Saturday, March 18, 2017

Chocolate Irish Whiskey Cake #Recipe @PegCochran


Yes, St. Patrick’s Day was yesterday but I had to take a dessert to a St. Patty’s Day-themed party last weekend and this was so delicious I wanted to share the recipe with you.  It comes from Bay Area Bites and I didn’t do anything to change the recipe (a first!)  Except I did use bourbon since I didn’t have any Irish whiskey but it was suggested that that would be a fine substitute.

I even invested (a whopping $9.99) in my first bundt pan for this cake!  




Making it was quite the adventure, I must admit.  First I solved a mystery! I invested in an oven thermometer because I suspected my new oven runs cool.  Does it ever!  It indicated it was pre-heated to 325 when the thermometer read only 225!  No wonder the chocolate roll cake I make every Christmas didn’t turn out this year—my oven was off.


I forgot to take my butter out to soften it so I had the bright idea of popping it into the microwave for ten seconds.  Good idea except I hit one minute by accident.  Yup—melted butter all over the inside of my microwave.  And those were my last two sticks so everything had to go on hold while I went to the grocery store.


Then I was about to put the cake in the oven when I noticed a bowl on the counter—full of the whiskey soaked raisins that were supposed to go in the cake!  I managed to gently stir them in and finally got the cake in the oven!


It was worth the effort—it was rich and moist without being overly sweet.   



Ingredients:

Butter or nonstick spray for greasing pan
3/4 cup Irish whiskey
1 cup strong coffee
1 cup golden raisins
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish
Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan.
Pour whiskey and coffee over raisins and set aside.
In a double boiler over simmering water, melt chocolate. Remove from heat and let cool.


Cream one cup butter until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract and melted chocolate.
Whisk together the salt, baking soda, cocoa powder and flour. Stir one-third of the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, until just combined. 



Add one-third of the coffee-whiskey mixture and stir to combine. Repeat two more times, alternating flour and coffee. 



Fold in the soaked raisins at the end. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, approximately 50-60 minutes. 




Transfer cake to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes then unmold. Optional: for a more potent whiskey flavor, sprinkle warm cake with about two more tablespoons whiskey. Let cool, then sift confectioners’ sugar over cake before serving.


COMING IN MAY!




STILL ONLY $2.99 FOR E-BOOK!!


16 comments:

  1. Sounds good! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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    1. It was good. I particularly liked that it wasn't too sweet.

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  2. Congratulations on baptising your new bundt pan! The cake looks like it has a wonderful texture. Wait 'til you try it the the real Irish!

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    1. I'm going to turn into a bundt baking fool now! I will have to treat myself to a bottle of good Irish whiskey. Any recommendations?

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  3. Looks fab, Peg! I admit being particularly fond of Bundt cakes -- the shape of the pan not only makes them pretty but does seem to help with that firm-but-forky texture!

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    1. It never occurred to me that the texture might be affected by a different pan,but I think you're on to something!

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  4. Even with the various challenges, this looks like a real winner!

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    1. I don't usually have so much trouble baking but I think I was a bit scattered!

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  5. I love a good rum cake so I'm sure I'd love whiskey cake. I'm a little scared of raisins in chocolate cake though...

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    1. The raisins were very good but I imagine you could leave them out if you wanted.

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  6. Your baking adventure sounds like too many of mine. The kitchen always looks like a disaster when I'm done. The cake looks delicious. It isn't a pound cake, is it?

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    1. Hi Pat, no it's not a pound cake--it's a little less dense I would say. (And there's a reason I never post a picture of my kitchen after one of my baking adventures! I think the cake was out of the oven long before I finished cleaning up!)

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  7. Yum. Looks great. Isn't the bundt pan worth it? Love mine. And powdered sugar makes everything look beautiful! Great job. ~ Daryl

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  8. Beautiful cake, Peg, and I have the same issues with my gas oven and its pre-heating temperatures. (I also use an independent temperature gauge to check on the lyin' little devil!) Now if only I had a slice of that amazing cake!! xoxo - Cleo

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    1. Cleo, I'm glad to know it's not just my oven! But with a thermometer I can at least be sure I'm baking at the right temp. I, too, wish there was some cake leftover!

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