This whiskey cake is one of many New York Times recipes that we love. A simple no-frosting cake, this recipe combines chocolate, strong coffee, and Irish whiskey. Undertones of black pepper and clove support this chocolate cake, almost like a warm kiss with each bite.
Whiskey Cake
I'm a huge dessert fan but I especially love cake recipes. Those who know me best are aware that I overdosed on chocolate at the tender age of five. True story. This incident involved a trip to the emergency room and it sealed my love of chocolate. Forever.
You can make this chocolate whiskey cake in under an hour and a half. The rich combination of flavors will leave everyone thinking that it took you all day to make it, only we know better. It will be our little secret.
What's in this Whiskey Cake
Unsweetened cocoa powder and semi-sweet mini chocolate chips make up the backbone of this rustic cake recipe. The ingredients that bring it to life include:
- Coffee
- Irish whiskey
- Black pepper
- Ground cloves
This recipe starts with chocoalte, right from the beginning. It's what you will use to dust your cake pan.
One of the fun things about this chocolate whiskey cake is that it uses mini-chocolate chips!. You wouldn't normally think of chocolate chips (especially mini ones) to be something that mixes well with whiskey.
Oh contraire, mon frere! The two get along quite well.
Speaking of things that go along well with chocolate, can we talk about coffee?  The two are a match made in heaven. Put it together in a cake and once again, it' a whole new ball game.
When I first saw this whiskey cake recipe, I knew it wasn't if I would recreate this dessert but rather when. Let's just say I didn't wait very long. Maybe a few hours.
Don't wait as long as I did to make this whiskey cake. Life's too short! Grab the ingredients and turn that oven on!
More cake recipes
(we have nearly 40 of them on Platter Talk!)
- Lemon Soda Pound Cake
- Bright and flavorful homemade lemon cake recipe.
- Slow Cooker Sticky Caramel Pumpkin Cake
- Crockpot cake recipe using canned pumpkin that's ready to eat in two hours.
- Coconut Carrot Cake
- Luxurious carrot cake made with toasted coconut flakes.
- Keto Chocolate Cake
- Keto dessert made from scratch.
- RumChata Cupcakes
- Sky-High Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
- Coconut Carrot Cake
- Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Butter Cream
- See all of our Cake Recipes!
FAQ
Can this Whiskey Cake be frozen?
This chocolate cake keeps well in the freezer for up to a couple of months. Allow it to completely cool, then double-wrap in plastic kitchen wrap before freezing. When ready to eat, allow the cake to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, still wrapped.
Can I make this as Gluten-Free Cake?
For a gluten-free cake, use an equal amount of gluten-free flour as a substitute for the all-purpose flour in the recipe.
Pro baking tips
- Use a kitchen scale to measure ingredients. Measuring cups and measuring spoons can vary in size. A kitchen scale is an affordable investment to give you better results!
- To keep your cakes and other baked goods from sticking, see our post and video on How to Grease a Cake Pan.
Have you tried this whiskey cake recipe? Please let us know how you liked it by leaving a comment below. Also, FOLLOW US on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and PINTEREST to see what we have cooking!
Whiskey Cake
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1-inch pieces, more for pan
- 85 grams unsweetened cocoa powder about ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 ½ cups brewed strong coffee
- ½ cup Irish whiskey
- 200 grams granulated sugar about 1 cup
- 156 grams light brown sugar about 1 cup
- 240 grams all-purpose flour about 2 cups
- 8 grams baking soda about 1 ½ teaspoons
- 3 grams fine sea salt about ¾ teaspoon
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- â…› teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
- Powdered sugar for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springform pan. Dust with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder.
- In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm coffee, Irish whiskey, 12 tablespoons butter and remaining cocoa powder, whisking occasionally, until butter is melted. Whisk in sugars until dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Slowly whisk egg mixture into chocolate mixture. Add dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Transfer to oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack, then remove sides of pan. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Lauren
Can this be layered and frosted?
