For those of you who don’t like bourbon – no need to fret! This is not a whiskey-tasting cake at all, and once you’ve tried this, I guarantee you’re going to want to make this again and again.
This recipe consists of the chocolate cake and ganache, the praline frosting and on top of it all, the bourbon glaze. Each part of this recipe is a masterpiece of their own, so you are going to want to hold on to these – maybe you’d like to combine some of them with your other favorite recipes, as well! I know I’ve used the bourbon glaze for other cakes, too, over the years.
Ingredients
Cake:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) Land O’ Lakes butter, softened
3 cups Domino sugar
3 large Eggland’s eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 + 1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups strong coffee
3/4 cup Borden buttermilk
Chocolate Ganache:
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate morsels
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup Land O’ Lakes butter, cut into pieces
Praline Frosting:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons Land O’ Lakes butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 cup Domino powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Bourbon Glaze:
4 tablespoons Land O’ Lakes butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Domino brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup bourbon
Instructions:
Cake:
Grease bottoms of 3 (9-inch) round cake pans; line with parchment paper; set pans aside.
Cream together butter and sugar. Whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one a time, until well combined. Whisk in 1/2 cup coffee until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt.
Add the flour mixture and remaining coffee with buttermilk to the sugar-butter mixture, alternating between flour and coffee/buttermilk, mixing between the addition of each. Begin and end with flour. Pour evenly into prepared pans.
Bake at 350 F for 25 to 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
Ganache:
Using a double boiler melt the butter and chocolate chips in to the whipping cream. Remove from heat and let thicken for 8-10 minutes.
Frosting:
Bake pecans on a baking sheet at 350° for 15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once.
Bring butter, brown sugar, and cream to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat, stirring often; boil, stirring often, 1 minute. Remove from heat, and whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add toasted pecans; stir gently 3 minutes or until frosting begins to cool and thicken slightly.
Glaze:
Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium-high heat; stir in sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat, and stir in bourbon. Carefully ignite the fumes just above liquid mixture with a long match or long multipurpose lighter. Let stand until flames disappear.
Assemble:
Cut off the top of bottom and middle layer to create a level cake. Spread about 1/2 cup chocolate ganache between each cake layer; spread remaining chocolate ganache on sides of cake. (Do not frost top of cake.) Chill cake 30 minutes. Pour warm praline frosting slowly over top of cake, spreading to edges.
Pierce about 25 holes in top of cake using a wooden or metal skewer. Pour warm bourbon glaze over cake.
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Quick tip: This cake is delicious even without the glaze!