St Patrick’s Day is one of those holidays which brings people together. Everybody loves it! People don silly hats and wear ridiculous amounts of green, and it’s just fun. For the past two years I’ve completely forgotten about St Patrick’s Day and inadvertently worn a green item of clothing and it’s like you’ve joined a club; people smile at you on the street, give you a little nod. I love it!

I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll wear green today…this cake is making me feel rather festive though.

I said in my previous post that I didn’t want to do a really clichéd post for St Patrick’s Day, and I’m proud to say that I haven’t; this Baileys cake is something that I will happily make again and again. The silky smooth batter makes a gloriously moist chocolate cake, and the caramel icing is just divine.

Seriously, I could eat it straight from the bowl. I’d happily drink it if it weren’t so gloriously thick.

Enjoy your St Patrick’s Day, whatever you’ve got planned…and have a go at making this wonderful little cake! Let me know if you’ve got anything special planned.

Baileys bundt:

• 225g butter
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp instant coffee
• ¾ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup cocoa
• 1 ½ tsp bicarb
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup Baileys

Caramel icing:

• 1 x 395g tin sweetened condensed milk
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 tbsp butter

Grease a 12 cup bundt and preheat your oven to 180°C.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add in the eggs and vanilla, then mix well. Mix in the coffee, sour cream and cocoa slowly. Mix in the bicarb and plain flour, followed by the Baileys. Mix for a further couple of minutes on medium speed until the mixture is silky smooth and glossy.

Scoop into your prepared pan and smooth out with a spatula.

Pop into the oven for 55-60 minutes, rotating at halfway. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out mostly clean.

Set the cake aside to cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cake rack to cool. If you leave in the cake tin for too much longer, you risk the cake sticking to the tin.

Allow the cake to cool for at least 20 minutes before starting on the icing.

Pop the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, brown sugar and butter in a heavy bottomed tin over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Turn the heat up to medium-high and allow the caramel to start to boil, mixing constantly, for thee minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer quickly to a different container to cool.

After about 4 minutes cooling, spoon the caramel mixture over the cooled cake generously. You’ll have a little too much icing, but this isn’t a bad thing.

Pop the cake in the fridge for about 10 minutes to allow the caramel to set. To slice, grab a thin knife and run it under hot water to easily slice through the cake. You may also wish to wipe the knife in between cutting so that you get as smooth a cut as possible.

Devour.