This Chocolate Jack Cake, or Chocolate Whiskey Cake, with both strong coffee and bourbon whiskey in the ingredients, is moist and delicious, like a big round brownie.
This cake is delicious on its own, and even better topped with sweetened whipped cream.
This cake is rich and chocolatey, and spiked with a hint of bourbon whiskey. For the bourbon, I used Maker's Mark, but Jack Daniels or another American bourbon whiskey would work just fine.
Key ingredients in this chocolate whiskey cake:
Strong brewed coffee: I mixed some instant espresso powder with boiling water for this ingredient to avoid brewing a pot of coffee.
Unsweetened cocoa: Use natural, not Dutch processed.
Semisweet mini chocolate chips: These will melt right into the cake.
And of course, there's the bourbon. plus a little bit of black pepper!
After I'd made this cake, my teen-aged grandsons stopped by with their dad. They immediately spied the cake and asked if they could have some... before dinner. Their dad said "yes," so I happily gave each a slice.
It took them about two minutes to finish off their slices, and I happily sent more home with them. They raved about this cake!
This cake is from the book, Little Everyday Cakes. The Cake Slice Bakers are baking our way through this book this year.
So far, every single cake has been amazing, and the recipes have been pretty foolproof.
This recipe was the first time I actually questioned the ingredients list, specifically the amount of brown sugar. In the recipe, the volume of brown sugar is listed as one cup, but the grams are listed as 107, which is the equivalent to 1/2 cup.
I had already committed to a full cup of brown sugar (plus there is 1/2 cup of granulated sugar) so I went with it and hoped for the best.
I'm still not sure if there should be a cup or 1/2 cup of brown sugar! While 1/2 cup of sugar would be the right ratio for a cake-like texture, the full cup resulted in a brownie-like texture.
The book says the cake will crack on top and sink in the middle, which is consistent with my results, however, the photo of the cake slice in the book is a little more cake-like looking.
I'm pretty sure I guessed wrong based on the texture of the creamed butter, sugar, and chocolate. Regardless, my cake was amazing, plus, it stayed moist and delicious for days. If you try it with 1/2 cup, let me know!!!!
Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Little Everyday Cakes by Candace Floyd. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!
Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
Allspice Applesauce Cake
Chocolate Jack Cake
Ingredients
- 180 grams (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
- 3 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 99 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- 107 grams to 214 grams (1/2 to 1 cup) brown sugar, depending on how "brownie-like" you want your cake to be
- 60 grams (1/2 cup) unsweetened natural cocoa
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large room temperature eggs
- 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Sweetened whipped cream for topping
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees F and line the bottom of an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment and the pan with spray oil.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt. and black pepper.
- In small bowl, mix the coffee, bourbon, and vanilla
- In another bowl, whisk together the sugars and cocoa
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or with an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until it is creamy on medium high speed. Reduce the speed to low and add the cocoa and sugar mixture. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes, increasing the speed to medium as the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, until each is fully incorporated.
- Reduce the speed to low, add one third of the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add 1/2 of the coffee mixture, and beat briefly on low. Repeat with 1/3 of the flour, 1/2 of the coffee, and 1/3 of the flour mixtures until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the mixture into the pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for 23 to 28 minutes, until a toothpick comes out "almost" clean. The top should be cracked a bit.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool it, top side up, on a wire rack. The cake will sink a bit in the middle.
You can just see how moist and fudgy it is. Hope all is well with you.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Same to you!
DeleteYours looks fudgier than mine. I think I baked it too long. Also, you used the good stuff (Maker's Mark) - bet that made it even better!
ReplyDeleteOooh, it did! Thanks!
DeleteYour cake definitely has all the good stuff in it and looks like ooey-gooey perfection. Amazing photos as always that have me crazy your baked goods.
ReplyDelete