A Delicious Take on a Popular Drink
St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and it brings to mind many associations surrounding tradition and folklore. Pots of gold, leprechauns, four leafed clovers, you name it.
I always like to celebrate the holiday by making Reuben sandwiches (which aren’t actually Irish at all, but they do have corned beef in them!) and a festive dessert.
This year, my St. Patrick’s Day dessert is inspired by the Irish Slammer (otherwise known as an Irish Car Bomb). An Irish Slammer is a cocktail consisting of a glass of Guinness with a shot of Jameson and Baileys poured in. Like the drink, the cheesecake also consists of the aforementioned libations.
This cheesecake is made of chocolate and Guinness, and it’s topped with Jameson chocolate ganache and Irish Cream whipped cream. It’s safe to say this dessert is nothing short of decadent and delicious.
However you choose to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to add this cheesecake to your celebration. Trust me, it won’t disappoint.
Blessings on your home and table,
~Natalie
Irish Slammer Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 3 cups oreo cookie crumbs
- 9 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 Tablespoon dark cocoa powder
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
Cheesecake
- 24 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 1 1/2 cups Guinness
- 1 Tablespoon dark cocoa powder
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
Jameson Chocolate Ganace
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 8 ounces heavy whipping cream
- 1 Tablespoon Irish Whisky such as Jameson
Bailey’s Whipped Cream
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Irish Cream such as Bailey’s
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
- Pour Guinness in a small saucepan and place on low-medium heat. Let simmer until mixture reduces to 3/4 cup. This may take up to 30 minutes, so make this the first thing you start. Let mixture cool.
- In a medium-sized bowl combine all ingredients for the crust. Press on the bottom and up sides of pan. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.
- Place cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and sugar until light and creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream and vanilla extract.
- Place bittersweet chocolate in a microwavable bowl. Place on high heat for 90 seconds, stopping to stir every 15 seconds. Once chocolate is completely melted and smooth remove from microwave and let cool.
- Mix melted chocolate into cream cheese mixture. Mix in cooled Guinness reduction.
- Mix in flour and cocoa powder.
- Reduce oven temperature to 300°F. Pour cream cheese mixture into crust. Prepare cheesecake pan for a water bath. If not using a water bath, place a pie pan filled with water on the lower rack of the oven. Bake 1 hour and 40 minutes. Turn off oven. Leave cheesecake in oven for 30 minutes with door closed. Open oven door and leave cheesecake in oven for another 30 minutes. Place cheesecake in refrigerator and let cool at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Chocolate Ganache
- Place bittersweet chocolate in a medium-sized bowl and set aside. Place heavy cream in a microwavable bowl. Heat cream on high until it begins to gently boil. Pour heavy cream over chocolate and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit 5 minutes then whisk until smooth.
- Stir in Jameson. Let ganache cool slightly, then pour over cooled cheesecake.
Whipped Cream
- Place heavy cream in a medium sized bowl. With an electric mixer, beat heavy cream on high until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and irish cream and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Arrange as desired on top of cheesecake.
For more cheesecake recipes, check out my pumpkin cheesecake!
Hi! How many eggs do you need for this recipe? They are missing from the ingredient list
Hi Paige, sorry about that! 4 eggs. I just added in the edits. Thank you for catching that!
Overall a good recipe, but the crust needs to be fixed, and I would not recommend reducing the beer.
Time: 4 hours, active
Allergens: wheat, dairy, soy, eggs
Cost: $38
Notes: 24 chocolate Oreos (2/3 of a package)= 3 cups
I used 1/3 cup of non-alcoholic Guinness beer (straight from the can) and the flavor was still strong.
Lemme just say that the crust needs adjusted. It is wayyyy too thick. I added a LOT of extra cocoa and sugar to it to soak up the butter and help it be more crumbly; it did not work and I wasted a lot of time trying to fix it. Need to copy a 9” chocolate crust from another recipe that uses fewer Oreo cookies and butter.
Changes:
1. Butter and “flour” the pan first, using butter and cocoa powder
2. I baked the crust for an hour at 300F before adding the filling and added a lot of cocoa powder in an attempt to dry it out.
3. Do not reduce the beer! It just ends up burnt. Just use 1/3 cup
4. The chocolate in the filling for mine is half semisweet and half plain/dark,unsweetened.
5. Add the cocoa powder to the filling batter at the beginning, WITH the sugar! If you follow their directions, you’ll end up with lumps.
6. I cheated on the ganache… I melted the chocolate into cool whip instead of whipping cream 💁♀️
7. I made half as much whipped cream topping (1 cup cream, 1 Tbsp Baileys, 1 Tbsp powdered sugar) and that amount was fine for garnishing each slice.
8. Water bath pans on bottom rack BELOW cheesecake… interestingly the cheesecake leaked grease through the springform pan. Need to wrap foil around the outside too.
9. Using a knife, cut around the edge of the pan after it comes out of the oven.