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This Baileys Chocolate Poke Cake uses my best chocolate cake recipe as a base and is topped with Baileys whipped cream! The chocolate cake is soaked in even more chocolate and Baileys Irish Cream. You won’t be able to stop eating this one!
Baileys Chocolate Poke Cake
This is a cake that I will definitely need to make again. As with everything else you are seeing pop up on the blog since the twins were born, this recipe was created while I was pregnant. While I did take a little taste (naturally, I have to know just how good it is), because of the alcohol I wasn’t able to indulge as I would’ve liked. And believe me, I really wanted to indulge!
Not only is this cake full of chocolate, it’s full of one of my other favorite things – Baileys! You may have noticed that I’ve shared quite a few Baileys desserts over the years like this Baileys chocolate mousse cake, caramel Baileys pound cake, Baileys chocolate cupcakes, Baileys fudge brownies, cake and mini Baileys chocolate cheesecakes. It’s a love affair, I must say. So to not be able to eat even one full piece was a bummer because it’s SO SO good! Not only is there Baileys baked into the cake, it’s also soaked with more Baileys and then topped with it. Go big or go home, right? 😉
How to Make Chocolate Poke Cake
So to make this cake, you start with a chocolate cake from scratch. I used my very favorite chocolate cake, modified to include Baileys. If you’ve ever had that chocolate cake, you know how amazing and moist it is. If you haven’t made it, don’t be alarmed by the thin batter and lower baking temperature. It’s all normal and makes one amazing cake.
Once the cake is baked, it’s poked with holes (hence a “poke” cake) and covered with a mixture of melted chocolate, Baileys and sweetened condensed milk. Are you drooling yet?!
The mixture should soak into the holes of the cake, but be sure that the cake is still warm and that the Baileys and chocolate mixture is still warm. The mixture will thicken as it cools, making it harder to soak into the holes. I also would recommend Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk in this cake. I’ve tried a few others and some are thicker than others. Eagle Brand is thinner, which is ideal for soaking into the cake. If you use another brand or have trouble, just add some additional milk (or Baileys) to thin it out a bit. You may still have a thin layer of the mixture on top of the cake, but that’s fine.
The final step is the delicious Baileys chocolate whipped cream. With such a rich cake, the light whipped cream topping is the perfect way to finish it off! The whole combination is pure heaven and a cake I’ll definitely be making again and again – when I can drink alcohol again. 🙂
Watch How To Make It
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Baileys Chocolate Poke Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 12-15 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Baileys Chocolate Poke Cake uses my best chocolate cake recipe as a base and is topped with Baileys whipped cream! The chocolate cake is soaked in even more chocolate and Baileys Irish Cream. You won’t be able to stop eating this one!
Ingredients
BAILEYS CHOCOLATE CAKE
- 2 cups (260g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (85g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (240ml) Baileys Irish Cream, divided
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup (180ml) boiling water
- 1 cup (240ml) sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 cup (127g) semi sweet chocolate chips
WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
- 2 cups (480) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 3/4 cup (86g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup (29g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp (30ml) Baileys Irish Cream, optional
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
ADDITIONAL
- Mini chocolate chips
- Chocolate sauce
Instructions
1. Prepare a 9×13 inch cake pan by greasing the sides. Preheat oven to 300°F (148°C).
2. Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl and combine.
3. Add eggs, milk, vegetable oil, 1/2 cup of Irish cream and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Slowly pour the water into the batter, mixing well and being careful of splashing.
5. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and poke holes all over. I use a knife sharpening rod, but you could also use a straw.
7. While the cake is still warm, add the chocolate chips to a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
8. Add the sweetened condensed milk and remaining 1/2 cup of Irish cream to a microwave safe measuring cup. Heat heat the milk and cream until they begin to boil, then pour over the chocolate chips.
9. Whisk the chocolate until smooth, then immediately pour over the cake, spreading it into the holes. Don’t let the mixture sit before pouring it over the cake or it’ll start to thicken and not soak in the holes as well.
10. Set the cake in the fridge to cool and soak.
11. When the cake has cooled, add the ingredients for the whipped cream topping to a large mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
12. Spread the whipped cream evenly over the cake. Top the cake with mini chocolate chips and a drizzle of chocolate sauce, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cake is best if eaten within 4-5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 634
- Sugar: 54.3 g
- Sodium: 233.1 mg
- Fat: 35.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 72 g
- Protein: 8.8 g
- Cholesterol: 76.6 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
This cake was a HIT!!!
It is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!
My husband’s new favorite! I followed the recipe exactly as written (only change was baking time as it needed 15 more minutes to be fully baked) other than that everything was just right! I was amazed with the rich flavour and texture as some other cakes tend to be too sweet… it made Father’s Day dinner extra special!!
Thank you very much! 🙂
P.S. Most definitely will try some other recipes!
So glad to hear it! I hope you enjoy some of the other recipes! Thanks Elena!
Hi what temperature did you bake it at? Thanks!
