Chocolate Bourbon Cake by Dixie Yakes
We have a birthday this weekend! We are celebrating Paul’s birthday. When I asked
him what kind of cake he wanted, he said chocolate (exactly what I was thinking). So, I asked him how a cake with bourbon, chocolate and cayenne pepper sounded. He said I had him at bourbon and spicy. 
Our oldest daughter and her husband will be in town visiting this weekend and will be here to help us eat this decadent dessert.
I made this cake the day before his birthday so all the flavors could meld together.
I used Woodford Reserve Bourbon but feel free to use your favorite bourbon or whatever you have on hand. There is never a shortage of bourbon in our house. When I use bourbon for cooking I’ve also used inexpensive bourbon- Ezra Brooks is a favorite. It’s priced right but is a great tasting bourbon.
My vanilla for this recipe came from Mexico. I picked it up on one of our last trips there to Cancun.
You can actually pick
it up at the airport on your way out and not have to worry about carrying it around or the bottle getting broken on your vacation. It lasts forever but I couldn’t resist purchasing another bottle at the airport this past September in the Dominican Republic at the Puerto Plato Airport.
Hopefully Paul likes the cake. If not, maybe I’ll have to try another recipe and we will have a do-over. We don’t eat a lot of sweets 
especially when we are not traveling and we are at home. But what better occasion to celebrate with cake than
a birthday?
Cake ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour (or cake flour)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Hershey’s Cocoa Special Dark, unsweetened (can use regular Hershey’s Cocoa Cacao, Unsweetened)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
approximately 2 cups water (explained in instructions)
1 tbs vanilla extract
4 tbs Bourbon
Icing Ingredients
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup Hershey’s Hershey’s Cocoa Cacao, unsweetened
1/4 cup low fat buttermilk
3 tbs Bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 1 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bundt pan with cooking spray.
Using a mixer (I used the wire whisk attachment), add flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa and mix on lowest speed until well incorporated. Add softened butter a little at a time and beat on medium. It will be a crumbly consistency.
In a medium pan on stove top, heat the cayenne pepper, water and bourbon (add 4 tbs of bourbon to a 2 cup measuring cup and add enough water to make 2 cups total) to a simmer. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Set aside for now.
Add buttermilk and then the eggs, one at a time, to the flour/sugar mixture. Mix well on medium.
Then add the water, cayenne pepper, bourbon, vanilla mixture and mix until combined (don’t over mix). Pour into the bundt pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake on center rack at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Keep an eye on it toward the end of cooking time and don’t overcook.
Let the cake cool in the bundt pan for about 10 minutes then slowly turn out onto a serving dish/cake stand.
For the icing:
Combine the butter and cocoa in a medium pan and melt butter on medium heat (this will be very thick). Don’t overcook. Stir in the buttermilk, vanilla and bourbon and then add the confectioners sugar (be careful not to add too much confectioners sugar so that you will be able to drizzle over the cake). It will have a shiny texture. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Drizzle the icing over the cake letting it drip down the sides of the cake. If the icing becomes too thick, place in a microwave safe dish and heat for 15-20 seconds or until melted enough to continue drizzling over cake. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over the top.
Dixie
