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.
©Platter Talk
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
- ⅛ 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.
Melissa says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
That sounds like a delicious idea! Give it a try and let us know how it turns out!
Patty says
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 says
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.
Chilly says
What can be used as frosting over this cake… Ganache??
Dan from Platter Talk says
Sure, or none at all, as we show served.
Kate says
I seen a recipe online using whiskey ganache.
I will be using this on my whiskey cake since men love a good chocolaty cake! 😉
Chilly says
What can be the replacement for the irish whiskey… Would any whiskey do??
Dan from Platter Talk says
Any whiskey should work with this chocolate cake recipe.
Kim says
Oh my goodness! This recipe was delicious! It was so rich and decadent! I bought a 12 year single malt scotch to go in it and wasn’t disappointed. What a great dessert to make for friends!
Dan from Platter Talk says
Thanks for the great feedback, Kim! We’re happy to hear that you enjoyed this homemade chcoolater cake!
Aparna says
Baked this cake today… Smells awesome. Has risen beautifully. Havent tasted yet though. I tweaked the recipe as in i prepared the coffee whiskey cocoa sauce as instructed but used only half of it since it would made the cake dough very watery i think half cup strong coffee should be enough. I supplemented with extra butter cocoa coffee and whiskey to make for the missing half.
Dan from Platter Talk says
Mmmmmm; I wish we were there to taste this beauty. Thanks for the feedback and hope you enjoy!!!
Caitlyn says
Could you make this in a bundt pan?
Dan from Platter Talk says
Caitlyn, I think this recipe would work great in a bundt pan. Be sure to see how we grease and flour a cake pan. Thanks for the great question and please let us know how this turns out!
May says
Made this cake and turn out wet mushy at the bottom, and hard on top. Does not have a cake texture but more like a hard pudding.
What did I do wrong ?
Dan from Platter Talk says
Hi May. It sounds like your oven temp was hot on the top and cool on the bottom, but not knowing any other particulars it is impossible to say why you did not have a good experience with this chocolate cake.
Jennifer E. says
I have made this cake before. It is wonderful and you never have to worry about taking home leftovers. I wonder, can you use this same recipe to make cupcakes?
Dan from Platter Talk says
Cupcakes would be a delicious form of this winning recipe. Thanks so much for the wonderful words and for reading Platter Talk!
Susan Whitehurst says
Exquisite, devine, heavenly, all inadequate words to describe this masterpiece of chocolate paradise.
Dan from Platter Talk says
Could not have said it better!
cookilicious says
Just the name was enough to drag me to this wonderful recipe. Its got coffee and whisky in it..plus its a cake..what more does one want from life!!! Such a simple recipe to get some heaven on earth! 🙂
Dan from Platter Talk says
I hope you try this dessert soon!
Martha says
I made this yesterday for my dad’s birthday – he loves coffee and whiskey. The texture was quite dense and moist (the batter was very runny too) but still good and the flavour was delicious! The coffee, whiskey and spices really round out the chocolate for a cake that is not too sweet but still very indulgent. Thanks for a great recipe!
Dan from Platter Talk says
Sounds like it was a hit! Thanks for the feedback.
Jovita @ Yummy Addiction says
Wow, this cake looks great! I love everything with bourbon so I guess whiskey will be right up my alley too. Thanks for the recipe!
Dan from Platter Talk says
Jovita, it’s so nice to hear from you here on Platter Talk and yes, absolutely – try this cake soon!
Aish Das-Padihari says
I had made this cake when it was published in NYT. But my cake didn’t come out very well – not that spongy and there was a strong scotch flavor. I’ll try to make this cake again by adding coffee as you have done.
Dan from Platter Talk says
I read similar reviews, in the original NYT recipe. We couldn’t have had more delicious results from our experience!
katrinajeancarter says
Love your opening statement! I believe chocolate is indeed one of the blessings from God as well. It makes a lot of people happy and brings them together! This recipe is awesome. So moist and so scrumptious!
http://www.KatrinaJeanCarter.wordpress.com
Dan from Platter Talk says
Thanks so much, Katrina; I could eat this gift of the Gods every day.
Florentina says
I have some good whiskey in the Mancave, so this needs to happen pronto! Chocolate yum!
Dan from Platter Talk says
Thanks for the comments, Florentina; as a bonus this is sure to make your Batman happy!
Dahn@savor the best says
wow, chocolate, coffee and whiskey. Great flavors to combine in a cake. I love it
Michelle @ Vitamin Sunshine says
So many amazing flavors! (and photos!)
2 Sisters Recipes says
OH my… dark coffee, rich chocolate, ground cloves, black pepper and whiskey? This cake has to be amazing!!!
We are drooling just looking at your cake. Fabulous recipe!
Cindy Lapp says
Ohhhhh……wow!!!!! I just hafta!!!!
Dan from Platter Talk says
Oh, yes, Cindy!!!
Jeff Antonissen says
You had me at whiskey! I will have to make this
Dan from Platter Talk says
Can’t wait to see what touches of your own that you add!
Patty Haxton Anderson says
Your post was thoroughly enjoyable!
Dan from Platter Talk says
Thanks, Patty. You have to try this cake!