Whisky-Soaked Chocolate Bundt Cake

Hello again,

I decided to continue my baking by attempting another bundt cake. Last time I did this was for the Tokamak cake that I made for L's boyfriend's viva celebration. As I'd mentioned in that post, one problem that I had with the bundt tin was that each time I'd used it half the cake had been left behind in the tin, no matter how much I'd greased it. So this time I was armed with a new toy, some cake release spray. I must admit that I was feeling sceptical about it, but I reasoned that it was worth a try.

So I stumbled upon this recipe for a Whisky-Soaked Chocolate Bundt Cake at some stage (probably on Buzzfeed again!), and thought that it sounded amazing.

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 300g plain flour
• 150g plain chocolate
• 40g instant espresso powder
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 240ml bourbon or whisky (I used Southern Comfort), plus more for sprinkling
• ½ tsp salt
• 450g granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Icing sugar, for decoration

First, preheat oven to 170°C (325°F, Gas Mark 3). Grease and flour a 10-cup-capacity Bundt pan (I used the cake-release spray instead of butter to grease the pan).

All greased up.

In a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate until just smooth, stirring occasionally. Once fully melted, let it cool a little.

Lots of yummy chocolate to melt.

 

All melted, and smelling sooooo good.

Then put the espresso and cocoa powders in a measuring jug, and add enough boiling water to come up to the 240ml measuring line. Stir until the powders dissolve, and then add the whiskey and salt. Let it cool down.

Espresso and cocoa powder.

Nice mixture of coffee and chocolate.

Yeah, there was no way I was wasting this much of my precious single malt whisky on this recipe (or any recipe for that matter).

A gorgeous-smelling combination of cocoa, coffee and Southern Comfort.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until really fluffy, and then add the sugar, and beat until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat in the vanilla extract, bicarbonate of soda and melted chocolate, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula in order to get all the mixture in the bowl.

Nicely beaten butter and sugar.

Adding the eggs one at a time.

Adding the chocolate goodness.

Looking nice and chocolatey.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in a third of the whisky mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in half of the flour. Repeat additions, ending with the whisky mixture.

First part of the whisky mixture going in.

And now for some flour.

It really is a large volume of cake mixture!

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes for a Bundt pan.

It fills the tin nicely. Looking good so far.

Transfer the cake, still in its pan, to a rack to cool slightly.

Wow, it really expands like mad in the tin.

Unmold the cake after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more Southern Comfort (following the original recipe, I did this by pouring a little bit of the Southern Comfort into a teaspoon, and then shaking the teaspoon over the cake; I only used about two teaspoons in total). I can definitely tell you that the cake-release spray is amazing - the cake fell out of the tin very easily, and there was no spray residue left on the cake at all. I was very impressed with it, and will definitely use in my my future baking.

Perfect!

Allow the cake to cool completely before sieving icing sugar over it to decorate.

Ready to go to work.

What can I say? What a recipe! The cake was absolutely beautiful. All the doctors and my administration colleagues loved it, and even my parents enjoyed it (which is a minor miracle). The cake was basically a giant cakey whisky truffle, and was one of the moistest cakes I have made yet. The Southern Comfort actually worked really well in the cake mix, and tastes amazing. I will try it with some other whisky at some stage (possibly Bells or Teachers - I will never waste single malt in this, I'll be honest).

Look at that truffley cakey goodness.

I can definitely recommend giving this recipe a go - it is well worth it.

Beckie.