This rich chocolate cake is kicked up a notch with the delicious flavour of Baileys Irish Cream.
Nordic Ware sent me this Pine Forest Bundt pan to try out, but have not compensated me monetarily for this recipe. All opinions are my own.
Holiday baking season is in full swing, and I have been loving every minute of it. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how I missed out on most of last year’s Holiday season, so I’m sparing no expense this year. I kicked it off a with these Snow Capped Gingersnaps and am continuing the festivities with this Baileys Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake!
This month’s #BundtBakers theme — Hot Chocolate — comes to us from the lovely Tara over at Noshing with the Nolands.
It didn’t take me a long time to decide that I wanted to do another Baileys dessert. Baileys is a staple around our place most of the year, especially during the Christmas season, and it’s a perfect pairing for hot chocolate on those cold winter nights. The flavour goes so well with anything chocolate!
Holiday recipes also mean holiday bakeware! If you’ve been following my blog for any period of time, you know I have a minor Bundt addiction. So I was super excited when the wonderful folks over at Nordic Ware sent me this Pine Forest Bundt to test out for the holiday season.
I have an ever-growing Nordic Ware Bundt pan collection (they are the BEST) and I’ve just added another one to my Christmas wish list. Not only are the styles and shapes unique and stunning, the quality is unbeatable. I never have to worry about my cake sticking to the pans. It never does. Ever! And cleanup is a breeze, even in the most intricately detailed Bundt pans like this one. If you’re looking to jazz up your holiday table, this Pine Forest Bundt pan is the perfect addition.
One important note about this pan is that it has a lot of little crevices (which is part of what makes it so pretty). The batter for this Bundt recipe is quite thick and I took extra care to nudge it into every nook and cranny. Still though, I had some minor holes in the tops of some of the trees. If your batter is thinner, you likely won’t have this issue, but I recommend pouring a bit of batter in first and nudging it around with a spatula. Once you’ve done that, fill the pan with the rest of the batter and give it a good whack against the counter to get rid of any extra air pockets (I do this will all my Bundts).
This Baileys Hot Chocolate Bundt cake recipe is simple and delicious. There’s a generous amount of Baileys in the batter and you can really taste the flavour in every bite. The cake is dense and moist, like every good Bundt cake should be!
I kept the decoration of this Bundt simple, with just a dusting of powdered sugar to show off the details of the pretty Bundt pan. If you’d like a bit more sweetness you can pair it with some marshmallow fluff or a simple glaze made of powdered sugar and Baileys (or milk).
Baileys Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup Baileys Irish Cream
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-cup bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Place butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on med-high until light and fluffy (approx. 3mins).
- Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Reduce speed to low. Alternate adding flour mixture with Baileys and sour cream (3 additions of flour and 2 each of Baileys and sour cream). Beat until just combined.
- Spread the batter evenly in the bundt pan.*
- Bake for approx. 45-50mins or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool in bundt pan for 10mins. Whack bundt pan on the counter to loosen cake and turn out onto cooling rack to cool completely.
NOTES
* If using Pine Forest Bundt pan, be sure to nudge batter into crevices.
The nutritional information and metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or metric conversion tool.
I just ordered the Nordic Ware STAR Bundt pan just to make this cake! I cannot wait to get it & bake your delicious sounding cake! Your cakes are stunning and I am excited to try this recipe! I will post my picture once I make it!
Thanks so much Dayla! I can’t wait to hear how you like it 🙂
Hi Olivia.I made this cake yesterday for a party last night. While it had great flavor, it was a little dry. Any idea what could have gone wrong? I’d appreciate some suggestions.
Hi Robin! Is there a chance it was overbaked? Bundt cakes are typically more on the dense side, but it should not be dry.
Hey! Are you able to taste the Baileys? Trying to decide if I should double the amount of Baileys in the recipe. If so, do you think that would work?
Hi Ally! You could totally double the Baileys if you like, but if you do, I would add 1/3 less sour cream so that the “liquid” amount stays the same. You could also do a glaze with powdered sugar and Baileys instead of the powdered sugar dusting I did.
This was sooo good! I have never attempted in baking a cake aside from boxed cake. Home made cakes and frosting always seemed overwhelming to try. But I am so glad I tried your recipe. I feel a little more confident now.
Question, if I were to make this in 2- 6 cup bundt molds, would I keep the same timing or increase it since there will be 2 in the oven? Or is it best if I bake them individually? Also, any suggestions in how to achieve a lesser dense cake? I like cakes that are a little more moist. Thank you!
Hi Jocyl! So glad you broke your box cake habit with this cake! I hope you try more recipes now 😀 I would bake them at the same time but it might actually take less time since there is less batter in each. Bundt cakes are usually more on the dense side. If you’d like something lighter, take a look at any of my layer cake recipes. Most of those will work in a Bundt pan too.
I’ve made this cake before and love it! Would Kahlua work instead of the Baileys?
Hi Heidi! Kahlua would work just fine 🙂
Awesome, thank you!
I am completely in love with this recipe… one question, I cannot for the life of me find dutch processed cocoa powder in any store near me, can I use regular unsweetened cocoa powder? Thanks!
Hi Diana! Regular cocoa powder should work fine!
Thank you so much!
The olnly place I ever find it is at Walmart. Hershey’s Dutch Chocolate powder, right next to the regular. Good Luck.
