I think the moment my father spied this recipe in the New York Times he was a goner. (“You had me at chocolate.”) Nothing was going to stop him from making this cake. When he found out I possessed a 10-cup Bundt pan, that was it, he was halfway to the store getting chocolate and instant espresso for the recipe. Reading Melissa Clark’s chocolate whisky cake recipe we both decided that 1/2 cup of Bourbon, instead of the full cup she used, would do. We were both wrong. With 1/2 cup we could barely taste the bourbon. The second time we made the cake we used the full cup. (Why bourbon? This whisky has a heady smokiness to it that works beautifully in this cake.) Perfect. This is a great cake. Fine crumb. You can slice it beautifully thin and it still holds its shape. Great for us gals who like to take a very thin slice. And then another one. And then another. (Drives my father nuts.) For those of you who would want to substitute out the alcohol I apologize in advance, and suggest that you consider one of the other recipes on this site for chocolate cake that do not use alcohol. This is a whiskey cake; it requires whiskey. And chocolate. Yum. Note: We updated the method for this recipe slightly on November 19, 2021. No other change to the recipe. Recipe adapted from Melissa Clark’s Whisky-Soaked Chocolate Bundt Cake, from the article, When Temperance Isn’t in the Cards, in the New York Times, December 3, 2008.
