I need some help in figuring out what flavors might work for a cake order that I have for a 40th birthday ladies luncheon. This is a fun group of gals, so I thought that a little liquor might go well, but I'm having trouble deciding how to do it. The cake is going to be a rich chocolate from scratch, and the icing needs to be bc because I need to tint it green. This cake goes very well with the bc, but just that seems a bit boring. So, I thought that I might put in a whipped chocolate ganache filling, with maybe a bit of creme de cocoa in it. But in my past experience with this liquor, it was so tame that you didn't really notice the flavor. I don't really want to make a trek to the liquor store ( I live in a "dry" county), but the other kinds of spirits that I have on hand are rum, chambord (raspberry), peppermint schnapps, and whiskey, so I could use one of these instead. But I'm worried that I will have too many flavors going on with the chocolate cake and ganache, and vanilla buttercream. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Really, I wouldn't go too far with booze in food. Chances are good that among the group at least one will be driving home, at least one will be pregnant or trying, and at least one is in AA.

Geeeeez, a tablespoon or two of liquor in an entire batch of icing won't affect anyone driving home, pregnant, or ttc. I don't have personal experience with AA and wouldn't presume to know what someone might find a trigger. But that's their responsibility, not everyone else's. The original poster knows her audience, and doesn't need a random lecture with an obvious agenda.

Speaking as one who has driven home, has been pregnant, has been trying to conceive, and has researched pregnancy-related issues extensively, feel free to use a bit of liquor flavoring. It's no worse than using vanilla (which has a high level of alcohol).

Now, to your actual question. I know a lot of people like chambord, but I've never really liked it. It's such a strong flavor mixed in with a ganache or icing. But raspberry and chocolate is a classic combo. Some people will love it. I've found that godiva liquor also blends so smoothly as to be unnoticeable. Kaluha is slightly better, but it's subtle. Same with Frangellica. Anything minty, like creme de menthe is pretty strong--a little will go a long way.

I definitely think you can do any of the flavors you mentioned having on hand. Brandy might also be nice, if you want a more distinctly alcohol flavor.

Irish cream and chocolate together is very good.

to add just a bit of spike to the cake, you could brush the cake with simple syrup flavoured with Chambord or another liquor of choice.

If the icing needs to be green, how about the mint liquor..choc mint is a great combo...

Another thought is Chambord with choc....also very nice and complimentary..

HTH
Jane

I like to do the frangelico in the choc cake. 1/2 coffee 1/2 frangelico. Then I add nutello in the layers. YUMMY!!

frangellico and nutella...wow...yum...mmmm!!! Vicki, how much frangellico do you use? Also, do you add anything to the nutella? I would love to try it! Great tip!

I add to taste. When I can taste it, it's enough, usually 3 tbsps. I also do my ganache the same way and add some nutello to the ganache between my layers.

I make truffles from scratch all the time with a ganache filling, and just recently I made some that was a Baileys Irish cream flavor, but I'd be willing to bet the Peppermint Schnapps would go good. I'd make a simple sugar syrup, and then add the Schnapps to taste, and then brush it over the cake layers, that way it isnt as strong.
And this is coming from a person who has been in AA for a couple of years. If your worried about it being a trigger for someone, don't worry about it. If you do put it in a simple syrup, the heat of the syrup will make the alcohol evaporate, so all your left with is the flavor of it.