The Leprechaun Brought Irish Whiskey!

Good Tuesday morning to you.  Two days till St. Patrick’s Day!  We have been having some fun with St. Patty’s Day around here.  Every year the “Mischievous Leprechaun” comes to visit us for a few days before the big day.  I started this a few years ago, and of course, I will have to do it until the kids are too old to believe.  Addy loves it, but Paisley is still working on understanding it.  She keeps calling leprechauns “goblins” which is creepy…..I don’t understand how she sleeps at night if she thinks goblins are coming in to our house at night as opposed to cute little Irish fellas.  Although now that I type that, leprechauns coming into our house at night is equally creepy.

Anyhoo, every night, after the kids go to bed, I do something silly, like dye the milk green.  In the morning, the kids search for what kind of mischief the leprechaun got into.  At night, they set traps to try and catch the leprechaun and steal his gold.  On St. Patty’s Day morning, I will leave the kids gold coins and some other nonsense, and they will think the leprechaun left it.  So far, besides dying the milk green, “he” has also dyed the toilet water green.  “He” also took green ribbon and strung it all over the family room.  I pretended I was Catherine Zeta Jones from Entrapment when she had to sneak through the laser beams as I walked through the family room….over and under the string.  I was feeling pretty cool until Chris asked me why it sounded like an elephant was walking downstairs.  I guess I lack the grace of Ms. Zeta Jones.  This morning, the leprechaun had written “You won’t get my gold” on the window in green.  That sounded better in my head…..it turned out kind of scary.  Like “Nerak” written on the window scary.  If you can figure out what movie that was from…..you win the prize!

Ok, back to what you came for……I took a break from my “leprechaun” act to make a St. Patty’s day dessert yesterday.  I made a flourless espresso chocolate cake with an Irish cream glaze.  It is perfect for St. Patty’s Day because I used Irish whiskey, duh;)  It was super fudgy and delicious.  Obviously, (I hope) the Irish cream aspect wasn’t for the kiddos…..It was super easy to make.  I will show you how.

Sneak peak first.......

I started by buttering a spring form pan.  Then, instead of flour, I dusted the pan with cocoa powder.  Did you think it was just dirty?

To make the cake, I used bittersweet chocolate, butter, espresso powder, a pinch of salt, sugar and eggs.   And no, not even a smidge of flour.  This makes a really rich, fudgy, dense cake.  It is like a big, gooey brownie.  This is the kind of cake that makes people say “It was so rich I only could eat a little bit”.  I don’t buy into that kind of malarkey……I could eat the whole thing.  I guess some people aren’t cut out for professional eating like I am.

I started by melting the chocolate, butter, espresso powder and salt together.  I put them in a microwave safe bowl and heated them for 2 minutes.  Then, I stirred, and continued to microwave the chocolate in 30 second increments until fully melted.  It took me about 3 minutes, all together.

While the chocolate cooked a bit, I cracked the eggs into a big bowl with the sugar.  If you are wondering why my sugar looks weird….I ran out of granulated sugar so I had to use raw sugar.  I can’t really go running to the neighbors to borrow sugar around here.  It would be a pain in the tush to put on snow gear just to borrow a cup of sugar……

I beat the eggs and sugar together for about 6 minutes, until the mixture was super light and fluffy.  Truth be told, I had Paisley do this for part of the time.  Kid needs to earn her keep.

I poured the chocolate into the egg mixture…..slowly.  Don’t deflate the eggs that you worked so hard to inflate!  Ok, ok….that Paisley worked so hard to inflate.  Jeesh.

Slowly and carefully…..fold the eggs and chocolate together.  This takes a minute or two, but I promise….it will be worth it!

Ready to bake!  I baked this in a low oven (325 degrees) for about an hour. 

While the cake baked….I finally got to the good part!  The booze…..I used Irish whiskey and a can of sweetened condensed milk.  Like I said, the kids won’t like this part.  Go get them a Shamrock Shake from McD’s…..

I simmered the whiskey, by itself, for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol.  And yep, this will singe your nose hairs off if you breathe deeply too close to the pan.

I stirred in the can of condensed milk and heated that through.  The canned milk already has a great texture, so the glaze will be thick.

Once the cake came out of the oven and cooled a bit, I took it out of the spring form pan and poured the glaze over it.  The glaze will soak in a bit and make the cake even richer. 

This cake was surprisingly easy to make, yet it seems so fancy.  If you have never made a flourless chocolate cake, you have to try this.  But, if you absolutely don’t have the time to make it……feel free to get some brownies and pour on the Irish cream glaze.  It won’t be as good, but it will come close;)

BTW-the movie I mentioned above…..Watcher in the Woods.  Scariest Disney movie ever.

Flourless Espresso Chocolate Cake with an Irish Cream Glaze

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped  (you can also use chocolate chips)

12 tablespoons (1 & ½ sticks) butter, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing pan

1 tablespoon espresso powder

¼ teaspoon salt

6 eggs

1 & ½ cups sugar

Cocoa powder for dusting pan

½ cup Irish whiskey

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 2 spring form pan with butter.  Coat entire pan with cocoa powder.

Place chopped chocolate, butter, salt and espresso powder in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat for 2 minutes in microwave.  Stir and then heat in 30 second increments until fully melted.  Stir until smooth.  Set aside to cool a bit.

Crack eggs into large bowl.  Add sugar and beat with hand mixer for 6 minutes, until mixture in light and fluffy.

Slowly add chocolate mixture into egg mixture.  Fold gently, until combined. 

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for one hour, or until top is set.  The middle will still be gooey.

While cake bakes, bring whiskey to boil in a small pot.  Simmer for 3 minutes.  Stir in condensed milk and heat through.  Remove from heat and let glaze come to room temperature.

Let cake cool for at least 20 minutes before releasing sides of spring form pan.  Pour glaze over the top and serve.