Irish Cream tastes like Irish Cream

I've done better at baking, I HAVE. See this cake?? I made it almost two weeks ago as a tester for a work potluck! It was BEFORE St. Patty's, I promise. I just never got around to posting. It's been a busy few weeks.

So in my search for Irish and/or St. Patty's themed food, I came across an insanely high rated Irish Cream cake at All Recipes. Sounded promising. I made it with minor adjustments (an angel food pan instead of Bundt so the top was flat and could be dressed prettier) and dug in with high hopes. Yeah, it tasted like alcohol. Okay, not ENTIRELY. Actually, the second day, the alcohol in the glaze and cake was much more subtle and the cake had absorbed most of the glaze to make it nice and moist. But there was still Irish cream in it. I don't know what I was expecting; it's an IRISH CREAM CAKE. Now, I enjoy my liquor as much as the next gal but there's just something about mixing certain desserts and alcohol. I didn't love it. But those I tested it on thought it was quite nice. So maybe I'm a harsh critic.

If you like a little bite to a moist cake, this one will hit the spot.



IRISH CREAM BUNDT CAKE
Source: All Recipes, by Sue Haser

1 cup chopped pecans
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup Irish cream liqueur
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch angel food (or bundt) pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 1 cup Irish cream liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes at high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish. Prick top and sides of cake; I used a chopstick for larger holes. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze repeat until all glaze is used up.

To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream. If it looks curdled, whisk quickly until glaze becomes smooth.

Sprinkle extra chopped pecans on top for decorative dressing.

Mini Pies!

As I mentioned in the last post, I made a chocolate pecan pie for work and didn't get to taste it. Then my mother made the same pie for Thanksgiving and I had a small piece (because there were three pies to sample!). So the week after Thanksgiving, I realized I didn't get my pecan pie fix like I shoulda. I didn't want to make a whole pie for myself. C'mon give me some credit; I do have some control. However I needed it so the solution was clearly MINI pie.

I used the same Pecan Pie recipe from the last post (without the chocolate) and simply split the filling recipe in half. I used the equivalent to one pie crust and it made five mini tart/pies. The only adjustment I had to make was to the baking time: I lowered the temperature to around 320 degrees and it ended up baking 40 minutes or so. The toothpick test will let you know when they're done!

They're perfect for one serving of your very own little pie! :)

Invisible cakes and pies

Okay, here's the thing: I HAVE been baking over this past month. However. It's been for work parties and such so I haven't been able to take proper pictures and cut them open, etc. Unless I cut a piece out and took it to work that way. 'Happy Birthday! Oh BTW, I already had a piece. That's cool, right?'

So I've made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing which was pretty all right. I'd make it again (and might so I can post about it and someone other than my coworkers can taste it). I also made a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving that was an experiment that I didn't love. It involved a crumb topping that didn't work out. I won't make that again.

Then I made a chocolate pecan pie which is a Thanksgiving tradition in my family. It's very rich and very sweet but we love it; we have it every year. It might look like a lot but trust me, if your tastes run decadent, this pie is definitely for you.

SOUTHERN CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips (plus more for drizzling on top)
1 to 1/2 cups pecans
1 9-inch deep dish pie shell (unbaked)


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix sugar and butter well in mixing bowl. Add syrup, salt and vanilla. Mix again. Add eggs one at a time and mix after each.

3. Spread chocolate chips over bottom of unbaked pie crust. Spread pecans over chocolate chips. Pour mixture on top of both chocolate and pecans.

4. Bake until top is brown and pie set (about 45-55 minutes). Toothpick stuck in center of pie should come out almost dry.

5. When pie is completely cool, drizzle melted white and dark chocolate on top (easiest way is to slowly microwave in a Ziplock freezer bag and cut small hole in bottom corner of baggie).