Chocolate Bundt Cake

This chocolate bundt cake is not your run-of-the-mill chocolate cake. In it you’ll find close to 2 cups of strong coffee and a quarter cup of bourbon. Yes you can sub the bourbon for another whisky or for just more coffee. But I do recommend using the bourbon if you have some on hand.

Bourbon has a wonderfully smoky flavor, and the cooking process cooks out almost all of the alcohol. So the use of it is more akin to using vanilla, just a different flavor note. The cake will not taste like coffee—the coffee intensifies the chocolate flavor.

This recipe has a bit of a history. It comes from my friend Kathi Riley who used to chef at the historic Union Hotel in Benicia, California in the early 1980s. This cake recipe was on the menu there as a “Mississippi Mud Cake,” served with whipped cream. The cake has an even, fine crumb, has a complex chocolate flavor, and is relatively light. Perfect for pairing with vanilla ice cream. I hope you like it as much as we do!

Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe

The baking temperature is lower than one would usually use for baking a cake—275°F.

Ingredients

• 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 4 ounces (1 stick) butter (plus more for greasing the pan)
• 1 3/4 cups of strong coffee
• 1/4 cup bourbon whisky (if skipping the whisky, just use more coffee)
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt (if using salted butter, reduce to 1/8 teaspoon of salt)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp cocoa for dusting the bundt pan
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar for dusting the cake (optional)

• One 2 1/2-quart capacity bundt pan (or two 4x8x2 loaf pans)

 

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