I love Baileys in my coffee. It’s one of my favorite weekend morning treats! So the flavor combination of espresso and Baileys was really a no-brainer for me! This cake is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, but honestly it’s really amazing all year round! I can’t wait to make this for my birthday next year!
For the cake, I wanted a rich and delicious espresso flavor. Think sitting in a Parisian cafe drinking a cappuccino. If you’re a Baileys in your coffee kind of gal, you definitely need to try this cake! Cover with festive sprinkles for St. Patrick’s Day, or serve on its own – either way you really can’t go wrong! Want to make it even fancier? Consider drizzling dark chocolate ganache down the sides! Yummm!
Cake Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2/3 cups sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons espresso powder
Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup Baileys
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups powdered sugar
Cake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350, and grease three 6″ cake pans. Line the bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper.
Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar. Mix the espresso powder into the buttermilk. Add the eggs, vanilla, sour cream and buttermilk mixture into the butter mixture, and mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.
Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool 10 minutes in the pans, and then let the cool the rest of the way, upside down on a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, wrap each cake layer in plastic wrap, and put in the freezer.
Frosting Directions:
Whip the butter until light and fluffy, and add the Baileys and vanilla extract. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time, until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Once all the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to high for about 3-5 minutes.
Frost the cakes, and top with festive sprinkles! I used these ones.
What better way to kick off the weekend than with some delicious sparkling wine and food pairings! I am so excited to share this post with you – it’s one of my favorites I’ve written (and researched) to date! I mean who doesn’t want to taste champagne and delicious food all day! As they say, it’s a tough job, but someone had to do it. I’m only too happy to volunteer!
Now let me just say: whether you spend every other week in Napa or are just dipping your toe into the wine world, this post is for you! This is for my wine-loving friends who are always wanting to try something new. Learn more. Explore palettes. Have fun. In my opinion, that’s what wine is supposed to be all about! Are you with me? Then pull up a chair, pour some bubbly, and let’s talk food and wine pairings!
Jordan and I have been on a major sparkling wine kick lately, and discovered Gruet Winery. They’re located in New Mexico, and make sparkling wines using the Champagne method (or méthode Champenoise, which you can learn about here). Their founder was originally from France, and decided to plant an experimental vineyard in New Mexico in 1984. You can read more about the fascinating story here!
Their wines have become a favorite in our house. We love that the quality rivals some of the biggest players in the Champagne game, and yet they’re not so expensive that we feel guilty popping a bottle on a Wednesday. It’s all about that balance, right?
For the sparkling wine, we will focus on the Gruet Brut, Sauvage, Blanc de Blancs and Brut Rosé. When you’re doing a sparkling wine and food pairings tasting, I recommend a strategy that I learned on our recent trip to Bordeaux: taste the wine first and try to pick out any familiar flavors and/or tastes. (Ex: Maybe green apple? Maybe you’re not sure which fruit, but you know it’s tart.) Then taste the food. Then take another taste of the wine. It’s fun to see how the flavors change with the food – how some characteristics might become more subtle, while others become more pronounced.
For the food: I tried to keep the food pairings as simple as possible. If you want to recreate this sparkling wine and food tasting at home (which I hope you will!), the food will take you max 35 minutes to prepare all of it. And then, if you want to explore each wine further with fancier food options, please do!
Pairing 1: Brut with Fresh Bruschetta and Balsamic Glaze
Let’s start with the Brut! This is a really traditional sparkling wine that’s bright and citrusy, and I get some hints of nectarine or peach. I feel like this wine is really forgiving and would pair well with a variety of food. I loved the Brut with a fresh tomato bruschetta, drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Sometimes acid needs acid, and this wine pairs really with the acid in the tomatoes and balsamic.
To make the bruschetta: I made a really simple version with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, piled onto slices of fresh baguette and drizzled with a balsamic reduction. I didn’t even bother toasting it, because I loved how light and fresh it was!
Pairing 2: Sauvage with Truffled French Fries
The Sauvage sparkling wine is described as “bone dry”, and that’s an accurate description! This is a very dry sparkling wine, and I loved pairing this with a high fat food. The fat in the fries really helps to cut the acidity, and brings out more flavors in the wine. I think this would also be really great with my three cheese macaroni and cheese or buttery lobster!
To make the truffled french fries: Preheat the oven to 450 and line a baking sheet with foil. Spray with baking spray (I love this coconut oil spray). Cut a russet potato into thin (1/4 inch) slices, and then cut them again so you’re left with long and thin “fries”. Toss them in a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 tablespoons white truffle oil, 2 teaspoons garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Bake on the lined baking sheet for 20 minutes, and then turn the fries over. Sprinkle 1/4 cup parmesan cheese on top, and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
Pairing 3: Blanc de Blancs with Smoked Salmon Bites
I love the bright lemon flavors in the Blanc de Blancs! I first tasted this wine with a lemon sorbet which was way too intense and overpowered the more subtle flavors in the wine. Oops! That’s a great example of a “bad pairing”! So I slept on it, and in the morning I decided to try it with my salmon bites. This ended up being my favorite of the sparkling wine and food pairings! The crisp citrus taste of the wine is so complimentary to the freshness of the salmon.
When I was thinking about what food would pair best (in my opinion) with the Blanc de Blancs, I thought about what I most like to use lemon in, since that was the primary flavor I personally got from the wine. And I loooove a lemony salmon! So voila! I bet this wine would also be delicious with my Easy Lemon Risotto!
You can find my Smoked Salmon Bite recipe here!
