Cake... Bourbon... Yes Please

            If there is one thing that I know for sure it is that the people that I choose to surround myself are awesome. It may sound like I am bragging but it is simply a fact: my people rule. Not only can I confide in them, grab drinks and shoot the shit with them, or count on them to nourish my fragile male ego by telling me that I am wrong and that my latest kitchen experiment tasted great (great and beautiful liars they are) but most of them put out some pretty bad ass recipes. Such is the case with my friend Fyfe. Now Fyfe and I are opposites in the kitchen. I lean heavily towards cooking. Fyfe loves to bake. There is something about the precision of baking which appeals to Fyfe. I don’t claim to get it; maybe it is a patience thing. I guess I am just an instant gratification guy and waiting an hour to figure out if the thing worked appeals much less than tasting it right now. So now I hand you over to my friend Fyfe and her absolutely awesome recipe for bourbon cake. It kicks some serious ass. Enjoy. (This cake should not be eaten by anyone under the age of 19 by the laws of where we live.)

            PS: Fyfe did not put down any musical accompaniment to this recipe. So I will suggest that you go with the entire Who’s Next album by The Who and then The Devil Went Down to Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band. (Baking takes forever so that should do you.) J

I am here to talk about baking, something which is a reoccurring obsession throughout my life and really the only food that I can produce with any consistency.  I do not cook, I try and try but find that I lack the creativity necessary to play and tinker until the perfect dish is created.   But I do bake. I love to follow a clear recipe to the fluffy, delicious end. 

I have very fond memories of baking chocolate chip cookies for my sister and me. Her half with chips and mine without just so we both got what we wanted out of it. Throughout my late teen years I made box cakes for every occasion in my life and cupcakes made regular appearances at any event I was invited to.  But as much as I love baking and any type of desert, it was not until recently that I started actually making most of my baking from scratch and playing around with it.  So I am glad for the opportunity to share my love of a great recipe here.

Today I present a cake recipe that I stumbled across by pure chance and that is now something that I fantasize about at least once a week.  Chocolate Bourbon Bundt Cake.  I have made cakes and I know chocolate. I stumbled upon this recipe with no working knowledge of bourbon and no Bundt pan, so I give my thanks to Johnny for providing me with both in order to create this epic cake.

Most recently I made this cake for a work gathering and it went over very well. But, I realized that this cake should come with its own disclaimer.  This cake has alcohol in it: a lot of it.  It bites back, but only in the very best ways possible.  I love making this cake because it makes the whole house smell like the love child of a distillery and a chocolate factory, that smell is one of my happy places.  The cake is moist and delicious but it is also a practice in patience, it takes time to create.  I find that setting aside about 2-3 hours from start to finish is best and it does not pay to rush.  So without delay I give you my Chocolate Bourbon Bunt Cake.

The Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup instant espresso (I use instant coffee)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• Boiling water
• 1 cup bourbon whiskey (can be reduced to 1/2 cup), more for sprinkling
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling

The Cake

 

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a large bundt pan (10 cup capacity), or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans.
Start melting the chocolate in a microwave oven or in a double boiler. Once fully melted, set aside and let cool.

Put instant coffee and cocoa powder in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until all the powders dissolve. Stir in the bourbon and salt; set aside and let cool.

In a fairly large bowl, beat softened butter until fluffy (2-3 minutes on high).  Next add sugar and beat until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda and melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.

With the mixer on the lowest speed, beat in a third of the whiskey espresso cocoa mixture (I find it best to stir the mixture right before adding it as it tends to separate). When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. The batter will have the consistency of a moist cloud.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes for Bundt pan (loaf pans will take less time, but for both types of pan, start checking after 55 minutes).

When done, transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey. Let cool. Sprinkle powdered sugar through a mesh sieve over the cake before serving.

Now enjoy an almost legendarily good cake.  Happy cake dances are optional.