I am trying to make an Irish Cream cake from scratch. I am using a basic yellow scratch recipe and substituting most of the milk with Irish Cream Liquor. The problem I am having is that the cake falls in the middle. Here's what I have tried so far:

replacing 1 1/2 c milk of the 2 cup requirement with irish cream. Sunk horribly. So I ...

took the 1 cup butter and cut to 1/2 cup to help take away some of the fat since the irish cream is made with heavy cream. Still sinks. So I changed...

3 3/4 c all purpose flour in recipe split as 2 c all purpose and 1 3/4 c cake flour and the above changes. Trying to make batter lighter. Still sinks in middle. So my last attempt is ...

half the butter, replaced most milk with irish cream, using all - all purpose flour to strengthen the cake. Flavor is awesome, just keeps sinking. Any other ideas: here is the recipe I'm using.

3 3/4 c Flour
3 eggs
1/2 c butter
2 c sugar
2.5 t baking powder
2.25 t baking soda
vanilla
dash of salt
2.5 c milk (irish cream and milk)

sifting all dry ingredients, creaming method, alternating wet/dry in 3rds. Help. TIA

I've tried the same and it just doesn't work. What I finally ended up doing is making a luscious yellow cake - adding a half box of instant butterscotch pudding to the batter, bake then drizzle irish creme over each layer. This is the only thing that works for me.

Hi, when I make baileys/irish cream cake, I replace the 2 tablespoons of milk with baileys (according to my recipe). So in your case that is what I would do. Take away 2-3 tablespoons of milk and replace it with baileys. Once the cake is baked and when you torte the cake, you can drizzle a bit of baileys on each layer and fill the cake with baileys buttercream.

I've never used Irish Cream before but does it have a high sugar content? If it does, maybe that is why it is falling. You could try decreasing the amount of sugar in the recipe and also maybe add and extra egg.

I bake in a high altitute and these are tips to keep cakes from falling in higher altitudes so I may be off track here. But they do say that a higher concentration in sugar can weaken the cell structure and cause a cake to fall.

Just a thought

The recipe I use is here:
http://www.mommyskitchen.net/2009/03/happy-st-pattys-day-irish-cream-pound.html
And I make it in the Bundt pan or tube pan (can't fall in the middle! ). No problems. Delicious.

Oh, yeh, too much added sugar & fat.

Each bottle of Bailey's is 50% CREAM and 20% sugar

That'll mess with your chemistry big time.

Rae

Along with reducing the sugar, try reducing the butter and baking powder/soda...
So it'd look something like this:
3 3/4 c Flour
3 eggs
3/4 c butter
1 c sugar
1.5 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
vanilla
dash of salt
1 c milk
1 c Irish cream

Hope this gets you closer to the result you're looking for

So for St Patrick's I made and Irish Cream cake. I didn't even think about the milk/fat content. I used box with an extender mix. I just replaced a third of the water with irish cream and it came out fine. I also added quite a bit to the swiss meringue frosting and everyone one loved it at the office.

Thanks for the suggestions. I had no problem with the 1/2 sheet cake I just baked. It didn't fall and looks really good. I have cut quite a bit of sugar and fat. I thought I had a winner cause the sheet cake didn't sink in the middle so I tried a 12 and 6 inch round again. As soon as I took them out of the oven, kerplunk!!!

Hmmm, maybe its because the rounds are my European style with rounded edges along the top and are 3 inch deep pans. It may be rising along the sides too much and when heat is removed it just deflates and can't hold itself up. Anyone think this could be?

I'm willing to go one more round with this before giving up, but I need to get it baked tonight so I can decorate tomorrow. I'm donating the cake to an Irish event fundraiser for suicide prevention in Ireland. Gonna get free advertising, but wow, its getting expensive

I'd go with it being that pans. Which gives you 1 of 2 options....
1) try a flower nail in the center and keep your fingers crossed, or
2) don't fill them up as full, instead treat them like 2" tall pans

Good luck!

If your cake is sinking in the middle it's because it has too much sugar and/or not enough eggs to support the structure. This is a hi-ratio cake recipe so using APF won't work, you have to stick with cake flour.

If I were you I'd do the following:

3 3/4 c CAKE Flour
3 eggs, SEPARATED, use the yolks when you cream but whip the whites to stiff peaks and fold in at the end (maybe add a pinch of cream of tartar to get very stiff peaks)
1/2 c butter
2 c sugar
2.5 t baking powder
2.25 t baking soda
1 tbsp Irish WHISKEY
dash of salt
1/2 c Irish cream REDUCTION
2c. Buttermilk

Whip the egg whites into a meringue and fold in at the end to help with structure.

Replace your vanilla with Irish whiskey (to boost alcohol flavor)

Replace 1/2 c of your liquid with an Irish cream reduction.

Replace milk with buttermilk to remove some of the fat that Irish cream has.

Good luck!

My Bailey's cake is not baked with the liqueur. Many of my cakes contain alcohol and I rarely bake any in the batter except for spirits in an "extract" capacity (except for champagne cake). The cake I use is specific to the flavor with a homemade caramel pecan custard filling. The four layers of the cake have about 3/4 c Bailey's brushed on the 9" layers. The amount is perfect, about two times with a brush on the cut sides of the 4 layer cake. The taste is not overwhelming and can be enjoyed by those who don't like alcohol. The taste is mellow but definitely there.

Baking liqueur in a cake will dilute the taste of a rather expensive liqueur, in a way, wasting it.

This is one of my most requested cakes, second only to Red Velvet.