Dan from Platter Talk
Yes, of course!
Marina Osmond
I have been wanting to make this cake for a really long time! The batter, like some other folks said, is very runny, (like soup). I added another 1/2 cup of flour and ended up having to bake it for 1.5 hours and it was still a little soft at the bottom. I used the Irish Whiskey "Writers Tears" but the cake overall ended up tasting like bananas. My partner thought so too. I guess thats what happens to the whiskey once its baked in. Kind of strange. I was hoping this would turn out as amazing as everyone else said theirs did and I had high hopes for it. It was just okay.
The details on how to not have your cake stick to the pan was helpful though, my cake slid right now. I used a spring-form pan, cut out the parchment paper and fit it into the bottom, then sprayed PAM on it and put in the 2 tbsp of cocoa.
Melissa
Made this today for a little catch up with some friends tomorrow, they have had their wedding cancelled like so many others due to covid so I am going to decorate with their names on top in icing sugar!
I also made the gluten free version because sadly I cannot eat wheat, and it has come out lovely. I used half a tea spoon of xanthan gum too if anyone wants to make the GF version.
Aarti Gulabani
Hi ...do I need to use unsalted butter or would salted work too ? Also do we really have to use the cloves and the pepper ?
I love baking and can not wait to try this recipe
Also I have regular unsweetened cocoa ... we Donot get too many options in India 😄
Dan from Platter Talk
You can use salted butter and feel free to season this cake with either pepper and cloves, or just one of them. If I were going to choose one over the other, I would recommend the cloves! Thanks for the excellent question and we can't wait to hear how you enjoy this special cake recipe!
Aarti Gulabani
Baked this cake (without the pepper and cloves) for my father in laws 75 th birthday 🥳 I used 2 chocolate flavored Nespresso pods to make the coffee brew and used a 10 year malt whiskey
The cake turned out delicious and moist but it was dense but I guess that’s what the recipe says
Next time will add a chocolate ganache to make it gooey
Thanks for the great recipe
Cara
Made this for my husband's birthday and it turned out DELICIOUS. I left out the black pepper and cloves, but the flavor was amazing. Even better after a day in the fridge! I topped mine with a dark chocolate ganache.
Brittany
Could I make this a vanilla coffee whiskey cake? I know cocoa is one of the main ingredients but we’re stuck inside the house and the only ingredient I don’t have is cocoa! Maybe I could use the food processor on the chocolate chips or melt them them into the coffee/whiskey mixture?
Dan from Platter Talk
That sounds like a delicious idea! Give it a try and let us know how it turns out!
Patty
I made a half recipe for myself a week ago and tomorrow I will make it again for friends, to help us through a stormy winter. Tomorrow we will pair it with whipped cream and red wine. When I made it the first time I used some random cocoa powder I had in the cupboard. For the cake tomorrow I bought new cocoas, both plain cocoa and Dutch processed cocoa. That led to much refresher research on when to use each, and pairing each with it's most appropriate rising agent, namely baking soda for regular cocoa and baking powder for Dutch processed. This brings me to my question. Your recipe indicates simply "unsweetened cocoa" which makes me think regular, not Dutch. Also your rising agent is baking soda which matches regular cocoa. But there is a link in your recipe to Amazon where they are selling Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, which happens to be Dutch processed! I'm considering splitting the baby, by using half of each. The cake was perhaps a little heavier than it could be and I may cut back on the soda and add some baking powder. There is plenty of acid in the recipe already (coffee and whiskey), so less soda shouldn't hurt in any case. Any words of advice?? Thanks, Patty
Dan from Platter Talk
Patty, first, what a great way to deal with winter; I like your style! Second, it sounds like you have indeed been doing a lot of reading on that matter. I would go with splitting the cocoa. As I recall I don't believe this cake is, by nature, going to be on the lighter side in terms of density, making it even more suitable for a stormy winter and red wine. Thanks so much for the wonderful questions and insight.