Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake
March 13, 2011 at 3:53 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, simple cakes, sweet things | 9 CommentsTags: baking, cake, chocolate
I’m not an Irish girl (although with my reddish hair and fair skin, you can’t imagine how often I’m asked), but I’m still up for celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day. I’m long done with the overcrowed pub thing though, so this year I’m going to get my booze on with Melissa Clarke’s Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt instead. It is loaded with a whole cup of whiskey, Jameson Irish in this case, and if you like this sort of thing, it is amazingly good. The crumb is tight and not fluffy, but instead of being a dense chocolate cake, the texture is soft as velvet.
If you read through the recipe, you’ll notice that the cake isn’t meant to be frosted. It truly doesn’t need it, but my cake needed it. You see, I decided to ignore the direction to flour my Bundt pan. Usually a good spray is all I need to get a clean release, but when I went to turn this cake out the entire outer layer stuck to the pan. Crappola. I patched back what I could (and ate what I couldn’t!), and then whipped up a quick gancahe to spackle and hide my goof. I think I did a good job with the reconstructive surgery– I can barely tell.
Bottoms up!
Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake- makes 10 to 12 servings
adapted from Melissa Clark’s fabulous book In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, more for greasing pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup bourbon, rye or other whiskey, more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
confectioners’ sugar, for garnish (optional)
-Grease and flour a 10-cup-capacity Bundt pan (or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans). Preheat oven to 325° F. In microwave oven or double boiler over simmering water, melt chocolate. Let cool.
-Put espresso and cocoa powders in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until powders dissolve. Add whiskey and salt; let cool.
-Using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup butter until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in 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.
-On low speed, beat in a third of the whiskey mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. 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, start checking them after 55 minutes).
-Transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey. Let cool before serving, garnished with confectioners’ sugar if you like.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake
January 25, 2011 at 12:01 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 21 Comments
It’s cold. So cold that I don’t want to go outside. So cold that I just want to stay at home and bake all day. And that’s just how I spent this past Saturday. First up was this Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake. It’s kind of a cross between a pound cake and a coffee cake…a pound cake-type base with a swirls of sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts and chocolate running through. Dorie’s recipe also calls for raisins, but since I don’t normally go for fruit and chocolate combos, I left them out entirely. However, to totally contradict what I just said, I did add the orange zest (actually I used tangerine), and liked the gentle citrus flavor a lot.
A word of warning…making the cake was easy, making the swirl was easy, but combining them was not. I read about sticking, so I was careful not to let the first layer of the sugar-based swirl mix come in contact with the pan. That wasn’t too tricky, but then when I added the second and final layer of swirl, the cake batter was so stiff, I really couldn’t easily work it over the swirl to cover it. Not wanting to bake it with exposed swirlage (because it would fall out when I flipped the cake), I popped the cake in the oven for about three minutes, until the batter just started to soften. Then it was a breeze to get that swirl covered up with batter.
My husband asked for “big pieces” of this cake. We both liked how it had a nice outer crust with soft cake inside. And course cinnamon, nuts and chocolate, too!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on NPR) or read Cooking for Comfort, as it was Jennifer’s pick this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Double Apple Bundt Cake
October 5, 2010 at 12:27 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 26 Comments
Lynne of Honey Muffin keeps the autumn recipes coming with her Double Apple Bundt pick for TWD. This is kind of a spicy sister to the Fresh Apple Cake I made a couple of weeks ago…that one was flavored with vanilla, but this one has all the classic fall spices goin’ on.
This cake is “double apple” because in addition to fresh apple, it calls for a heaping helping of apple butter. Since I didn’t have nearly enough on hand, I used unsweetened apple sauce instead. I was a little worried, since they’re not really the same consistency, but as it turned out, all was fine. I also swapped out about a quarter of the AP for whole wheat flour, which these days I find myself doing probably more often than I remember to tell you about.
All in all, a delicious fall cake…and it’s a good keeper, too, as it’s super-moist. For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Honey Muffin. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake
April 6, 2010 at 1:13 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 29 Comments
Two bundts in a row– I am a lucky girl! I made this Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake for our Easter dinner. Last week’s Coconut Tea Cake went unadorned, but for this one, I stirred up a quick chocolate sour cream frosting (thinned out with a little coffee leftover from making the cake batter), so my springtime pastel hundreds and thousands would have something to stick to.