I own 2 of these wonderful pans….would these cakes freeze well? I could get a good jump on holiday baking.
Hi Nancy! For sure, it should freeze fine! Just make sure it’s wrapped really well in something airtight. It should last at least 4 weeks if stored properly. I would dust with powdered sugar after thawing.
Hi Olive,
I baked the cake in my new bundt pan. So beautiful and the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten. Ah, I cannot say enough about the taste of this cake. This is the only recipe I will ever use now. My Christmas dessert will be ever so beautiful, tasty and I am keeping the pan and recipe a surprise until Christmas day. Thank you so very much for this recipe.
Happy Christmas everyone.
I’m so glad you like it,Edith! That Bundt pan is so pretty right? I am sure it will “wow” everyone on Christmas Day. Let me know how it goes! 🙂 Merry Christmas!
Hi, My Nordic forest bundt pan just arrived Friday and I will be baking the Bailey’s chocolate cake next week as a test run. Will bake it for Christmas also. In our family we always have Christ’s birthday cake and this will be beautiful. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Edith! I’m so happy you will be trying this! That Bundt pan is so stunning just on it’s own. What a wonderful cake to use as Christ’s birthday cake for your celebration :).
I love your Bundt pan. The cake is so beautiful!
Thank you Sue!! I love this Bundt pan, perfect for the season!
So beautiful cake… To me it looks like a range of mountains covered with fresh snow… Perfect…
Thank you Shilpi!! 🙂
This cake caught my eye, I have a feeling after I taste it it will become a favorite. I do have a question about the Dutch cocoa powder. I googled it to see if Dutch and natural cocoa powder are interchangeable. I won’t go into all the details but basically Dutch is typically used when the recipe calls for baking powder for the correct leavening. Do you feel the Dutch type is required for this recipe? I can’t not find any in my local store. Thanks
Hi Dina! Regular cocoa powder should work just fine! I like dutch because I find it has a richer flavour, but the regular stuff will work fine with this recipe.
Wow, as usual, a spectacular cake, Liv! Looooove your pan, and the Baileys in the recipe has to be delicious! I also missed the Christmas baking last year, and this year I am also going to make up for it 😉 See you again next month!
Thanks so much Lara! I’m happy that you’re on the Christmas baking train with me! 😀
So pretty, like a snow-capped pine forest and baileys is da bomb! 🙂
Haha, I knew you’d approve! 😀
Now that is a beautiful bundt cake. I’m terrible at getting cakes out of the pan. I can’t even imagine the level of terror I’d feel with this one. 😉
Thanks Karly! With the Nordic Ware pans, honestly, getting cakes out is a breeze! I probably don’t even need to spray the pans, but I do anyhow because I’m paranoid :). I wish regular cake pans were this easy!
What a beautiful cake. It wouldn’t be wrong to buy that forest bundt pan just to make this one cake would it? 🙂
Well of course the answer to that is a big fat NO! :). Thank you!
It looks like a snowy castle of dessert delight. Beautiful!
Yesss! Thank you! 🙂
I always look forward to seeing your bundt each month and once again you never fail to disappoint. I’ve just bought a giant bottle of Bailey’s for the holidays so I may have to bake a good old chocolate cake with it. Gorgeous tin, I’m hoping to add this to my collection very soon.
You are so sweet, thank you Laura!
What an absolute stunner!
Thanks Tux! 🙂
It cracks me up we both went to the same pan for this theme–obviously because it is the right choice and obviously because we both probably have more pans than we know what to do with. 😉 I am still up in the air about the “elegant party” pan… The Leaf Bundt at Williams Sonoma is at the top of my list.
This is a fantastic cake. I LOVE Bailey’s with chocolate!
The Leaf Bundt is stunning as well! Ahhh, so many pans, so little space! :). Thanks Laura!
Fabulous photos and a recipe that sounds stellar – I can’t wait to make this!
Thanks Jackie!
Yummy! A baileys hot chocolate sounds so perfect for the holidays 🙂 and that cake is stunning! I mean I love all of your beautiful cakes but this one takes the cake 😉 (pun intended)
Haha, thanks Mel! I love how this one turned out! Though really, it’s all in the pan 🙂
So pretty and festive, I have the same bundt pan and can’t wait to use it again for the holidays!!
Yay! I can’t wait to see your version!
Lovely as always! I love the Christmas theme to this cake. It will make such a lovely centre piece at any holiday party.
Thank you Mimi! This one would be perfect on a holiday table for sure!
I have a thing for baileys and bundt cakes too… this one sounds awesome, really tempting! Though my holiday baking is always more what I hope to bake than the actual thing! Have a great day Liv!
Thanks Paula! I know what you mean, I have a huge list of things I want to make, but who knows how many i’ll actually accomplish!
I love this pan and the powdered sugar is perfect, looks like a sprinkling of snow on the pines.
Thanks Wendy! That’s the look I was going for :D.
Bailey’s in bundt cake! Must be yummy 🙂 and looks remind me of snowy Christmas..
It’s delicious! Baileys and anything, really 🙂
what a wonderfully unique pan to add to your addiction…I mean “collection”. beautiful bundt, as always. love the rosemary and pomegranate seeds.
Haha, addiction is right! I <3 this pan. I may bust it out again for December!
I love the shape of your bundt, so beautiful, really. The idea to put pomegranate to decorate the dish it´s so original too. Congratulations.
Thank you Mary!!