Chocolate Guinness Mini Cakes with Baileys Buttercream

Guinness and Baileys are a match made in Heaven in this Chocolate Guinness Mini Cakes with Baileys Buttercream.  They’re decadently rich, moist and the perfect ending to your St. Patrick’s day festivities.

If you love Irish desserts, you should definitely try this Baileys Mint Chocolate Chip Dip!

I’m continuing right on through with the St. Patrick’s day inspired recipes.  I bought a 12 pack of Guinness and a bottle of Baileys, which aren’t our typical alcohols of choice, so I had to use them up somehow and what better way than dessert.  Guinness goes so well with chocolate and Baileys goes well with Guinness so these Chocolate Guinness Mini Cakes with Baileys Buttercream are a match made in Heaven.

I decided to make these on Friday so that when I was finished shooting the photos, my husband could take them up to the Moose Lodge with him so I wasn’t left with 16 mini cakes staring me in the face.  What a smart decision that was because can I just say, these are ama-zing!  And if you need more proof, I was asked to make them for their St. Patrick’s day bake sale because they were gone in less than 2 minutes. #winning.  My thighs can thank me later.

This upcoming weekend we’re headed out with the neighbors to party like we’re 21 again.  Well, not really, I’ll try to hang out at least until 10pm. That’s how this rock star mom parties these days.  It’ll be a fun day full of shenanigans, food, music and green beer.  St. Patrick’s day festivities make me so happy.

I just recently purchased spices online from Spices Inc (not sponsored but they were amazing and shipping was SUPER fast)  for the corned beef recipe I am trying this year and I literally cannot wait to taste it.  One of my bestest girlfriends and her boys are coming on the 17th so I’m going all out with an Irish dinner for when they arrive.  We’ll have corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, Chocolate Guinness Mini Cakes with Baileys Buttercream and homemade green beer to wash it all down (for the adults, of course)  If you’re wondering what homemade green beer is, we made it up last year by placing green food coloring into our beers.  We’re classy like that.

I’ve also promised a pretty little girl I’d take her to the movies to see Beauty and the Beast.  She’s been looking forward to this day since she very first saw the trailer.  She’s got a new outfit, complete with a Belle cape and she’s counting down the days.  This mama is super excited to be sharing a princess movie with my little princess.?

I was originally going to make this into a large layer cake but then mini cakes just sounded so much cuter.  I also must apologize, as this is a first, but I had taken a few shots of the sheet cake and what it looks like as you cut out the little rounds, but somehow I cannot find them.  Between shooting 2 other recipes this weekend, they’re gone.  So you are going to have to pretend like you see a few process shots of a sheet cake and then one with little circles cut out of it.

This was the first time I had ever made a sheet cake.  I was so nervous, checking the oven every minute, to make sure it wasn’t spilling over the sides. You see, I took a layer cake recipe and altered it slightly so that I could bake it into a sheet pan.  Insert nervous sweats.  But I did it!  and now you don’t have to worry about it ruining the bottom of your oven and spending all Sunday afternoon scraping it clean!

Once the cake is baked, rounds are cut out, then you whip up the buttercream, which takes 5 minutes and then assemble.  These Chocolate Guinness Mini Cakes with Baileys Buttercream couldn’t be easier and more decadently delicious!  The buttercream alone will have you digging into the bowl with a spoon. I mean it’s made with sugar, butter and Baileys, what’s not to love?  I topped them with a dollop more of Baileys buttercream and sprinkled them with green sprinkles and stuck in a little gold coin.  I searched everywhere for the chocolate gold coins but I couldn’t find them.

I am going to go as far as to say, this is my favorite St. Patrick’s day recipe on the blog.

I’m a sucker for chocolate and buttercream so these are hands down the best recipe ever.  The cakes are super moist, extra chocolately and the buttercream is just the frosting on the cake, literally.  Not to mention, they’re mini so they’re super adorable too!

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Chocolate Guinness Mini Cakes with Baileys Buttercream

Prep 5 mins

Cook 22 mins

Inactive 30 mins

Total 57 mins

Author Megan | Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 16 servings

Guinness and Baileys are a match made in Heaven in this Chocolate Guinness Mini Cakes with Baileys Buttercream.  It's decadently moist, rich and the perfect ending to your St. Patrick's day festivities.

Ingredients

Guinness Chocolate Cake 

• 3 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup canola oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup hot coffee
• 1 cup Guinness Stout, room temperature

Baileys Buttercream

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream
• Green sprinkles for decoration

Instructions

Guinness Chocolate Cake 

1. Preheat oven to 350°  Spray a large jelly roll pan (12x17) with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Set Aside.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat sugar, sour cream, canola oil, eggs and vanilla extract until combined.
4. Very slowly, add in the flour mixture, a little bit at a time, until fully incorporated.  
5. Fold in 1/4 cup hot coffee followed by 1/2 cup Guinness.  Repeat 1/4 cup coffee, 1/2 cup Guinness and fold in until combined.
6. Pour batter into jelly roll pan and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
8. When cool, using a 2 1/2" circle cutter, cut out circles from the sheet cake.
9. Slice each round in half.

Baileys Buttercream

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat butter until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
2. Add in powdered sugar and combine.
3. Slowly add in Baileys and whip for 2 minutes.
4. Place half the buttercream into a pastry bag fitted with a 2D tip.

To assemble

1. Place about 1 1/2 tablespoons onto the bottom of each mini round.  Spread out to cover entire bottom. Place on the top mini cake and dollop a small amount of buttercream frosting from the pastry bag.  Garnish with green sprinkles if desired.

Notes

*I had quite a lot of cake left after cutting out the rounds so I crumbled up the cake, added frosting and peppermint extract, dipped them in chocolate and made them into Mint chocolate cake balls.

Courses Dessert

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 16 servings

Amount Per Serving
Calories 306
% Daily Value
Total Fat 15 g		23%
	Saturated Fat 5 g	25%
Cholesterol 44 mg		15%
Sodium 93 mg		4%
Total Carbohydrates 40 g		13%
	Dietary Fiber 1 g	4%
	Sugars 28 g
Protein 2 g		4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Please don’t be intimated by the layers. Again, these are very easy to put together. Cut out the rounds, slice the round in half, spread on buttercream, place another round on top and dollop with more buttercream.  Literally, that’s it and if I can do it, you can do it.  I didn’t go to any baking school, which is probably blatantly obvious, but I nailed this combo, so there.

If you are worried about the booze in the cake, you could substitute it with water.  Some of the alcohol will bake-off leaving the alcohol content in the cakes to a minimal amount.  How much, I cannot tell you, so disclaimer, use alcohol with those under 21 with your own discretion. I mean you don’t want to over bake the cakes and be left with dry, flavorless dessert.  As for the Baileys buttercream frosting, you can sub the Baileys for milk.  I let my kids have a taste but again, I’m not winning any mom of the year awards so you do what you think is best for your family.

And if you are needing any more St. Patrick’s Day recipes, may I recommend Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage, Baileys Mint Chocolate Chip Dip, Shamrock Shake popsicles,  Irish Car Bomb Burger and Irish car bomb brownies?  Yep. that’s right.  I’ve got your back for this St. Patrick’s Day AND it’s on a Friday this year!  PAR-TAY!

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