Pairing Four: Brut Rosé with Fresh Strawberries
No recipe needed! This Brut Rosé is so versatile, and can be paired with sooooo many things! We enjoyed this with pork tenderloin for Jordan’s birthday, and strawberry macarons! It was delicious with pretty much everything we ate with it, but I really loved it with the simplicity of fresh strawberries. Sometimes a really good wine pairing happens with you pair the wine with a contrasting flavor, and sometimes complimentary flavors. The strawberries really help to bring out red berry tastes, and show off this wine’s creaminess.
Remember – 99% of the fun in wine pairings is experimenting and seeing what you like! Everyone’s palette is different, and maybe you’ll love the Brut Rosé paired with fried chicken! What matters most is that you love the wine you’re drinking, and I know you’ll love all of these Gruet sparklers! Cheers!
A few days ago I shared my Valentine’s Day wine picks, and today I’m sharing my easy Valentine’s Day dessert idea: Strawberry Chocolate Cake! I don’t know about you, but I’m always ready to try new strawberry dessert recipe ideas. I love the bright, juicy flavor of fresh strawberries, and they pair so well with chocolate. It’s a classic combo for a reason, right?
When I was thinking of this strawberry chocolate cake recipe, I knew that I wanted it to be rich, chocolatey, and fruity. Valentine’s Day chocolate dessert ideas are endless, and I wanted something just a little more special but still a classic dessert. And even though I originally created this recipe for Valentine’s Day, I make it all year round! It’s also a great birthday cake recipe, bridal shower cake idea, and summer cake recipe!
This cake was one of the first recipes on my site, and I recently updated it to include fresh strawberry buttercream instead of extract! It’s lick-the-spatula good, you guys. I also added thinly sliced fresh strawberries between each layer for an extra pop of berry flavor. As one of the most popular cakes here, I know you guys already loved this cake. But holy cow, it just got beyond amazing!
I always feel like fancy Valentine’s Day desserts make the holiday feel even more special, but let’s be honest. Most of us don’t have the time to make super crazy time-intensive desserts. That’s why I love this cake – because like the majority of the recipes you’ll find on my site, this cake looks beautiful and it’s a quick and easy cake recipe too! That’s a perfect Valentine’s Day dessert (or just general dessert) in my opinion!
Chocolate Cake Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate cocoa powder because I wanted them really intense)
- 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup hot brewed coffee
- 1 cup unsalted butter (two sticks)
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Fresh Strawberry Buttercream Ingredients:
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup strawberry puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
- optional garnish: fresh strawberry slices
Dark Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Cake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line the bottom of three 6″ round cake pans. Set aside.
In a small pan, heat the butter and coffee until the mixture is steaming and the butter is melted. Take off the burner and let cool. (You can also do this in the microwave.)
Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through baking soda.
Mix together the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add the butter mixture once cooled. If the butter mixture is still too hot when you mix these together, the egg will cook.
Add the dry ingredients into the now combined wet ingredients in two batches. Fold together until just combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes – until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them upside down on a cooling rack to cool completely. This will help create a flat top for each layer.
Strawberry Buttercream and Dark Chocolate Ganache Directions:
In your food processor or blender, blend about 10-12 large de-stemmed strawberries until smooth. (Seeds are ok.) Set aside.
Whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, and then add the fresh strawberry puree. Beat on low speed, scraping the sides as necessary. The frosting will look piecy at this point, and that’s ok, it will all come together. Then beat on high speed for about 3-4 minutes, or until all the strawberry is incorporated, and the frosting is light and fluffy.
Ganache and Assembly: melt the chocolate chips and heavy cream together in a small bowl. Spread the strawberry buttercream between each cake layer, and place thinly sliced strawberries between each layer too, if desired. Once the cake layers are assembled, frost the outside of the cake with the buttercream, and drip the chocolate ganache over top. I recommend letting the frosted cake sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes before adding ganache, so it’s cold. Garnish with more fresh strawberries, and serve!
I hope you enjoy! If you’re looking for more desserts that’s just as easy and delicious, try my Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes or Simple and Delicious Vanilla Cupcakes!
Valentine’s Day may still be a month away, but it’s never too early to start planning your Valentine’s Day desserts! Enter easy strawberry champagne cupcakes! This is a delicious champagne cupcake, made with actual champagne and a champagne extract for a little extra flair. Then topped with delicious strawberry buttercream, because champagne is always better with strawberries, right? And yes, these are as awesome as they sound!
These vanilla cupcakes may be simple, but they are definitely not plain! This classic dessert is full of rich, vanilla flavor and is perfect for any occasion. The easy vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream frosting come together in less than an hour, making this a perfect go-to cupcake recipe!
I have been on a mission the last few days for the perfect vanilla cupcakes! I wanted them to be full of rich vanilla flavor, but also really easy to make! Simple in every sense of the word. I also didn’t want to include ingredients that were difficult to find or expensive to buy. I’m looking at you, vanilla beans!
Make these for the next birthday party, or even for Valentine’s Day with some fun red and pink sprinkles! You’ll love what a quick and easy cupcake recipe this is, and everyone else will love how delicious they taste!
Makes 12 standard cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup full-fat vanilla yogurt (greek or regular is fine)
1/4 cup buttermilk
Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon heavy cream, if needed
Cupcake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the sugar until combined. Add in the eggs, vanilla, yogurt and buttermilk and mix on low until all ingredients are incorporated. Then add the flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tin, filling the liners evenly to about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake 13-16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool before removing from liners.
Buttercream Directions:
Whip the butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add vanilla extract. Increase the speed to high, and mix about 2-3 minutes. Frost the cooled cupcakes, and serve!
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