Irish Cream Coffee Cake
Irish cream coffee cake is the ultimate breakfast on St. Patrick’s Day. The cake is spiked with Irish cream and made with a brown sugar crumble.
March is almost here, which means my mind is already thinking St. Patrick’s Day. This week I made Irish cream coffee cake. It’s tender, flavorful and spiked with Irish cream!
How have I not thought of this before? You have coffee spiked with Irish cream and you have coffee cake. It only seems natural to flavor the cake with Irish cream!
Turns out it’s pretty simple to do. Most coffee cakes call for some type of liquid, usually milk. And in my opinion the best coffee cakes calls for sour cream.
I wanted to keep sour cream as an ingredient while bringing in the Irish cream flavor. I decided to sub the milk with Irish cream hoping it would keep the moist texture, but add flavor.
Turns out that it works!
I will, however, be the first to admit that the Irish cream flavor is subtle. It’s not overwhelming at all since the recipe calls for only half a cup.
To add a little more flavor I decided to add a simple icing on top of the coffee cake. All it is is confectioners’ sugar and Irish cream (I like to use Bailey’s). I used a similar icing in my boozy Bailey’s cookies.
That extra Irish cream kick was exactly what these coffee cake squares needed!
The rest of the recipe is pretty straight forward. Layer the coffee cake with alternating layers of batter and streusel. By the way, the streusel is amazing. Can’t go wrong with brown sugar and butter, right?
To make it even simpler, I created a recipe video. I suggest turning on the volume to get you in the spirit for St. Patrick’s Day!
Get the Recipe: Bailey’s Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Streusel
- ¾ cup (150 g) brown sugar
- ¾ cup (94 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, melted
Cake
- 2 cups (250 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120 ml) sour cream or plain yogurt
- ½ cup (120 ml) Irish cream, (such as Bailey’s)
Glaze
- ½ cup (60 g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) Irish Cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper (or lightly grease with cooking spray). Set aside.
Streusel
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Add the melted butter and stir until well combined. Set the topping aside.
Cake
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer), mix butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- With the mixer on medium-high, add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add vanilla and sour cream. Mix until combined.
- Turn mixer speed to low, add half the flour mixture and mix for a few seconds. Pour in Irish cream, mix for a few more seconds. Add remaining flour mixture and mix just until combined (careful not to overmix!) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
Assembly
- Pour half the batter in prepared baking pan and spread evenly. Top with half the streusel mixture. Pour remaining batter on top (spread carefully if needed). Top with remaining streusel mixture.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set pan on wire rack to cool for 15 minutes.
Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and Irish cream. Drizzle over the cake. Slice and serve.
Notes
- Store sliced coffee cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Coffee cake can be made the night before. Cover cooled cake tightly with plastic wrap. Add the glaze in the morning and serve.
- Coffee cake can also be frozen for up to 2 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and bring to room temperature before serving.
If you like Bailey’s coffee cake, try these recipes…
11 Comments on “Irish Cream Coffee Cake”
I love that you use Irish Cream in your coffee cake! I’ve got St. Patty’s Day on the brain too. 🙂
Oh my!! These look so soft and yummy! And that irish cream glaze has got to be incredible! I’m ALL IN!
YUm, yum yum, coffee cake is the best! I’m not a big Irish cream fan, but sounds like I can just substitute milk and be fine.
Oh wow!!! These look so yummy! I have this with coffee any time!
I want a slice of this before bed! I love a good coffee cake!
Oh gosh, a few weeks ago I was wondering if it would be appropriate to incorporate Baileys into a breakfast dish…I’m glad that you’ve answered that for me! This coffee cake looks like the stuff dreams are made of – well, MY dreams, anyway!
Wow – these look epic. A total must make for my husbands birthday celebrations this weekend!
Made this coffee cake as a trail run as someone gifted me a bottle of Irish Cream and I didn’t know what to do with it. Well, it was a hit!!! Delish!! Now I am making it for Christmas gifts 😊
Batter too thick, taste was meh overall
Be sure your Irish Cream is still good. If you haven’t used it in a while, check it before you start cooking. Mine was all curdled so I couldn’t use it. I used Irish Whiskey instead and am sure it wasn’t anything like it should have.
Flavor fine but very dry even with cutting baking time by 5-10 minutes.
Biscuity not pourable batter.
Tossing this recipe