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asked August 28th 2015

Use of Bailey’s in ganache, buttercream and cake

Hello. You are always so helpful so I’m back again with yet another question:) Recently on a trip to Ireland I purchased a bottle of Baileys (never used it before) to add flavour to ganache, butter cream and / or cake, but I haven’t a clue of how much of the liquor to add. So for a cup of butter cream or ganache how much would be reasonable to add? Also could I add it to cake batter before baking? Again how much to a cup of batter would you suggest? And would the alcohol get cooked out enough so that a child could eat the cake? Could the Baileys also be used instead of a simple syrup to moisten cake? Thanks so much for your help!

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Hello. You are always so helpful so I’m back again with yet another question:) Recently on a trip to Ireland I purchased a bottle of Baileys (never used it before) to add flavour to ganache, butter cream and / or cake, but I haven’t a clue of how much of the liquor to add. So for a cup of butter cream or ganache how much would be reasonable to add? Also could I add it to cake batter before baking? Again how much to a cup of batter would you suggest? And would the alcohol get cooked out enough so that a child could eat the cake? Could the Baileys also be used instead of a simple syrup to moisten cake? Thanks so much for your help!

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Hi franke

Sure you can use the Baileys to flavour ganache and buttercream. It can also be drizzled over cake layers to give moisture and flavour. The flavour is too strong to be used instead of simple syrup but there’s no reason why you can’t add a tablespoon of it to cooled syrup. To flavour ganache with Bailey’s, reduce the cream by the amount of Bailey’s you wish to add. Boil the cream but not the Bailey’s. The alcohol will also help extend the shelf life of the ganache. In buttercream it can be quite sickly so just flavour to taste as you would any flavour.
If you add it to cake batter the alcohol will bake off so you won’t have sozzled children falling about!!

A couple of blogs which may interest you:

The Shelf Life of Ganache – By madeitwithlove

How to Ganache Cakes Without Gnashing Your Teeth!

Hope the above helps.

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