These boozy Bailey's Irish cream brownies are soft and fudgy, then topped with Irish cream frosting and fun themed sprinkles for an easy St Patrick's Day dessert!
You might also like these Guinness cupcakes or these espresso brownies!
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Ingredient Notes
You only need a few ingredients to make these fudgy Irish cream brownies!
- Irish Cream - I love the flavor of classic Bailey's Irish Cream and that's what I like to keep on hand, but you can also any brand of Irish cream that you like!
- Cocoa Powder - My absolute favorite cocoa powder to use in my baking is the King Arthur Flour Triple Cocoa Blend! It's a blend of natural, Dutch, and black cocoa and is perfect for any baking. But this recipe will work great with whatever cocoa you have on hand! You can use either natural cocoa or Dutch processed cocoa!
- Espresso powder - This is optional, but I love how espresso powder enhances and deepens the chocolate flavor! King Arthur is my favorite brand of high quality espresso powder!
- Butter - I like using melted butter for flavor, but you can also sub a neutral vegetable oil if you prefer.
- Sugar - I use a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar, but you can easily swap and use just one or the other.
- St Patrick's Day Sprinkles - These are optional, but I like topping these Bailey's brownies with fun St Paddy's Day themed sprinkles!
How to Make Fudgy Brownies
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
Add in the eggs one at a time and whisk each one until fully incorporated and the batter starts to get lighter in color.
You'll see a difference in color between the first egg and last egg!
Then add in the Irish cream and mix until smooth.
Fold in the cocoa powder, flour, espresso powder, and salt and mix until the batter is just combined.
Cut a parchment paper sling slightly smaller than the width of the cake pan and make sure it fits flatly in the bottom. Then lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with a vegetable oil based spray. Place you parchment paper sling in the bottom of the pan and smooth it out so that it sticks to the pan spray (you can use metal binder clips to secure it to the pan). After baking you’ll be able to just slide the brownies right out of the pan!
I love all of my USA Pan cake pans because they are extremely sturdy and truly nonstick. However, I still like to prepare my pans to ensure the Irish cream brownies come out easily.
Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.
Bake at 350°F for 30-45 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out mostly clean.
Remove from the oven and let fully cool in the pan. Then use the edges of the parchment paper to slide the brownies out of the pan.
Once the brownies are fully cool, scoop dollops of frosting over the surface of the brownies. Then gently smooth into an even layer and make swirls in the frosting using the back of a spoon.
Sprinkle the Bailey's Irish cream brownies with fun St Patrick's Day sprinkles if desired!
Tips for the Best Brownies!
(and blondies too!)
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. Same goes for cocoa powder!
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Use a metal baking pan! Not all materials are created equal when it comes to baking. Metal cake pans conduct heat much better than other materials like glass or ceramic, so your baked goods will cook faster and more evenly!
It's better to undercook the brownies slightly, than overcook them! Brownies will dry out quick, so it's best to err on the side of caution when baking brownies! Bake just until an inserted toothpick comes out mostly clean but still a tad gooey. If you aren't sure, just go ahead and take them out because they'll continue to firm up as they cool. Note: the larger the pan, the less time the brownies will take to cook.
Be patient and let them cool. Warm brownies fresh out of the oven are delish, I know. But it's best to let them fully cool before digging in. The brownies will be less likely to crumble when you cut them and the center is more likely to be fully cooked while still being perfectly fudgy.
Recipe FAQ's
Brownies are best eaten within the first 2-3 days, but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
To get clean slices of these Irish cream brownies, run a super sharp knife under hot water until the blade is warm, then wipe it dry. Then cut a single slice and repeat. It's a bit tedious to clean the knife before every cut, but you get perfect slices every time!
Yes! But I recommend freezing the brownies before adding the Irish cream frosting layer! Freeze the brownies or up to 3 months, then let thaw in the fridge overnight before topping with the frosting and sprinkles.
Just a little, but yes! The alcohol in the brownies does cook off, but there is Bailey's in the frosting too so these brownies should only be served to people over 21.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Bailey's Irish Cream Brownies
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Brownies
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- ¼ cup Bailey's Irish Cream
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
- ½ teaspoon salt
Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream, as needed
- St Patrick's Day sprinkles, optional
Instructions
Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
- Add in the eggs one at a time and whisk each one until fully incorporated and the batter starts to get lighter in color.
