquid measuring cup mix Irish Cream (1/2 cup) and milk (1/2 cup) and set aside.
In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer beat butter (1 1/2 cups) and sugars (2 cups brown sugar + 1 cup) at medium speed until fluffy about 6 minutes. Add the eggs (5), one at a time, and beat well to incorporate after each addition.
To the butter mixture, gradually add half the flour mixture then half the milk mixture. Repeat with remaining flour then milk and mix until incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pan then smooth batter evenly. Bake in preheated oven 1 hour and 15 to 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes with a few moist crumbs.
Allow cake to cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan to a plate or serving dish and cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the glaze by combining sugar (2 cups), Irish Cream (3 tablespoons), and 3 tablespoons of water, adding more water as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth. Drizzle cooled cake with glaze
Notes
Glaze: The glaze is a little gray in color. It's not a huge deal but I just want you to be forewarned. I believe the color is caused by the color of the Irish Cream. The flavor of the glaze made it absolutely worth adding!!!
Size: I use a 12-cup Bundt pan for this recipe.
Room Temperature: Start with room temperature ingredients. This will ensure everything mixes properly and you will get the maximum volume from the ingredients.
Over Beating: This may sound strange after you read the recipe and see that the first thing you do is beat the butter for 6 minutes! After the eggs are added you need to beat the eggs just to incorporate them. Do NOT over beat your eggs! Add your eggs and mix until the yolk disappears.
Baking: It’s very easy to over-bake a pound cake. I like to bake it until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Cake Release: I use Baker Joy non-stick spray. This cake always releases from the pan perfectly for me with this spray. I spray the pan heavily after I make the batter, just before I pour it into the pan. That way the spray doesn’t have time to slide down the pan. That said, I've just had a reader say that she had problems with the cake release. It's not clear to me if, indeed, she used a specific baking spray nonstick or a regular nonstick spray. There's actually a huge difference in how the cake will release. She suggested greasing and flouring the bundt pan. Frankly, I'll leave it up to you. I haven't found that that method works as well as the specific baking spray nonstick. I'd love to hear from you about what's working best for you!!! ♥