Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
However healthy we try to eat, one indulgence we can’t ever live without is Baileys. Don’t tell us how bad it is because we won’t hear it; it is just too good to resist. Sometimes all you need is a nice hot chocolate with a big splash of Bailey’s to settle in for the night (or a big Baileys with a splash of hot chocolate… anyone??). Nothing else will do, it has to be Baileys. We have found ourselves sneakily incorporating it into different desserts just so we can get a hint of that smooth and delicious flavor. That is how this beautifully delicious Bailey’s filled log cake came about.
We keep canned coconut milk in our fridge for any time we need a quick whipped cream fix. All you have to do is take the cream off of the top of the milk and then whip it together with a little bit of sweetener (honey, maple syrup, agave, coconut sugar, regular sugar). It tastes delicious on it’s own, but one day Baileys was on our mind and we “accidentally” poured a little bit (maybe a lot a bit) into the whipped cream. Oh boy, what a glorious combination of rich Baileys with a light fluffy whipped cream we created… making healthy desserts unhealthy like it’s our job.
Of course we needed a nice cookie to go with this whipped cream, so we decided to put together a St. Patrick’s Day log cake using the Baileys whip cream and some chocolate wafers. This is a quick and simple dessert that only uses a few ingredients. Plus it can be made ahead of time so you don’t have to frantically rush around with whipped cream in one hand and chocolate wafers in the other trying to make it to your St. Patty’s Day parade on time.
To make the Baileys whipped cream, all you need is canned coconut milk that has been in the fridge overnight (this brand works the best) and Baileys (or any other Irish Cream). Scoop the cream off of the top of the coconut milk into a bowl and then whip with a fork until it becomes softer. Add in as much or as little Baileys as you prefer (the whole bottle?). We used about 4 tablespoons so the flavor would stand out. Then add a bit of sweetener, we used about 2 teaspoons of maple sugar. Any sweetener will work. Next, let the mixture sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes just to harden up and make the process of assembling the log cake a little bit easier.
To assemble the log cake, take the Baileys whipped cream and smear it between two chocolate wafers. Place these on a plate and keep adding layers of whip cream and wafers onto the first two until you have either run out of wafers or whipped cream. As we had been snacking on the chocolate wafers before we made this (oops…), we didn’t start with a full box of them so our log cake is a more like a stump cake, or twig cake. You may need to make two batches of the Baileys whipped cream to make a full log.
Yum this came out so good. Fortunately we made a stump / twig so we didn’t feel bad “accidentally” eating the whole thing for dessert. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!