Maida Heatter's 86 Proof Chocolate Cake is an all-time favorite, and it was one of Maida's favorites too! In her book, Happiness is Baking, she mentions how much she enjoyed teaching and demonstrating this recipe because people just couldn't wait to make it themselves. I sure couldn't. As soon as I found out about this recipe I tried it, and have been making it ever since.
Chocolate, Bourbon and Espresso
If the devil is down there baking cakes he's making this one. It's the real devil's food with espresso powder, bourbon and chocolate. I don't know anyone who has ever gotten drunk off this because the alcohol bakes out, but it does have a substantial amount of caffeine and will keep you up if you're sensitive. Speaking of which, I've never used a full ¼ cup instant espresso powder and think maybe Maida's was coarser. 2 tablespoons of good quality espresso like Medaglia d'Oro should be plenty. You can increase the bourbon, though.
Bundt Pan Notes
Standard Bundt pans in the USA are 10-inches and hold 12 cups. Down in hell they use 9-inch Bundt pans that, oh wait,..I mean Maida developed this cake for a 9-inch Bundt that holds 10 cups. She wanted it to be tall. If you don't have this size Bundt, just use a any fluted pan and adjust the time. A standard Bundt pan should take about the same amount of time. Check it at 50 minutes. The cake won't be as tall.
Another interesting step is that you dust the Bundt pan with breadcrumbs to keep the cake from sticking. The cake slides right out of the pan. As for the crumbs, they dissolve into the cake. Here's a photo of a pan dusted with bread crumbs. Honestly, if I have fine dry bread crumbs I might use them but I usually just dust with flour. If baking in silicone, it's not an issue.
Small Size
Since this is a cake for adults, you may want to make it smaller. I haven't ever tested it as mini Bundts, but I've baked a half batch and used a 6 cup 8-inch Bundt pan. The half batch size cakes are shorter in stature, but still pretty. If you are in the market for a 6-inch Bundt, you may want to try these silicone Bundt pans. I was never a fan of silicone because of the smell, but these don't smell (so far) and cakes turn right out.
Recipe
86-proof Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate (140 grams)
- 2 cups sifted unbleached all- purpose flour** (235 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt (I use ½ teaspoon kosher)
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (12 grams)
- ¼ cup boiling water
- 1 cup cold water plus as much needed as per the directions
- ½ cup bourbon or rum, Cognac, or Scotch whiskey
- 8 ounces unsalted butter (228 grams)
- 2 cups sugar (400 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons OPTIONAL: additional bourbon
- 2 tablespoons OPTIONAL: confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10 cup capacity (this is slightly smaller than a typical Bundt pan, usually around 9-inches) and dust with flour or bread crumbs. If you don't have that size Bundt pan, use a standard 12 cup Bundt check cake at 1 hour.
- Melt the chocolate over the stove, in a double boiler or in the microwave. Set aside.
- Weigh your flour then sift out any lumps. If you don’t have a scale, sift first then carefully measure out 2 cups or measure 2 cups of flour and remove 2 tablespoons. Whisk the flour together with the baking soda and salt.
- In a 2-cup glass measuring cup, dissolve the espresso powder in the ¼ cup boiling water. Add ½ cup cold water. It should come just short of 1 ½ cups, so add a little more until it hits the 1 ½ cup mark, then add the ½ cup bourbon. You need 2 cups liquid total.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating, then add the eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed until blended. Still on medium, beat in the chocolate.
- On low speed or by hand, add the flour mixture and the liquid mixture alternately, stirring until smooth. This is a fairly thin batter (though not as thin as the batter for the type of chocolate cake where you pour in a cup of hot coffee at the end).
- Pour into the prepared pan. Drag a knife or a scraper through to level the top.
- Bake at 325F for 1 hour and 10 or 15 minutes or until a cake tester tests done. If you have a probe type thermometer you can measure it that way. It should top out at about 205 when done. Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.
- Sprinkle the cake with a bit of optional bourbon, and leave the cake upside down on the rack to cool.
- Before serving, if you wish, sprinkle the top with confectioners’ sugar through a fine strainer.