Chocolate, coffee and ground walnuts all in one moist cake– what’s not to like? It’s tasty, it’s easy, and I’m glad that Erin of When in Doubt…Leave it at 350 picked it for TWD.
I have jury duty today. Perhaps a little snack-sized piece of this will find its way into my tote…
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read When in Doubt…Leave it at 350. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut Black Sesame Tea Cake
March 30, 2010 at 5:54 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 29 Comments
Between the time I wrote this and now, I’ve left my job, gone to Florida and back and gone to Seattle and back. Whew! I just got home last night, hence the delay in posting (and my poor showing in the comments department over the last couple weeks).
I’m really glad that Carmen of Carmen Cooks picked this Coconut Tea cake for TWD— it’s been on my “would someone hurry up and choose it?” list like forever! I couldn’t resist doing one of Dorie’s “playing around” variations, so I added black sesame seeds to mine…I just know that when my husband sees it, he is going to ask me if I baked a cake with fleas!
I also used rum, in addition to vanilla, and toasted, unsweetened coconut (I get this at the healthfood store, and I think it helped to temper the sweetness of the cake…there’s a lot of sugar in the batter, afterall!). I made half the recipe in a six-cup bundt pan, and it was done in 35-40 minutes. This is just the type of cake I love: easy-peasy to make, in bundt form, moist and tastes like coconut! I haven’t tried it with tea yet…that’ll be tomorrow, when I sit down with a cuppa to watch episodes of The Ricky Gervais show on HBO On demand. Yes, I have a lot going on now that I’m not working…
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Carmen Cooks. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Milk Chocolate Bundt Cake
February 2, 2010 at 10:45 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 41 Comments
Although Kristin of I’m Right About Everything chose Dorie’s Milk Chocolate Mini Bundts for TWD this week, here I present you not with multiple mini bundts, but with one mini-ish bundt. I do actually have a mini bundt pan, but it’s one of many, many things that have been boxed up in storage since we moved back from Australia. Our apartment is just not big enough for too many non-essentials, so I made do here by baking the full amount of batter in my 6-cup bundt tin. Still kinda mini, but really cute!
I don’t often bake with milk chocolate. It doesn’t give you that in-your-face chocolate flavor, but instead something more subtle and light. Sometimes that’s all I need, though, and much like when I made milk chocolate brownies, I found the flavor of this cake to be quite pleasant. I left out the nut swirl in the original recipe and used buttermilk instead of regular. My glaze started out a little wackadoo (something I think many of us experienced), but I smoothed it out with a couple spoonfuls of hot water. When I’m finally able to retrieve that mini bundt pan, and I make this again, I’ll try a ganache-style glaze instead.
I have to say that in terms of both looks and taste, this reminded me of a big fat chocolate cake doughnut, and I can’t say that I minded one bit! For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read I’m Right About Everything. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Thursday!): All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake
November 26, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
I’m up to my elbows in stuffing and cranberry sauce right now, but just wanted to quickly wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! This is the Holiday Bundt that I’m serving up for dessert tonight. It really is all-in-one: pumpkin cake with spices, pecans, apples and cranberries. I sneaked a tiny taste, and I can tell you that it’s moist and fully of yummy chunks. Can’t wait to try a proper slice later with the maple glaze!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Serious Eats). Read The Nitty Britty, as it was Britin’s choice for TWD this week, and don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Classic Banana Bundt Cake
August 4, 2009 at 1:21 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 49 Comments
At the end of every month, just before the new list of TWD recipes comes out, I do a little dance in the hopes that a Bundt cake will be chosen. My efforts to summon the cake gods have gone unrealized every time, but leave it to Mary The Food Librarian, herself a lover of all things Bundted (seriously, she has made a bazillion of them), to finally chose Dorie’s Classic Banana Bundt. Yay!! (Now I am doing my happy dance!)
I love Bundt cakes, and this banana one is no exception. It’s dense and moist, not unlike a banana bread. It’s full of banana flavor, and the inside is full of those little black squigglies…do you know what I’m talking about? Those fascinate me, and I must study them in every slice.
I made half a recipe of this cake in my treasured six-cup Bundt pan. I switched out a quarter cup of the AP flour for whole wheat, and added in a sprinkle of nutmeg. I also used half sour cream and half yogurt in the batter. The coolest thing about any Bundt is how pretty it is, no thanks to me– it just comes out of the pan that way (provided I spray it well)! I drizzled a quick and easy milk chocolate ganache over this one, because hey– bananas and chocolate are great together!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read The Food Librarian. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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