Third time’s the charm: Chocolate Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze

This deliciously chocolate, finely crumbed cake is iced with a three-ingredient bourbon glaze. Recipe below.

I BAKED THIS CAKE THREE TIMES BEFORE I GOT IT RIGHT. Three times. Three. The problem was not the flavor—a lovely chocolate—or the texture—finely crumbed and pleasing and entirely too easy to eat. It was the pan.

Bundt pans exist for two reasons. The first is even cooking. If you are struggling with a cake recipe that never seems to properly bake all the way through—with dry, toasty edges and a hideous, damp, raw center—then try it in a bundt pan. The problem will go away. The second is that bundt pans also allow you to produce a gorgeous display, something show-offy and dazzling that says you are a champion, with a big, generous heart and a big, generous imagination. A dizzying array of shapes are available—knots, turkeys, knife-sharp swirling ridges, rustic cabins, a castle, a bunny, a rose.

And that, the complicated shapeliness, can be the problem. For years, I’ve used the same Wilton bundt pan, a very basic model with a shallow, modest design—you see its pattern in the cake photo above. But in December, we treated ourselves to a brand-new bundt pan, with a nonstick surface and an ornate, gorgeous pattern. I’ve wanted a fancier bundt pan for ages, and I was thrilled.

I was a fool. The bundt pan I’ve been working with since forever has never given me an instant of trouble. Cakes baked in it come up evenly and then turn out with effortless grace. In fact, I was completely, blissfully unaware that things might be otherwise. Foolish me! Apparently, bundt pans are a minefield of trouble. On Google, “Bundt cake won’t release from pan” offers 425,000 results. The King Arthur Flour website has an entre section called “Stuck Bundt.” And, in this gorgeous new pan, my cakes were indeed stuck. On the first attempt, the entire top section remained behind in the pan—the cake looked like a medieval ruin. On my second attempt, following all the helpful tips on the King Arthur site, somewhat less of the cake remained behind in the pan, and when it grudgingly and partially slid out, it broke into three raggedy pieces. On my third attempt, I used the old bundt pan, and no problem. Fine then.

Having said all that, this cake came out a delight—even the ruined versions were a delight—with a fine crumb and an addictive, comforting chocolate flavor. This cake is very, very easy to eat (yes, we are adding extra cardio to our daily routine!). The batter for this recipe is our magpie variation on a tried-and-true from the King Arthur Flour site.

When you’ve turned out the cake and cooled it, you can simply sprinkle it with confectioner’s sugar. If you are eager for a super-chocolate finish, ice it with a chocolate ganache. This time, I decided to go with a subtle bourbon glaze created by Dolester Miles, executive pastry chef of the Stitt restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama. See Ava Lowrey’s short film about Dolester Miles, Dol, here.

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Chocolate Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze

A deliciously chocolate, finely crumbed cake iced with a three-ingredient bourbon glaze.

Course Dessert

Equipment

• A 10- to 12-cup bundt pan

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 cup freshly brewed coffee
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1-1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
• 1-3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream, or plain whole-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• vegetable shortening, such as Crisco

For the Highlands Restaurant bourbon glaze

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
• Put the coffee, cocoa, butter and grapeseed oil in a small saucepan and heat, stirring, until the butter melts. Stir everything together so it is well blended, then take it off the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl, put the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour, and stir it gently with a fork.
• After the cocoa mixture has cooled for 10 minutes, add it to the bowl and mix—I used a regular wooden spoon. Residue will cling to the sides of the bowl—scrape it down and keep stirring until everything is evenly mixed.
• Next, whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla in a small bowl until it is uniform. Add it to the big bowl and mix again to combine everything nicely.
• Prepare your bundt pan now—brush it thoroughly with some melted shortening or coat with a cooking spray. Then immediately pour in the batter.
• Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, depending on your oven. This is done when a tester inserted at the center comes out clean. Our oven is rather fast, so for us this was ready at 45 minutes exactly.
• Set the pan on a rack and let it cool for 5 minutes. Then gently ease a thin knife around the edges of the pan, to loosen the cake. Be careful! You don’t want to damage the surface of the cake. Then right away, place another rack on top of the pan, the up side of the rack facing down, invert the bundt pan so it is resting face down on the new rack, and let it sit on your counter another 5 minutes. The cake should slide out easily at that point. If not, see Kitchen Notes.
• When the cake is completely cool, and not before!, it may be iced.
• Make the glaze. Put the sugar, bourbon and butter in a small saucepan. Cook it over low heat, whisking constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the butter is melted. You will know this is ready when you don’t see any sugar crystals. Ice the cake right away. I found that what worked best with this glaze was to spoon it over the cake rather than spread or pour it on—that gave me the amount of control I wanted. You can also brush it on with a silicone brush.

Kitchen Notes

What if my cake breaks anyway? Make cake pops! Or if your cake comes out in one piece but just the top is wrecked, slice the top flat and cover the whole thing with an opaque icing. Keep anything you slice off for yourself, for a nibble, or to make parfaits, layering the scraps with pudding or crème anglaise and berries, or turn the scraps into cake crumbs, lightly toast them and use them on other stuff—scattered on French toast or on the icing of another cake, for instance.

Yikes! Now I’m worried. Here are some tips for getting the cake out of the bundt pan. Coat the pan, using a pastry brush, with melted shortening (NOT butter), or coat with a cooking spray, and do that immediately before you put in the batter (not back when you are just starting to assemble things). Do not also coat with flour! When the cake is done, rest it on a rack for five minutes; then gently slide a thin table knife down around the edges to ease it free, as far as you can reach; then turn the pan over on the rack and just let it sit there for another five minutes. Then if it has not already slid out, give the pan a gentle tap or two. That should do the trick. I also recommend checking out these two pieces from the King Arthur Baking Company blog: Stuck Bundt and How to prevent Bundt cakes from sticking.

Which bourbon should I use? Don’t use the best stuff! We did not use our everyday bourbon, Town Branch, nor the gorgeous stuff by Blanton's given us by our friend Mohib (Thanks, Mohib! It’s so, so nice!). You want something that is pleasant and acceptable but modest—we used Kentucky Best from Trader Joe's. If some awful bourbon found its way into your house, and you are thinking of using it up because it is harsh or too much like paint thinner or bug repellent, well, don’t use it in this icing. 

What if I don’t want to share? This cake is the sort of thing you want to bring to an event, or serve as a dessert, or slice up to give to your neighbors. Or, if you want to keep it all, but not eat it all in the first couple of days, then slice it, wrap the slices tightly, and put them in the freezer.

Liz’s Crockery Corner, this week, is not about crockery but about this glass cake stand, which we picked up many years ago at some Missouri flea market. Vintage and antique cake stands can be lovely things—the prettiest have ruffled or lacelike edges and the older ones have ornate pressed glass flourishes. We’ve seen arrangements of petit fours and canapés on a bouquet of different pretty cake stands on party tables, and of course, they are also popular for wedding receptions—a charming display. You can also use vintage cake stands every day around the house, for instance to hold fruit or to serve bread rolls at dinner. Some people like to collect cake stands—people collect anything really—but if you think you may want to take up this hobby, keep in mind that they are fairly awkward to store and take up a lot of space (it could be worse, you could want to collect barber chairs or tractors or oil rigs). Our cake stand is relatively new and relatively austere—no ruffles, no rim, no elaborate reticulations or 19th century back story. The pattern is called Teardrop, and it was made by the Indiana Glass Company, probably in the 1950s or 1960s.