A very boozy chocolate Bundt cake originally from Maida Heatter. With a quarter cup of espresso powder and bourbon, it's not the most kid-friendly dessert, but it's a fun one and was known to be one of Maida's favorite cakes.
1cupcold water plus as much needed as per the directions
½cupbourbonor rum, Cognac, or Scotch whiskey
8ounces unsalted butter(228 grams)
2cupssugar(400 grams)
1teaspoonvanilla extract
3largeeggs
2tablespoonsOPTIONAL: additional bourbon
2tablespoonsOPTIONAL: 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.
Notes
The volume measurement is for flour that is sifted and then measured, so it is a light and fluffy 2 cups weighing about 235 grams. This is something like 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons unsifted.