Baileys Chocolate Birthday Cake

The best part about being able to bake is that you can make anything you want. So for our birthday this year, we really fancied two of our favorite things; Baileys and chocolate!
We made a three tier chocolate cake with baileys butter cream, with a dark chocolate drip topped with Lindt chocolates and a little bottle of Baileys.

To make this moreish celebration cake, you will need:

190g plain flour
84g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
12 tsp salt
4 large eggs
200g granulated sugar
100g light brown sugar
160 ml vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
240ml buttermilk

For the buttercream:

450g Butter
900g icing sugar
2-3tbsp Baileys (depending on how strong you want it to taste, we went with 2 1/2 tbsp)
1tbsp cocoa powder (optional if you want the piped icing to have a slightly different colour)

For the drip and decoration:

50 g dark chocolate (plus extra for sprinkling)
Lindt chocolates
Small bottle of Baileys

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C fan and grease three 8 inch cake tins with butter and put a circle of baking paper at the bottom so the cake doesn't stick.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs until combined.
Pour half of the wet and half of the buttermilk into the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Add the remainder of the wet ingredients and the buttermilk to the mixture and mix until combined. Don't worry if the mixture looks wet, this is what makes the cake really moist.
Separate the mixture into the three tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 20 mins. Check the cakes after this time by inserting a skewer, and bake in 5-10 minute increments after this until the cake is baked through. I find this method best for getting the perfect bake, as it is very easy to over bake chocolate cake.
Once the cakes are cooked, leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the buttercream, cream the butter until soft and smooth. Using an electric whisk, gradually mix in the icing sugar until thick and creamy.
Stir in the Baileys 1 tbsp at a time, tasting as you go until you get the desired flavour.
Sandwich the cakes with a generous layer of buttercream, then cover the cake with a thin layer all round. Reserve some icing for the decoration.
Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave in 10 second increments so it doesn't burn. Once completely melted, leave aside to cool slightly.
Using a teaspoon, slowly pour the dark chocolate on to the cake until it starts to drip down. Pour more of less to get different drip lengths. Do this all round the cake. This will harden quickly as we have let it cool, so you can start piping!
Mix in 1 tbsp cocoa powder to the left over icing if you want a slightly darker colour. Transfer the icing to a piping bag with a tip of your choice and pipe rosettes in a circle around the edge of the cake.
Empty the Bailey's bottle if you have not done so already. Carve a small hole in the centre of the cake so that the Bailey's bottle fits in securely. You can do this straight or at an angle, we went for an angle!
Grate dark chocolate over the top, and add as many Lindts as you like, wrappers on or off: make it your own :)!