I love chocolate. I mean, I really love chocolate. My husband recently found an empty, crumpled up Theo chocolate wrapper next to our bed and asked me where I’d been stashing it and if chocolate addiction was a real thing. When I dreamt up this cake, I wanted it to be rich and dark, something for the real chocolate lovers out there.
This cake is sexy, dark and boozy, made with a flourless baked fudge covered in a bourbon cream ganache and chilled, best served with a little whipped cream to cut the richness of the cake. It’s unbelievably easy, if you can melt chocolate you can make this cake. Because there are so few ingredients I recommend using the best quality chocolate you can, some of my favorites are Valrhona, Theo and TCHO. I’d use 60-70%.
A huge thank you to Drizly for partnering with me on this post! Drizly delivers pretty much any alcohol you could want straight to your door in an hour or less. It’s unbelievably fast, I ordered and had my delivery before I’d gotten up out of my chair. Not kidding, it’s pretty magical. Head over to their website to learn more and to grab the Buffalo Trace Liquor for this recipe, it’s a great excuse to give them a try (as if you need an excuse to save yourself a trip to the liquor store).
- Cake
- 1 cup espresso or strong coffee
- ¾ cup (150 g) sugar
- 9 tbsp (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, diced
- 18 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped or in discs
- 6 eggs, at room temperature
Ganache- ½ c heavy whipping cream
- ½ c Buffalo Trace Cream Liquor
- 8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped or in discs
- whipped cream for serving, if desired
- For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Line the bottom of pan with parchment round; butter parchment and dust pan with cocoa powder. Wrap 3 layers of foil around the outside of the pan, bringing the foil to top of rim. Combine 1 cup coffee or espresso and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. - Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; allow to cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan.
- Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath and transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely in pan.
For ganache: - Bring whipping cream and bourbon cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Can be made 2 days in advance, cover and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake and release sides. Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream.
Recipe adapted from Epicurious
I bought a bottle of Buffalo Trace cream and immediately knew I wanted to try it in a dessert. This recipe did not disappoint. It was a huge hit at a family dinner.
So, I have been looking for a chocolate and bourbon cream cake recipe. I found this one, but, not thrilled with the espresso. Is there a non-coffee substitute? Or, a recipe for a cake without coffee?
Hi Matt! Apologies for the late reply! I think you could definitely make it with water if you weren’t into coffee. I will say that the coffee really just enhances the chocolate flavor, I use espresso in most of my chocolate bakes because I like how rich and chocolatey it makes them. Let me know if you have any other questions!