- Then add in the Irish cream and mix until smooth.
- Fold in the cocoa powder, flour, espresso powder, and salt and mix until the batter is just combined.
- Cut a parchment paper sling slightly smaller than the width of the cake pan and make sure it fits flatly in the bottom. Then lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with a vegetable oil based spray. Place you parchment paper sling in the bottom of the pan and smooth it out so that it sticks to the pan spray (you can use metal binder clips to secure it to the pan). After baking you’ll be able to just slide the brownies right out of the pan!
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 30-45 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out mostly clean.
- Remove from the oven and let fully cool in the pan. Then use the edges of the parchment paper to slide the brownies out of the pan.
Frosting
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Set the mixer to low speed and slowly drizzle in the Irish cream until it's fully incorporated into the buttercream.
- Beat the frosting on high for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- If the frosting in too thick, you can add in 1 tablespoon of Irish cream at a time to thin it out a bit.
- Once the brownies are fully cool, scoop dollops of frosting over the surface of the brownies. Then gently smooth into an even layer and make swirls in the frosting using the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with fun St Patrick's Day sprinkles if desired!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingrid says
Excellent and rich! I did 1/2 butter and 1/2 oil. And instead of Baileys in the brownies I did coffee - because I wanted the contrast with the frosting. Mine were done at 31 minutes. Nice fat moist brownies and the frosting is delicious.
Andi says
I had a bottle of Baileys sitting around and I really wanted to put it to good use. Found your recipe and thought hey, those look good! And they are good! I found a few things surprising. No leavening? Huh, okay, let's go for it. So the result is a brownie that is very much like a flourless chocolate cake or thick ganache! I now know what a FUDGY brownie really means, and this is it: dense, very rich, and a small square is a lot of flavor in small packaging! It is not at all a GOOEY brownie. The frosting really adds to this; not required but enhances that Baileys lift. These are even better the next day; the chocolate really amps up, and I didn't even have the espresso powder. I think I will freeze the unfrosted remainder for company and make a new batch of frosting when the time comes.
KK says
It's been about two years since I found this recipe, and I have made it many, many times (admittedly always without frosting). I love to freeze these individually, for those times when there's nothing sweet around. Recently I made these (as well as two different cakes) to bring to my evening class for a celebration, and people were telling me that everything was so delicious, but these brownies especially so!
Admittedly I made these three days ahead of time because of all the baking I had to do, and their taste and texture was STILL amazing! These can easily last a week without losing anything in quality, in my experience (again, without frosting).
Thank you for a lovely recipe that I can always fall back on with confidence.
Kathleen says
Hi! If I double the recipe, what pan do you recommend? I have a 9x13 but can certainly purchase a different size if that would be ideal! ☘️
Kyleigh Sage says
A 9x13 will work fine! They might just be a little bit thicker and you'll have to bake them for about 5-10 minutes longer. For the frosting you can just increase it 1.5 x's instead of doubling it unless you want a super thick layer of frosting.
Rebecca Wood says
I have made the 2x. The first time I followed the directions exactly. They were delicious, but not a great fan of the frosting. I made a white chocolate ganache with Baileys using 1/2 baileys and 1/2 cream. Oh, sweet merciful heaven!!! That was it!
KK says
So yummy!
I made these without the frosting since I saw the recipe was a lot like your espresso brownies, which come without frosting - and I only had enough butter for the brownie side! Made these spontaneously last night because I had everything on hand. It's at least the third dessert recipe I have used from your site, and it just brings me so much joy to find these easy and accessible recipes that I can even make without using a mixer.
The brownies taste even better today than when fresh last night. Really fudgy and squishy inside, with that nice little crunch from the top and sides. I had to bake for the full 45 minutes suggested because at 30-40 minutes it was still liquid goop. I also added in a small amount of Bailey's dark chocolate chips.
Kyleigh Sage says
Reviews like this make me so happy!!! I’m so glad they turned out well!