Baileys Toffee Pecan Cake- a Doctored Mix

This Baileys Toffee Pecan Cake is super moist and has amazing flavor from Irish Cream, pecans, toffee, and espresso- nobody would guess it starts with a simple yellow cake mix!

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, we wanted to make another cake with Baileys Irish Cream, but this flavorful recipe would be perfect no matter what time of year.

(For chocolate lovers, make sure to also check out our scratch Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Layer Cake!)

This buttery, glaze-soaked cake is rich and decadent with many layers of flavor.

Why we Love It

Perfect combination of flavors

Bundt Cakes are not only delicious, but they are beautiful just as they are. No additional decoration is needed.

The decadent glaze soaks into the bundt cake (while still in the pan), making it incredibly moist! Our easy rum cake and banana rum cake recipes are similar in this way!

What is Baileys Irish Cream?

Baileys is a brand of delicious Irish cream liqueur which consists of cream, cocoa, and Irish whiskey.

There are other brands of Irish Cream that could be used in this recipe as well. Baileys is considered the original Irish Cream, and has been produced in Ireland since the early 1970s.

Irish cream is often paired with coffee or chocolate, but the options are endless.

How Strong is the Irish Cream Flavor in this Recipe?

The Baileys Irish Cream flavor in this cake is not overpowering. It is subtle in the cake itself, although the flavor is stronger in the glaze that is poured over the cake while it is still in the pan.

For this reason, the most Irish cream flavor is around the outer edges and bottom of the cake, as you can see in the slice pictured above. So delicious!

How to Make Baileys Toffee Pecan Cake

You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and prepare a 12 cup bundt pan.
• Sprinkle the bottom of the prepared pan with the 1 cup chopped pecans and 2 tablespoons toffee bits.

• Sift the cake mix and pudding mix into your mixing bowl. Dissolve the espresso in ½ cup hot water and add to the mixing bowl along with the eggs, oil, and Irish Cream.
• Mix a medium speed for one minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix one more minute.
• Fold in the ¾ cup toffee bits and ½ cup of chopped pecans.

• Pour the batter into the prepared bundt cake pan.

• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
• During the last 15 minutes of baking, make the glaze.
• Remove the baked cake from the oven and leave in the pan. Poke some holes into the cake using a wooden skewer and apply the glaze (see instructions below)

For the Glaze

This is a simple glaze that our cake will be soaked in just after baking- it adds lots of moisture to the cake as well as richness and flavor.

• In a saucepan, stir the sugar, butter, and water over low heat until butter has melted. Raise the heat to medium heat, stirring constantly until it begins to boil. (Be careful-It may boil over if you are not stirring.)

• Boil for 3 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in the Baileys Irish Cream.

Adding the Glaze to the Cake

Rather than glazing the cake with a pastry brush, we are going to actually pour the glaze over the cake while it is still in the pan.

• When the baked cake is pulled from the oven and still in the pan, pour the warm glaze over the cake and let it sit .

• It takes about 15 minutes for the glaze to soak in.

• After 15 minutes has passed and the glaze has absorbed, place your cake plate or pedestal upside down against the cake pan and then flip it all as one so that the cake plate is now right side up with the inverted pan on top.
• Lift the pan to reveal the cake. Sometimes it may take a few seconds after inverting for the cake to release from the pan.

Alternative Method of Glazing the Cake

I love this glaze and pour it right over the freshly baked cake as described above.

This results in cake slices that have pockets around the edge where the glaze is more concentrated.

However, you can certainly use less glaze if you would like, or even pour half or ¾ of the glaze over the cake while it's still in the pan and brush on the rest (or as much as you'd like) on top of the cake with a silicone brush after flipping it out of the pan.

More "Boozy Cakes" to Try!

We've made many delicious cake recipes over the years that have just a little extra kick from added champagne, rum, tequila, and more!

Some are cocktail inspired cake recipes while others feature popular flavor pairings as with today's Baileys Toffee Pecan Cake recipe. You can find some of our favorites below- or scroll through our full listing here!: Favorite Boozy Cake Recipes

Some of our most popular are our elegant Limoncello Cake, our classic Black Forest Cake, festive Pina Colada Cake, and Pink Champagne Cake!

Our Favorite Bundt Cakes

We love these bundt cake recipes! Not only are the delicious, but they are so easy to decorate with just a light dusting of sugar or simple glaze.

• Lemon Blueberry Sour Cream Pound Cake
• Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake
• Strawberry Pound Cake
• Cherry Pound Cake
• Classic Pound Cake
• Vanilla Wafer Bundt Cake

Variation of Baileys Toffee Pecan Cake

I have also made this cake as simply a Baileys Irish Cream Cake without the coffee, toffee bits, and pecans in the batter - but with the same glaze and pecans on top. It was also delicious, and the alcohol flavor was more pronounced.

You could also experiment with chocolate cake mix or a little cocoa in the batter- there are so many fun flavor options!

Enjoy the Recipe

Thanks so much for stopping by our site today! If you try our Baileys Toffee Pecan Cake, we would love for you to share a comment or photo! 

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