Chocolate Whiskey Cake

The Wunsche Brothers Cafe in Spring, Texas (since 1902) makes a famous chocolate whiskey cake. It may or may not be the first chocolate whiskey cake, but there are claims that it’s the best.
 
 
Wunsche Bros. Cafe Menu
WUNSCHE BROS CHOCOLATE WHISKEY CAKE
Our famous, sinfully rich, dense chocolate and pecan cake, with a kick…4.25
With a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, add….............1.00
 
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Chocolate Whiskey Cake
by mollusc Mon Nov 11 2002 at 7:08:39
 
A dark chocolate cake with a little extra flavoursome kick. Avoids the sometimes excessive sweetness of other rich chocolate cakes. As an extra bonus, it’s a fairly simple recipe, 20 minutes to prepare, 45-50 to cook.

Double Chocolate Whiskey Cake:

250g (8 oz) butter
200g (6 1/2 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cups (12 oz) caster sugar
1/4 cup (2 fl oz) whiskey - I use Johnnie Walker Red Label
1 cup (8 fl oz) hot water
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (2 oz) plain flour
1/2 cup (2 oz) dark cocoa powder - if you can get Dutch dark cocoa, good good. If you can’t, don’t stress. Normal cocoa will do nicely.
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C (300 F). Brush two shallow 20cm (8 inch) round tins with butter, and line the base with baking paper.

Melt the butter in a small, deep saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and melt. Add the sugar, whiskey and hot water and stir on low heat until smooth. Allow to cool slightly, then pour into a large bowl.

Sift the combined flours and cocoa onto the hot chocolate mixture. Whisk with electric beaters until the mix is smooth, then add the eggs. Whisk again until completely free of lumps. The mixture should be quite liquid.

Pour into the two tins and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for a while, then transfer onto a wire rack. For best results with the next stage they should be at room temperature.

Buttercream:

60g (2 oz) butter
1/2 cup (2 oz) sifted icing sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons milk

Beat the butter and icing sugar with electric beaters until pale and creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat for two minutes, until smooth and fluffy.

Make sure the cakes are cool, then spread the cream onto one and sandwich the cakes. Dust with icing sugar.

Note: The cake is easiest to cut if it is refrigerated for half an hour before serving, allowing the buttercream to harden slightly and hold the cake together. It also keeps well in a sealed container for several days, if you have any left. It’s not a particularly heavy cake, so you probably won’t. Enjoy it!