Despite having studied abroad in Ireland for a semester in college, I have some sort of mental block when it comes to Irish food: I utterly lack the ability to think beyond corned beef and cabbage. Even if I were, I’m not creative enough to think of interesting ways to prepare the dish (which, to be fair, probably has a lot to do with the fact that I would never prepare it in the first place). Further compounding my problem is that, despite having the last name Gallagher, my family doesn’t really eat Irish food. But we do drink, and that’s close enough.
There’s a good reason that when you go to an Irish bar, buying a Guinness is ounce for ounce cheaper than buying a soda: Ireland is awesome. So for St. Patrick’s day, my friend Elizabeth, who is one half of El and Lo, decided to come over and help celebrate what makes Ireland great, while still feeling fancy and breaking out the mixer. The result? Whiskey Chocolate Cake.
What I love about this recipe is that it doesn’t require any fancy ingredients; most of this stuff is probably already in your cupboards at home — including the whiskey. It’s cool; I don’t judge. The only thing that you may need to get is the unsweetened chocolate and instant espresso, because really, who the hell wants unsweetened chocolate or instant espresso in their house without a very good reason?
We had to improvise a little bit, since I’m still without a working stove. I melted the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, and when we needed a cup of boiling water, Elizabeth went straight for the Keurig. It was a brilliant move, that I fully admitted I never would have thought of.
I’m not a sophisticated foodie. I’m just going to come out and tell you that right now. This is why bundt cakes concern me. I’m still a five-year-old at heart, and I get nervous around cake that doesn’t have any icing. I thought it would be bland and dry — it was anything but. Maybe it was because I had already had a fair amount of wine, but whoa. That was some boozy chocolate. The whiskey made the cake moist and flavorful, to the point that icing would have been ridiculously overpowering.
We used a full cup of whiskey, which may have been a bit much. 3/4 of a cup would probably do, but 1 cup wasn’t bad at all, if you’re looking for an adventure. The only thing we should have done differently is served it with vanilla ice cream. We realized this pretty early into the baking process, but the aforementioned wine precluded us from actually doing anything about it.
I was worried that just making a boozy chocolate cake wasn’t in the holiday spirit enough, so Elizabeth traced a shamrock keychain on some wax paper and we made stencils with powdered sugar. I think you’ll agree that we clearly missed our artistic calling.
As soon as we started eating, we ditched the wine and traded it for coffee. A few people at the table opted for Irish coffee, which just seemed like a terrible idea. They, however, disagreed. Since St. Patty’s day is on a Tuesday this year, you may want to at least seem responsible by staying in, but staying in doesn’t have to be boring. Cook yourself a St. Patrick’s Day feast, and finish it off with a boozy chocolate cake. Plus, the bonus? You’ll totally have whiskey left over!
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Mar 17, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
If you’re willing to sacrifice some of the whiskey volume, I bet you could substitute some strongly-brewed coffee in lieu of the instant espresso. Maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup? Because, as you say, who keeps instant espresso in the house?
That’s actually a really good idea. I think it would have done well with a stronger coffee flavor. But still: boozy cake is delightful.
Arrrg. I hate all of ye and ye wretched kind!
No, seriously. This cake was seriously delicious. I seriously made serious Irish coffee and got seriously drunk. Well, seriously drunker than I already seriously was.
Seriously.