Baby Guinness Cake

A regular haunt of ours during the summer weekends is Woolacombe; long weekends camping, with great company and plenty of booze. A staple shot during these weekends, is the Baby Guinness: layered Tia Maria and Baileys. It was mentioned earlier this year that I should make a cake version, so here it is. Will, this one is for you! 

Ingredients:
10oz unsalted butter
10oz caster sugar
4 eggs
Few drops vanilla essence
10oz self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
60ml Tia Maria
100g dark chocolate, melted

175g unsalted butter
400g icing sugar
50ml Baileys

150g dark chocolate, melted

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line 3 loose bottomed cake tins.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla, followed by sifting in the flour and baking powder and folding the mixture together.
Lastly, stir in the Tia Maria and melted chocolate until everything in well combined.

Divide the mix between the three tins and spread to the edges. 
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until they are springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack while you make the buttercream.

In a bowl, combine the butter and icing sugar. You can place this in the microwave for a few seconds to soften the butter before creaming them together until light and fluffy. Stir in the Baileys until it's well combined. You can add a little more icing sugar if it's a bit sloppy.

Sandwich the three layers of cake together with the buttercream before coating the whole cake in it - over the top and around the sides. Use a pallet knife to smooth the edges as much as possible. 

Leave for about 10-15 minutes for the frosting to go a little firmer, then pour the melted chocolate over the top of the cake, gently spreading to the edges and around the sides, covering the whole cake. Wait for the chocolate to set before serving.