St. Patty's Day Irish Cream Cake

For Saint Patrick's Day I decided to make an Irish Cream cake. I love Bailey's, so that combined with cake sounded like a win win to me! I found a recipe that had great reviews so I decided to be ambitious and try it, even though it is much more complicated than anything I've tried before. There are a lot of steps, so I broke up the process into two days.

First I made the cakes:

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add granulated sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla extract, beating until blended.
Combine flour and soda; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cakepans.
Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. (I cooled them overnight).

Then I made the butterscotch filling:

Ingredients
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation
Stir together brown sugar and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar melts and mixture is blended. Stir in 1/2 cup milk until blended.
Whisk together remaining milk, flour, and salt; stir into brown sugar mixture, and cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat 5 minutes or until thickened. Gradually add eggs, and cook, whisking constantly, 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool. Stir in pecans and vanilla.

Then I made the cream cheese frosting:

Ingredients
1 (8-ounce) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, unsifted

Preparation
Beat first 3 ingredients with an electric mixer until creamy. Add confectioners sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Beat at high speed until smooth.

Then I assembled the cake:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Irish cream liqueur
3 cakes
2 cups butterscotch filling
3 cups cream cheese frosting
3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
14 pecan halves, toasted (I didn't use these)

Preparation:
Brush cake layers evenly with liqueur. Spread half of Butterscotch Filling between each cake layer; spread Cream Cheese Frosting on top and sides of cake. Gently press chopped pecans onto sides of cake; arrange pecan halves on top (I made a shamrock out of green colored frosting instead of using these pecan halves).

...and it's a hit!!

We cut the cake and it is de-lic-ious! It is moist, and has the perfect amount of Irish Cream and sugary sweetness. The cake cut well and presented nicely. I definitely recommend making this cake. Even though it was a lot of work it was totally worth it!!