Hooch Cake for the New Year

Well, I did it, folks. I set out to try 52 new recipes in the new year, because for the most part, I only cooked variations of macaroni and cheese and my dad's chicken adobo recipe.  Ah... that first blog entry seems so long ago.  I was so much younger then.  Full of hope. Full of fear for the polar vortex.  There was no Mariano's then, you know.  But now there is.  And I've accomplished what I set out to do! Hooray! WE MUST CELEBRATE!!!

This whole thing started because of a new year's resolution and it was one of my favorite things about 2014.  I don't typically like resolutions but that's because this is the first year I was actually able to keep one.  

And so we begin again.  Tomorrow is the day we promise to do better. When we vow to value our minds, bodies and souls as we should.  When we resolve to give up things that without moderation might ruin us -- things like chocolate or whiskey or cake.  And so, on this, the last day of 2014, I present to you this year's final blog post:

Recipe #52: Chocolate Whiskey Cake

Choice of libation: Coffee - since the recipe called for it, I thought it best to make sure it was good.  And.  Also, whiskey, since the recipe called for it, I thought it best to make sure it was good.

Choice of music:  "Reloaded: Greatest Hits" by Tom Jones.  Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. But don't lie to me and tell me you don't enjoy listening to "Delilah" and of course, "It's Not Unusual."

Oh, you're welcome.  I can't tell what I like better about this clip -- the weird disco alien dancers at the top of the video who maybe are also attending some sort of Eastern European wedding, the awkward screaming from audience members who maybe are on their lunch break at a prep school whose students have been deprived of dancing or music...

While there are no pictures of me eating the cake, you can guess that it will look a lot like this.

Ah. Dark chocolate, cocoa powder, whiskey, coffee and rum...

These are a few of my favorite things.

Butter and dust that cake pan with cocoa powder. Because. Calcium and antioxidants.

And you better dust those dark chocolate chips with more chocolate.

So the recipe called for ground cloves which I totally thought I had but I didn't so I used nutmeg in its place and stirred it in with the other dry ingredients.  I think I like nutmeg better than cloves anyway.

#justifyanything

Ah yes, so in that sauce pan is more butter and more chocolate and yes, I AM about to add a whole cup of brown sugar, followed by a whole cup of granulated sugar. 

I mean, at this point, I don't even care if the cake turns out well. I can smell that whiskey and that coffee with the chocolate. If it's an ugly cake I will eat it by myself. 

Here goes.  It's at this point that I realized I should have used a springform pan. Oops.

 

So. Okay. It's not the prettiest.  But I am about to eat a whole bunch of it while sipping more whiskey coffee and watching one of the best movies of all time,The Apartment, which is a new New Year's Eve tradition I am starting right now.  So I'm pretty sure that means I am winning.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYBODY! I ABSOLUTELY ADORE YOU!!!

Stolen and adapted from Cowgirl Cuisine by Paula Disbrowe

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup whiskey
1 1/2 sticks  (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (I used nutmeg)
3 large eggs plus one egg white
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I used spiced rum)


Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees . Butter a 10-inch springform pan, dust with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and place on a baking sheet.
In a saucepan, whisk together the coffee, whiskey, butter and 3/4 cup cocoa powder over low heat. Whisk in the granulated and brown sugars. Let cool. In a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and cloves. Whisk the eggs, egg white and vanilla into the cooled coffee-chocolate mixture. Whisk in the flour mixture. Fold the cocoa-dusted chocolate chips into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out just slightly moist, about 1 hour. Let cool. Dust with the remaining 1 tablespoon cocoa powder before serving.