CHOCOLATE WHISKEY CAKE WITH CARAMEL GLAZE

Does anyone of you ever like to sit by a window and stare at the rain or is it just me.? Did you know the smell of rain can help reduce stress and cheer you up, upto a 60%?

As I sat by my kitchen window watching the rain, I was thinking of cozying up in bed with hot tea and stay there forever. My lazy plans were quickly shattered as I jumped out of my skin with the biggest crack of thunder ever and flashes of lightning by my window.

The storm may lash torrents of rain and crash lighting and roar thunder but I am safe under my sturdy shelter where is there is only peace and quiet. I wanted to enjoy the moment but all it missed was a cup of tea and some cake alongside 🙂

So, I did just that. I suddenly felt a strong urge to bake so I headed to the kitchen to do just that. What better than the smell of freshly baked cake and rain together, right?  – that is a 100% stress buster for sure.

A chocolate cake is what I craved for today and as I gathered ingredients from my pantry, decided this should be extra special. It is also my husband’s birthday today – so, I ran up to the bar to steal some scotch from my husbands’ collection. 🙂 (OK!!! guilty as charged but he will have the whiskey in the cake anyway.)

You guessed right, it’s a delicious moist chocolate whiskey cake and topped with some warm caramel sauce. This one again is so easy to rustle up in one bowl and a crowd pleaser. I didn’t even bring out my stand mixer for this. Since hubby is away on a business trip, birthday celebrations are postponed to the weekend. The greedy me wanted one ASAP, so I baked a small portion of it separately so I could enjoy it with my tea right away 🙂

I made a similar cake for his birthday 2 years ago but then had a slab of ice-cream sandwiched in between. It was a hit even then – wish I could share photos of it but my stomach cringes to see how terrible my food photos looked back then. And my apologies to all those who requested the whiskey cake recipe back then for I have been lazy to pen it down. Finally today, it’s done. The weather cleared as I wrote this and the cake went out for a photosession in the sun 🙂

Hope you give this one a try and like it as much.

Serves 10-12

INGREDIENTS:
56 g bittersweet chocolate
1 cup or 125 g unsweetened Cocoa
1 cup or 250 ml boiling water
1 3/4 cups or 350 g of sugar
1 cup or 240 ml of vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp or 15 ml vanilla extract
2 tbsp or 30 ml Whiskey
1 ¼ cups or 150 g of flour
1 tsp or 5 ml tsp salt
1 tsp or 5 ml baking soda

For the Caramel Glaze:
1 cup or 200 g white sugar
1/2 cup or 120 ml heavy cream at room temperature
¼ tsp or 1.75 ml salt
¼ cup or 30 g toffee bits or almond slivers for decoration

METHOD: 

1. Preheat oven to 175 C degrees. Grease a bundt cake pan with cooking spray. You could use any cake pan of your choice here.
2. In a large bowl, add the chocolate and cocoa powder. Pour over hot boiling water and whisk well to combine.
3. Add the oil, vanilla extract and sugar at this point and whisk well to combine.Add eggs one at the time and whisk until smooth.  Make sure the batter is not hot while adding eggs. Finally mix in the whiskey. Set aside.
4. In a smaller bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture in parts to the chocolate mixture, stirring gently with a wire whisk in a figure 8 pattern, just until well combined.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Tap on counter to release any air bubbles.
6. Bake for 40 – 45 mins, or until a long toothpick or skewer comes out clean.

FOR CARAMEL GLAZE: 

1. Heat sugar in a deep, heavy duty pot. Swirl and stir gently until sugar melted and caramelized.
2. Add room temperature heavy cream, and keep stirring until it settles down into a nice smooth mixture. Turn off flame, add salt and stir until combined.
3. Turn out bundt cake onto a cooling rack, fitted into a sheet pan to help catch the caramel drippings while glazing the cake
4. Ladle over the caramel over the top of the cake in sections, allowing it to form drips on the side. Top with almond slivers or toffee bits.
5. Allow cake to “set” for 1 hour before transferring to a cake stand.

Enjoy 🙂 I am sharing this at  Fiesta Friday with  Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook and Ai @ Ai Made It For You. 

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Love & Hugs,

Trupti