Irish Cream Ombré Cake

Six gorgeously green layers of moist Irish Cream cake, layered with silky Irish Cream Swiss Meringue Buttercream!

It’s officially been THREE whole years since I’ve graced all you lovely readers with my stupendously delicious and amazing recipes (so humble, I know), so what better way to celebrate this momentous event than with a cake?

Not just any cake…a blogiversary cake! And since St. Patty’s Day is coming up in a few days, I decided to kill two birds with one stone (they wouldn’t SHUT UP in the morning) by making this St. Patrick’s Day Blogiversary cake.

While cake-decorating isn’t one of my strongest suits, I think I did a pretty ok job!

Of course, my homemade medley of sprinkles is my favorite part. Who knew mixing sprinkles could be so much fun?? And the bright neon green white chocolate ganache definitely takes this cake over the tippity top. 

Not gonna lie though, the green ganache kinda looks like slime. Sort of like the slime from “Ghostbusters”, or for all you 90’s kids, Nickelodeon slime! Speaking of, I always wondered what that slime tasted like. Anyone out there ever have the honor of being slimed? I’ll bet you anything it doesn’t taste near as amazing as this “slime” does.

Ok, maybe I should stop referring to the ganache as slime before I ruin all y’alls appetites…

Let’s get to the actual cake!

As the title suggests, this is an Irish Cream Cake. Not only is there Irish Cream baked into the cake, but the buttercream is flavored with it as well. As someone who’s not a huge fan of alcohol, let alone alcohol in my desserts, I was pleasantly surprised that the cake did not have any kind of overpowering alcoholic flavor at all. The Irish Cream added such a wonderful flavor dimension and a lighter sweetness to the cake, similar to a champagne cake. 

Since there are six layers in this cake, thus six layers of frosting, I went with a less sweet Swiss Meringue Buttercream. While overly sweet is not something that exists in this 7-year old’s mind, I have to say that the subtle sweetness of the smooth and silky Swiss Meringue Buttercream with the moist layers of Irish Cream cake was nothing short of heavenly.

To add to the theme of this Irish Cream St. Patty’s Day (slash blogiversary) cake, I thought I’d add a little color. Not only does the green ombré more fun and festive, but it makes for an impressive reveal when you serve it to your guests. 

As you can see, this cake has six layers. However, feel free to decrease the amount of layers. I’m sure four would look just as beautiful–keep in mind though that they will take a little longer to bake. I discovered that it gets kind of difficult to show a gradual color change the more layers you have. Nonetheless, I’m pretty pleased with my first attempt at an ombré cake.

I don’t know about you guys, but THIS is how I plan on consuming my alcohol this St. Patrick’s Day.

Irish Cream Ombré Cake

Six gorgeously green layers of moist Irish Cream cake, layered with silky Irish Cream Swiss Meringue Buttercream!

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 10 Servings

Ingredients

  

Cake:

• 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 egg whites
• ¾ cup Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• ½ cup Bailey's Irish Cream
• Green food coloring

Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

• 3 large egg whites
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Ganache:

• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 ounces white chocolate chopped or chips
• Green Food Coloring
• Sprinkles

Instructions

 

Make the Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Line six 6-inch round cake pans* with parchment paper and coat with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined; set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until lightened and creamy. Beat in the egg whites, one at a time, until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the Greek yogurt, vanilla, and almond extract on medium speed.
• Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Add the Bailey's Irish Cream, then mix until just combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
• Divide the batter evenly among six separate bowls, then tint with the green food coloring until you have six different shades of green. Pour the batter into their own separate cake pan. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until cake springs back when you gently press it. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Buttercream:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the egg whites, powdered sugar, and salt together until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then continue beating on medium speed until mixture has thickened and starts to resemble a thinned out marshmallow fluff, about 5 minutes.
• Once thickened, reduce mixing speed to medium-low and begin to add the softened butter, 1-2 Tablespoons at a time. Once all the butter has been mixed in, turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in the vanilla and Bailey's Irish Cream, then beat the buttercream on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 8-10 minutes.**

Make the Ganache:

• In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat the cream in the microwave until simmering. Remove from the microwave, add the chocolate, shake gently to assure the chocolate is covered in the hot cream, then cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 5 minutes, remove plastic wrap, then stir until smooth. Tint ganache with green food coloring. Set aside to cool and thicken.

To Assemble:

• Place the darkest (greenest) cake layer onto a cake plate/pedestal and frost with a layer of buttercream. Top with the next darkest (greenest) cake layer, and frost with buttercream. Keep repeating these steps until you've stacked all of the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake.
• If you plan on using sprinkles, add the bottom border of sprinkles first by pressing handfuls of it on with your hand. Slowly pour the ganache over the top of the cake, allowing some of it to drip down the sides. Top with more sprinkles, if desired. Cut, serve, and enjoy!