Do you think the flavor of this cake would mix well with raspberry? Maybe adding Chambord to it somehow? I’m desperate to figure out a chocolate raspberry poke cake option for my husband’s birthday as they are his favorite flavors, but I’m not sure skilled enough baker to create my own recipes.
I’m sorry to be so late to responding to your comment! It got lost somehow. If you still need some suggestions, let me know.
I was wondering it’s possible to substitute the liqueur with the Irish coffee creamer instead.
That should be fine.
I noticed the cake sunk in the middle. Is this because it was not baked long enough and the temperature was too low. I followed the recipe 300 for 45 minuets
It wouldn’t be because of the temperature, but if it wasn’t baked long enough it would definitely fall in the center. It could also be from opening the door of the oven too soon and releasing the heat.
Hey made this recipe last night and accidentally placed the chocolate chips in with dry ingredients (cake batter) I considered them dry ingredients? Thoughts on what to do and how it will affect cake? Still used chocolate chips in filling. Hoping not ruined. Also agree with oven temp had to put mine back in oven at increased temp due to still wobbly when took out. Help!
The chocolate chips will sink to the bottom of the cake when baked, since it’s such a thin cake batter. Shouldn’t be an issue unless it causes it to stick to the pan.
The good: Delicious chocolate flavor and a nice texture. The bad: Way too sweet (as in hurt my teeth sweet) and not as Baileys forward as I’d like. If I try this recipe again I’ll definitely be reducing the sugar by half, increasing the Baileys, and taking the cocoa powder out of the whipped topping.
Hi Lindsey I have just been measuring out the ingredients and thought the sugar quantity seems a lot. Is this correct?
Kind regards
Lisa
Yes, it’s correct.
Hi Lindsay, I just read that you always use 2% milk and wondered if regular milk or perhaps silk milk would be ok, also wondered if using stevia instead of sugar would work.
What would you consider regular? Whole milk should be fine. I’m not totally sure about Silk. It’ll have less fat in it, so if it does bake, it’ll change the texture a bit. I believe using stevia would also change the texture a fair amount, though I admittedly haven’t baked with it much.
Hi Lindsay, I see that all your recipes are with vegetable oil and I was wondering if it would make a difference if I used corn oil in it’s place. I prefer corn oil for all my cooking and wanted to make sure it would be ok with your recipes. Thanks.
I haven’t tried it, but in theory it should be fine.
na cidade que moro não tem o bailey irish, posso substituir por outro, qual seria por exemplo.
I’m going to try and change this up a bit. I love Bailey’s Strawberry Cream Liqueur and since strawberries just came out of season, I have plenty that I put up. Wish me luck!!
I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Lindsay can I go for a round cake pan instead of a square?
Sure, you just might need to adjust the baking time a bit.
This looks amazing!! Going to give it a try next weekend using the Bailey’s Caramel flavor and then drizzle caramel sauce on top. I do have question about how long to microwave the Baileys and the condensed milk. You don’t give any time frame.
Thanks!!
The time would depend a bit on your microwave. You want to watch it and stop it when it begins to boil. It shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes.
Hi! What kind of milk did you use for this recipe?
I always use 2% milk, unless otherwise stated.
Hi, we use normal full cream milk. Will that be okay or do I need to dilute it?
Thanks so much for providing the metric weight measurements for those of us no in the U.S. It is so difficult to find usable recipes as I find the majority give volumes rather than weights. I don’t know why since weights give much more accurate and reproducible results than volume.
Do you mean whole milk? Or something like heavy cream? Whole milk should be fine, but I’m not sure about heavy cream.
Hi Lindsay, thanks for your reply… yes I mean whole milk as opposed to skimmed milk. Actually I checked and it seems it is 3 or 4% so, as you said… it should be okay.
The Baileys Poke Cake was a hit at our faculty end of the year lunch. Many wonderful compliments. I’m not the most ardent baker, so this was a stretch for me……making a cake from scratch. Actually, the recipe was very easy to follow and pretty simple. I’m glad I read one of the comments that noted the batter appeared to be thin, but is meant to be that way. The one thing I would change that I did is to use something larger to poke the holes. A straw is not really large enough, in my opinion. Not enough of the chocolate was able to seep into the cake. All in all, it was a great recipe and even better experience to eat. I give it a 10 put of 10!
So glad you enjoyed it!
I am planning on making this cake, but wanted to check about preparing the pan. You state to grease the sides of the pan. Doesn’t the bottom need greasing and am I correct to believe no flouring of the pan is needed? Thank you. I’ve been baking since I was a little girl and the rule of thumb then was to grease and flour the pan. Also, what are you referring to, when you say drizzle with chocolate sauce?
Can Hershey’s chocolate syrup be used? I appreciate your response to my inquiries. .
Yes, you’d want to grease the bottom as well. I don’t flout my pans though, I used a non stick baking spray. As for chocolate sauce, I use Smuckers Sundae Syrup.
Thank you so much for your quick response to my inquiries. I’m baking this cake tonight after work. It looks absolutely delicious!