Chocolate Bourbon Cake

Chocolate. Bourbon. Cake. I think the moment my father spied this recipe in the New York Times he was a goner. (“You had me at chocolate.”)

Nothing was going to stop him from making this cake. When he found out I possessed a 10-cup bundt pan, that was it, he was halfway to the store getting chocolate and instant espresso for the recipe.

Reading Melissa Clark’s chocolate whisky cake recipe we both decided that 1/2 cup of Bourbon, instead of the full cup she used, would do. We were both wrong. With 1/2 cup we could barely taste the bourbon. The second time we made the cake we used the full cup.

(Why bourbon? This whisky has a heady smokiness to it that works beautifully in this cake.)

Perfect. This is a great cake. Fine crumb. You can slice it beautifully thin and it still holds its shape. Great for us gals who like to take a very thin slice. And then another one. And then another. (Drives my father nuts.)

For those of you who would want to substitute out the alcohol I apologize in advance, and suggest that you consider one of the other recipes on this site for chocolate cake that do not use alcohol. This is a whiskey cake; it requires whiskey. And chocolate. Yum.

Chocolate Bourbon Cake Recipe

Although this is a bundt pan recipe, you can also use the same amount of batter for 2 loaf pans (8 or 9 inch pans). Baking time will be less if you use loaf pans. Test at 55 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, more for greasing pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
• 5 ounces high quality, unsweetened dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup instant espresso powder (can use instant coffee)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1 cup bourbon whiskey (can use 1/2 cup), more for sprinkling
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups white granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), for sprinkling

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