If It Ain’t Brogue, Don’t Fix It.

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Alright, the time change yesterday has absolutely crushed my spirit…an hour of sleep stolen from us all even though no one asked for it…Irish I was back in bed right now, not gonna lie. Instead, I’m determined not to fall asleep on my keyboard and share with you this ultimate St. Patrick’s Day dessert: a Bailey’s Mint Shake cartoon cake! Aside from being ridiculously fun to say AND eat, this green baby was an absolute blast to decorate.

Gluten free and coming in at a nice 299 calories per slice for 10 slices, that leaves plenty of room for some green beer or a Grasshopper come St. Patrick’s Day…because we’re here to Paddy, after all. St. Patrick’s Day is my second favorite holiday to bake for (my black little heart will always belong to Halloween), and I just love the vibrant greens, rainbows, and mint-flavored everything. Definitely head to my Instagram for about 97 other festive recipes ranging from Shamrock Shake oats, smoothie bowls, donuts, Lucky Charms protein bars, and more…kilt-y as charged when it comes to my obsession with anything adjacent to a Shamrock Shake.

The cake is simple enough to make, and even the cartoon decorating style is easy to master. For the cake, you need:

• 1 box of gluten free yellow or white cake mix (or regular cake mix if not gluten free)
• 3 eggs
• 75 grams (1/3 cup) unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup skim or fat free milk
• 1/2 cup Baileys vanilla mint shake
• 1/2 tsp mint extract
• A teeny tiny dollop of green food dye if desired (I didn’t use any; the Baileys is a gorgeous green)

Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare three 6-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and bake even strips. Add all cake ingredients into a stand mixer, blending on low for one minute before switching to medium high for two minutes. Pour batter evenly into each pan and bake for 25 minutes. A toothpick should come out of the center of the cake clean. Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.

Do we need more Baileys for the frosting? YOU BET WE DO! Round up:

• 225 grams (8 ounces) of 1/3 the fat cream cheese, softened
• 226 grams (1 cup) of fat free Greek yogurt, strained overnight to remove moisture
• 480 grams (4 cups) Lakanto powdered monkfruit or regular powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp mint extract
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp citric acid (makes the frosting less sweet since monkfruit is very, very sweet)
• 3-4 TBS Baileys vanilla mint shake
• Green and black gel dye

Whip the cream cheese and yogurt with a paddle attachment in your stand mixer until fluffy, about three minutes. Add in half the monkfruit, citric acid, and both extracts. Blend well, then scrape the bowl before adding the remaining monkfruit and 3 TBS Baileys; if the frosting is too stiff, add another TBS Baileys; add in a tiny amount of green gel dye at this point (we’ll make greener in a minute). To assemble, you just need to slather a layer of buttercream on top of a cooled cake layer, then add another layer (I always place them face down so the smooth surface on the bottom of the cake is now on top), then place the final layer on top. Then coat the side (you don’t have to coat the top yet) of the cake with light green frosting. Place this in the freezer for 15 minutes, then come back in with a Viva paper towel and smooth out any unevenness by gently smoothing your hand back and forth, up and down over the paper towel while it’s resting against the sides of the cake.

Now, take the rest of your frosting and add more green dye to achieve the shade you’re looking for. Grab a #5, a #3, and a #12 tip. Load up a hearty amount of frosting into the bag with the #12 round tip. Pipe on top of the cake and then draw the outline of your “drips” around the sides of the cake.

Finish filling in the drips with the green frosting. Place back into the freezer for 15-20 minutes to crust.

Use a Viva paper towel to smooth everything out again. Now, if you don’t want to use a rainbow topper on top of the cake (got mine here), load some more green frosting into a piping bag with a 1M or 2D tip to use on top later and set aside. Now, dye your remaining frosting black.

Now, fill a piping bag with a #5 tip with the black frosting, and go around the cake creating an outline look with thin lines of black around the bottom and top, broken up in various places to give the cartoon effect.

Now, switch to a #3 tip and outline the drips with more black frosting. I added in a few “shadows” of overlapping black on the top and on the drips. If you’re not adding the rainbow topper, you can pipe little mounds of frosting with the green and outline some of the waves in black….adding a photo of a Valentine’s cartoon cake I did last year here for visual reference of how that might look:

Back to your regularly scheduled EVERGREEN content…

Do I stop and stare at her everything I open the fridge? Yes, yes I do…it’s my own little lucky charm, what can I say. With St. Patrick’s less than a week away, I hope this recipe inspires you to whip up a little magic in the kitchen this weekend to celebrate. You’ll have the luck of the Irish on your side! Well, we’ve reached the pint of no return…Til next time, my fellow eaters!

Recipe and Instructions