Recipe for chocolate Baileys cake

For some reason I have some serious baking mojo at the minute.  This recipe is really good, so I felt I had to share it.  I was intending to make some bara brith (aka speckled bread) which is a Welsh fruit tea bread, but I didn’t have enough fruit.  So I raided the cupboard and made this chocolate baileys cake instead (I will make bara brith soon!).I found the basic recipe here but made some tweaks to make it super-decadent (and to use up what I have lurking in the cupboards).

Ingredients

• 100g/4oz margarine
• 192g/7oz dark muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp powdered instant coffee
• 165g/6oz plain flour
• 80g/3oz cocoa powder
• 180ml/6fl oz Baileys Irish Cream (or half milk/half Baileys)
• Optional – chocolate chips or chunks

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to around 180 deg C and line your loaf tin.
2. Cream the margarine and sugar together until as smooth and fluffy as possible.
3. Add the eggs one at a time to the creamed mix, beating the mix well each time.
4. Add the flour, baking powder and instant coffee to the egg mix, and mix until all combined.
5. Then add your cocoa powder, and continue mixing.
6. Finally, add your Baileys (or Baileys/milk mix), and stir until the mix is smooth.  Pour the mix into the lined loaf tin.
7. Bake your cake for around 50 minutes (check it from about 45 minutes).  When a skewer comes out clean, it is done.

The Baileys taste really comes through – definitely not one for the kiddies!