Irish Cream Brownies with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream
These Irish Cream Brownies are dark, rich, and fudgy, with a butterscotch-like Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream on top.
Between the Irish Cream in the brownie batter and the caramelized buttercream, there are so many amazing flavors here that make this my favorite brownie recipe.
I remember discovering the Irish Cream flavor via a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream when I was a kid and thinking it was the best thing in the world.
Mind you, I had no idea until many years later that Irish Cream was a type of liqueur and not simply a flavor of ice cream, but the flavor is what we’re all after, right?
I’ve mentioned here before that I’m not a big drinker but I’m a big fan of cooking and baking with spirits. It’s such an easy way to elevate food with a flavor component AND an aroma component.
These brownies are very moist and fudgy, dark, and rich.
While they could definitely be enjoyed on their own, they are so much better with caramelized white chocolate buttercream on top.
The brownies themselves aren’t overly sweet, so the sweetness that white chocolate has goes perfectly.
And if you’ve never had caramelized white chocolate before, you’ve got to try it. It takes white chocolate from cloying to incredible and complex. It’s so good.
How to Make Brownies:
Start by melting together chocolate and butter in the microwave:
Set this aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, whisk to combine sugar and eggs:
Mix until you get a frothy and pale yellow mixture:
For the dry ingredients, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, and salt:
Return to the wet ingredients, and add the chocolate butter mixture to the sugar egg mixture, along with Irish Cream:
It will be a treat for your eyes to swirl it all together…it’s so pretty!
And eventually it should be a smooth chocolate brown:
Now add the dry ingredients:
Stir together until you get a thick brownie batter with no streaks of flour, and spread evenly into a nonstick 8×8 square pan:
Bake for 17 minutes, then let the brownies cool.
How to Make White Chocolate Buttercream:
If you’ve never had caramelized white chocolate, I will tell you that it is one of the most exquisitely delicious things I’ve ever tasted.
Here’s a full post on how to make it step-by-step, but basically you roast white chocolate chunks in the oven for about 45 minutes at 250F, stirring every 7-8 minutes, until the white chocolate is the color of butterscotch.
It’s quite easy, and white chocolate is a hundred times better when its sugars are caramelized and toasted.
To make the buttercream, combine caramelized white chocolate with whipped unsalted butter:
Whip together until smooth:
Then add a touch of confectioner’s sugar, about 1/3 cup:
Whip again until incorporated.
Don’t you want to dip your finger into there? So luscious!
Flip the brownie square out of the pan and frost the top of the (cooled) brownies with the caramelized white chocolate buttercream:
Refrigerate the brownies to firm up the buttercream, then they can be cut into squares:
Brown Butter Blondies, Coconut Oil Brownies, and Cookies and Cream Brownies are all great as well. Happy baking!
Irish Cream Brownies with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
For the Irish Cream Brownies:
- 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (5 ounces by weight)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (1.5 ounces by weight)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp Irish Cream
For the Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 6 oz high-quality white chocolate caramelized*
- 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
Instructions
To make the Brownies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch pan with parchment paper.
- Place the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in 30 second intervals, stirring each time, until melted. It should only take 2-3 intervals. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whip together the eggs and sugar until pale yellow and frothy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the chocolate butter mixture to the whipped eggs, then add the Irish Cream. Whisk until combined. Then stir in the dry ingredients until no flour streaks remain.
- Pour the batter into the square pan, and bake for about 17 minutes. The top should be shiny and set, but slightly squishy to the touch, to indicate that it’s not overbaked. Let cool completely.
To make the White Chocolate Buttercream:
- Whip the butter in a bowl for 30 seconds, then whip in the caramelized white chocolate. Add the confectioner’s sugar and whip until smooth. Spread the frosting all over the cooled brownie square.
- Refrigerate the brownies for about 1 hour to allow the buttercream to firm up. Then cut into squares and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Posted updated in February 2019. Originally published in October 2016.
13 Comments on “Irish Cream Brownies with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream”
This looks A-mazing. Do you know how to alter it for high altitude? (I live at 7300 feet in Colorado…)
Made according to recipe and they were delicious. Very rich. Will definitely be making again.
Made this for thanksgiving and it is DELICIOUS. I want to make it again for a class party, can I double the ingredients and bake it in a 9×9 inch?
That would be too small, I’d do a 9×13 instead. Even that has slightly less area than truly doubling 8×8, but it should be close enough.
This sounds delicious! I want to use it for my son’s birthday brownie since he doesn’t like cake. Two questions:
1) Will this frosting take spray food coloring like Wilton color mist?
2) If I want to have a whiter frosting so the colors stand out more, do you suggest I not caramelize the white chocolate, or add white gel food coloring to the original recipe?
Thanks!
Hi Tiare, I’ve never cooked with food coloring so I can’t speak to that. For the white chocolate, sure, you can skip the caramelization. Happy birthday to your son!
Question, when I added the confectioners sugar it made the icing look almost curdled. What did I do wrong? Can I fix it?
Was the butter cold in spots? That’s one possibility for causing curdling, if the ingredients are not warm enough. Or if the white chocolate was too warm? Those are my first two guesses for possibilities.
Hi Joanne! I just found your blog, and it seems like you are really professional and famous, but i just wanted to say that i love your blog and i also have the same food philosophy- whole foods, not trying to gluten free and sugar free everything. So its really refreshing for me to find your recipes! (Too much gluten free n sugar free stuff nowadays) Unfortunately i cant stomach blood and meat, so for now i am just looking at the desserts recipes and making eggless versions. I love your taste(not the meat part :p) and reminds me of home and my family (canada) thank you for all your dedication and hard work! Its nice to meet that person who you can be happy reading the recipe. Nice work
Okay so admittedly these are a little bit involved but the end result is SO WORTH IT. LOVE!!
If the chocolate gets dark like butterscotch, why does the frosting in your picture look so light?
Did you look at the process shots? You can see the contrast of the caramelized white chocolate and the butter. Overall the frosting looks light because it’s mixed with butter and confectioner’s sugar, which are both light.
Carmelized white chocolate! I’ve never even heard of that. It sounds amazing! Gorgeous photos 🙂