Anna says
Hello Linda,
Happy belated Thanksgiving.
Thanks for posting a review. And yes, it's hard to go wrong with Maida Heatter.
Linda Sweeting says
I made this (and an apple bourbon bundt cake from the NYT) last week for a coworker's birthday - a coworker who likes bourbon, obviously. Since this was served in the middle of the workday, instead of sprinkling/soaking with more bourbon, I made a simple syrup using just sugar and bourbon, and whipped cream with a bit of bourbon added. These were "on the side " so everyone had control over the bourbon levels! Both cakes were great. This one had a beautiful texture; and great, complex flavors from the chocolate, coffee (I did use the 1/4 cup of powdered espresso) and bourbon. Maida Heatter recipes are always outstanding. I will definitely make this again.
Irma says
I'm a big fan of Maida Heatter! 🙂 I was just looking on her book what sort of cake bake this evening and I'll choose this one! Thank you for sharing a photo! It looks delicious! 🙂
Anna says
Gillian, thanks for the tip!
Gillian says
Hi, I did the Irish Whiskey Chocolate cake and it was to die for, try it and you will see
Elle says
Just found your wonderful blog. I've made this cake. I use cold brewed (strong) coffee instead of instand espresso dissolved in water. Works like a charm. Bourbon is great for this and so is Irish Whiskey. This is one of my all time favorite chocolate cakes.
Laura says
I use that same brand of espresso powder and I agree, I think 1/4 cup would be too strong. When I try this recipe, I'll use the regular instant coffee crystals.
I have made quite a few Maida Heatter cakes, and I always just grease and flour the pan where it says "dust pan with breadcrumbs." I don't know why I've never tried the breadcrumbs, but greasing/flouring works fine.
Anna says
Tina, that is a good question and I am going to update my post to address that issue. I had to Google "dust pan with breadcrumbs" to figure out how to do this. What you do is rub the whole pan with butter, shake bread crumbs all over the buttered pan to cover, then tap them off into the sink. The bread crumbs dissolve into the cake and the cake turns right out of the pan perfectly.
Tina says
The recipe states "dust pan with fine dry bread crumbs"--
is this all it takes to keep the cake from sticking to the
pan? My pan does not have a
non-stick coating and I have
had trouble in the past with
bundt cakes sticking...
Anna says
Laura, thanks for checking! That's what Louise uses.
I use this brand of espresso powder.
http://www.medagliadoro.com/products.htm
It's pretty strong and I can only imagine who 1/4 cup would be. I wonder if the espresso powder Maida uses has larger crystals. I'm sure 1/4 cup of regular instant crystals would be fine.
Laura L says
Regarding the question about the espresso, I have her "Great Chocolate Desserts" cookbook, and it specifies "1/4 cup dry instant coffee or espresso".
Karen says
Another huge Maida Heatter fan here. I've made this cake, it's wonderful. Her recipes are the best!
Katrina says
The texture does look great.
dani says
sounds like a wonderful chocolate cake 🙂
Anna says
If a Maida Heatter recipe fails, I know I did something wrong. About the density, I'd say it was dense but very light and tight crumbed.
LimeCake says
i've never had a maida heatter recipe fail me, yet. it looks very tight-crumbed. was it very dense?
Josie says
Sitting in the closet with a book sounds awesome right now. So does the cake.
Anna says
Sue, go with the Bourbon. Just get some Wild Turkey and try it out. I do recommend that you use a high grade chocolate, though.
Cakelaw, I have a picture of Lizzie but I didn't post it because she looks so miserable. Poor baby. Luckily she recovers pretty quickly once the storms are over.
Rebecca, she is the best. While trying to figure out what she was up to these days, I came across this article
http://www.saveur.com/article.jsp?ID=4291&typeID=100.
Rebecca says
I love Maida Heatter. She is the best! And the cake looks good -- simple and yummy.
Cakelaw says
Poor Lizzie! This cake looks marvellous inside - moist and chocolatey.
Sue says
The texture of that looks kind of velvety. I assume the bourbon is important here. I've still never baked with it and am a tad leery of it. Maybe some red wine would be good in it instead?