Chocolate Whiskey Cake

Is it the best cake I have ever made? Quite possibly. Chocolate cake is not often sophisticated and when it is—flourless or molten—it's more a cliche than an appealing dessert. This cake, however, is swoonable. Is that a word? Chocolate (skip the mini semisweet chips in favor of a rough chop of good bittersweet), coffee, whiskey, cloves, black pepper (be generous with the mill): all speak individually but somehow meld into a deep, balanced flavor. Also? It's moist. Perfection.

Use brandy instead of whiskey for a richer flavor that plays better with the coffee and cloves.

I have made this twice and the first go round not happy with the chocolate chips that sunk to the bottom of the cake and got crunchy. Second time, I followed Scott R's advice to use chopped bittersweet chocolate. That worked great! The cake is so moist that you cannot trust the toothpick test for doneness. I baked the first cake too long. 50 to 55 minutes works well. The second cake I baked ahead for a birthday party. It froze well. Thanks for the great recipe.

Just as described, great cake. Simple but sophisticated. One third recipe fits in a 8.5x4.5 loaf pan, 30-35 mins. Doubled the spice, still subtle, and second the "dash of five spice" recommendation. Brandy worked fine.

I believe the directions need to be rewritten slightly to avoid confusion or explain some things better.

Specifically, the need to pre-heat the oven in Step 1. You need to allow the chocolate mixture to cool in Step 3 so your oven will be hot for quite a while before it's needed.

Also, in Step 3, the directions say to fold in the chocolate chips, which indicate the mixture is thick enough to do so but, as someone else mentioned, mine was very runny and the chips just floated to the bottom.

Hgc, you are correct that the original recipe calls for "natural" non-alkalized cocoa powder (Paula Disbrowe, Cowboy Cuisine, 2007). If using dutch cocoa you'd still need some soda to cancel out the acidity of the brown sugar. So I'm estimating instead of 1.5t soda, use 3/4t baking soda + 2 1/4t baking powder.

I used 1/4 teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice instead of cloves and pepper.

I wanted to cut the recipe in half because we don't need something this tempting hanging around the house. The fact that the ingredients were listed by weight made it very easy to calculate the reduced amounts. I used a 7" springform pan and the cake turned out perfectly. My husband was shocked, impressed, and quite delighted when I presented him with a delicious chocolate cake after a typically normal quiet Friday night supper.

Made it for my husband's birthday and it was really wonderful, a big hit. I used:

- decaf coffee
- Bailey's Irish Cream
- a 9" springform pan, baked for 65 minutes
- dark chocolate chips which I chopped up

We ate it warm with vanilla ice cream.

Thanks for the description, Suzzanne. I made this recipe yesterday and it came out perfectly. If you continue to have any issues with the chocolate chips sinking to the bottom you can try this: place the chips on a bowl with some flour first, then take them out with a strainer so you don't get too much flour sticking to them, add the chips to the mix and blend well. They should spread evenly.

Use cognac or Armagnac if you don't have or like Irish Whiskey. Skip the cloves (they remind me of unpleasant times at my childhood dentist, clove oil, ugh!) and use a pinch of cardamom or five spice powder instead. It will still be delicious!

Note to Shaden - wrap the bottom of your pan (outside) with aluminum foil to prevent leakage.

Made in Houston, TX. (nov) Came out pretty moist, almost think it was too buttery. Will reduce butter by 2 tablespoons next time. 9" springform needed 20 more minutes. Make sure to stir mixture in springform to distribute the mini chocolate chips in the batter as mine were mostly just in the middle. Might also reduce some sugar and increase more spices, but very tasty cake.

Made this for the first time. It was terrific. Only had a 9 inch pan, it worked fine just cooked it longer - 70 minutes. The tip on chopping chocolate worked great - 1 cup of chips equals 160 gm for those interested. Everyone loved it and it was amazingly moist. Would definitely make again.

This cake is incredible. I added 1/4 cup of flour to the batter at the end for high altitude (living a mile high in Colorado) and it was perfect after 65 minutes at 325. Added a little extra clove and some nutmeg and coriander to the dry mix. The spices really make the chocolate taste more complex and special. What a delicious recipe! I will make this again next time I need to impress!