Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Irish Cream Cake

Irish Cream Dream Cake

This Cheesecake Stuffed Irish Cream Cake, despite all of the creamy sweetness that it boasts on top of and all around itself, is actually only subtly sweet – it’s just right. This balanced not-too-sweetness is what I love about this cake; there’s nothing overdone or cloying about it. The Irish cream flavor really does take center stage (so, if you don’t care for Irish cream, then I’d suggest moving on at this time).

Sometimes I make this cake with tons of chocolate, and sometimes I go really light on the cocoa. But there’s always chocolate in one way or another. It typically depends on who I’m serving the cake to and the general confectionary mood I’m in at the time. But for our purposes today, I’m sharing a recipe that is chocolatey but not overwhelmingly so (hence the blonder chocolate color in the photos). It doesn’t compete too much with the Irish cream flavor and, in fact, balances it very nicely.

My whole family wolfed down large pieces after I poured the Irish cream glaze down over top, and everyone seemed to collectively agree that this cake – this Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Irish Cream Cake – is a really solid, really perfect way to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day and/or all things Irish. 

My Dad’s mom, my Mimi, was Irish through and through and she celebrated all things Irish with the best of ’em. So, to her I will raise a slice of this delicious (and easy) Irish cream Bundt Cake and I hope you guys enjoy it too!

Kitchen Little Trick

The “cheesecake” layer is mostly just some sweetened cream cheese, fortified with a touch of flour and an egg. We’re already using those ingredients in the cake itself, so since they’re out already – let’s put them to use in an entirely different way.

I love when you can do that – using the same ingredient in multiple ways in a single recipe … a perfect Kitchen Little trick if there ever was one. This cheesecake filling goes so nicely with the Irish cream flavor that runs throughout the cake itself, and it really just makes the whole thing seem so, so special.

Topped off with a generous drizzle of Irish cream glaze, this cake is a winner with any crowd, whether they’ve got the luck of the Irish or not, and whether or not St. Paddy’s Day is anytime soon. It could be argued that anyone who happens to be enjoying a slice of this cake is lucky enough?

How to Make this Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Irish Cream Cake:

This cake is very straightforward in its construction – it’s nothing new or revolutionary, so far as the actual baking of the thing goes. We’ll melt a little chocolate, crack a bunch of eggs (5!), and whisk together a tried and true team of dry ingredients.

The “cheesecake” layer is simply some room temperature cream cheese blended with an egg, a tiny bit of flour to bind, some sugar, and our beloved Irish cream. It’s kind of heavenly, yes.

To stuff this baby cake, we’ll pour about half of the batter into our (very well greased) Bundt pan and then spoon the cream cheese mixture into a well of sorts, created by simply dragging a spoon through that first layer of batter. This just gives the cheesecake mix something to, literally, fall back on. Top with the remaining batter and bake bake bake until it is done in the center and ready to cool down.

The glaze is a lovely, 3-ingredient combination of more Irish cream (you could use solely milk, if you prefer) and confectioner’s sugar, Very standard op, no? When poured down over the top of the (cooled) cake, it just really gilds the whole lily perfectly. This, my friends, is one fabulous cake.

Cakes can be intimidating. Here are some helpful tips:

I like big Bundts and I cannot lie. What can I say? There is just something so homey about a Bundt cake, and while cakes as a whole food group can possess a bit of a fright factor – they’re intimidating sometimes – Bundts are among the best of them, when it comes to ease and simplicity.

That said, Bundts are still cake and therefore rife with potential landmines, should we falter or stray from the directions. We still have to honor their methodology and do things right. Preparing and baking a bundt cake is easy – because there are minimal steps and little in the way of clean up. To ensure that the whole process is easy breezy for you, I’ve got some tips that will help ensure yours is a winning Bundt every time.

Tip 1: Prep that Pan

What with all of their mountainous ridgebacks and deep valleys, Bundt cakes are sort of infamous for sticking to the pan. By taking the time to properly grease and fully prepare your pan, you can effectively eliminate that as a problem for yourself. Just a few minutes of TLC to that pan, at the beginning of the baking process, will reap mega rewards at the end, when you’re trying to get the darn cake out.

Really get in there with your butter, and grease the pan thoroughly, getting it in and on and around every single nook and cranny. Sprinkle a little flour in the pan (we’re using it anyway!), and with the pan over your sink, tap it enthusiastically until the flour tosses and floats all around the greased surface, clinging to it for dear life. When you’re happy with your coating, tap out the excess flour down into the sink (this will keep your cake from forming a greasy, clumpy build-up on its surface).

Tip 2: Alternate Wet and Dry

A very common practice in cake baking, alternating from wet to dry ingredients when you’re building your batter will prevent things from curdling and clumping horrendously. So, this is why most recipes will direct you to add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix just until blended after each addition; over-mixing at this point can create a tough, rubbery cake (has to do with glutens being over worked).

Tip 3: Checking for Doneness

Tempting though it may be, whatever you do, don’t go opening your oven door until it’s actually time to do a doneness check. The temperature of the oven will drop each time you do this, thus affecting the cake and its bake time. Baking, as they say, is a science, and we shouldn’t go messing around with the steps in our experiment er … I mean baking.

I don’t own any official cake tester thingamajigs, so I either check for doneness with a toothpick, chopstick or a butter knife. When your insert your checking tool and then remove it, you should check to see if it comes out clean, maybe with a few residual moist crumbs but no obvious wet batter. If that’s what you’ve got going on, you’re done.

Tip 4: Room Temperature Ingredients Make a Difference

Simply stated, ingredients at room temperature possess a baking superpower of sorts that their chilled counterparts do not: they create fluffier baked goods. When they’re at room temperature, things like butter, eggs, and other dairy products form an emulsion that traps air. When they’re baking, the trapped air expands, therefore helping to create a fluffy baked good – much fluffier than cold ingredients would.

What’s more, because they’re warmer, ingredients at room temperature bond together easily, creating a very even-textured, seamless batter and therefore a uniformly textured finished product. Cold ingredients just don’t incorporate or blend together quite as easily, and often result in clumps and chunks and flops (oh my!).

If you need any additional sweetness in your life, you might be interested in these recipes as well:

Vanilla Chai Swirl Pull Apart Bread

Cranberry Vanilla Old Fashioned

Best Ever One Bowl Banana Bread with White Chocolate

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