Irish Stout Cake with Bailey's Ganache

Instructions

Irish Stout Cake

1. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Grease and flour 2 8in round cake pans. I also lined mine with parchment paper.
2. In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in the beer, cocoa powder and espresso powder until smooth. Bring to a simmmer and let bubble 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool 5-10 minutes.
3. While it's cooling, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
4. In another large bowl, whisk together the vanilla, eggs and buttermilk.
5. Once the chocolate mixture has slightly cooled, add 1-2 tablespoon of it to the eggs and milk and whisk until smooth. This is going to temper the eggs so they don't scramble. Slowly pour the remaining chocolate in with the eggs and whisk until incorporated.
6. Make a well in the flour and pour in the chocolate. Use a spatula to fold together until no more flour can be seen. It will still be clumpy at this point. With your whisk, quickly stir the batter 20 strokes. Do not over mix. The batter may still have a few lumps in it, but that's okay.
7. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans. (I got about 2 ¾ cup of batter into each pan.)
8. Bake at 375 F degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 F degrees and cook another 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Cool cake in the pans for 10 minutes until removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Once cooled, trim the tops so that each cake is level and the same height.
11. Wrap cake layers and freezer for several hours or over night.

Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

1. Using your stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter and shortening until smooth.
2. Add the powdered sugar and beat on high for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated.
3. Add the Bailey's and salt and mix for 1 more minute.
4. Chill in the freezer for about 10 minutes or until firm and easily spreadable without being too soft.

Bailey's Ganache

1. Run the white chocolate though the food processor until it is in very small, fine pieces. If you don't have a food processor you can just chop the chocolate into very small, fine pieces. Place them in a medium glass bowl.
2. In a medium pot, bring the heavy cream, Bailey's and butter to a simmer. DO NOT BOIL. Pour cream over the chocolate and let it stand for 1 minute.
3. Stir chocolate and cream slowly and smoothly until all the chocolate has melted. Do not over-stir the chocolate... you don't want to create air bubbles.
4. Place the bowl in a ice bath until it has come to room temperature. Cover and chill for 1 hour or until it has thickened.

Assembly

1. Place first layer of cold from the freezer cake on your cake stand, cut side up. Using all the cream cheese frosting, spread an even, flat layer across the top of the cake to the edges. Place the second layer of cake, cut side down on top of the frosting. Press down gently until the top is level. Put cake in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Remove the cake from the freezer and spoon ganache on the top of the cake. Using an offset spatula, GENTLY AND SLOWLY spread the ganache to the sides of the cake. Add more ganache when needed to create an even layer. You'll want the ganache to slightly drip off the sides, but most of it to remain on top. Pop any air bubbles with a toothpick.
3. Garnish the top of the cake with white chocolate shavings.
4. Store cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Remove 15-20 minutes before you want to cut the cake.
5. Store in an air tight container up to 2 days.