Kahlua Cake: Worth the Calories

My weekend started off with a Mud Dauber wasp stinging me when I opened my front door and is going to end with a tropical storm tomorrow. "Florida: the Murphy's Law of States." But painful wasp stings and flash flooding can't bring me down because I just made what I consider one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever baked and/or eaten in my entire life! I've always been a firm believer in the mood-lifting power of chocolate, and it certainly doesn't hurt that the other star ingredient in this cake was booze (Kahlua, specifically). I had my doubts about this cake because I am not a fan of coffee at. all. Turns out to make coffee flavor bearable, you only need to add rum to it. God Bless the good folks at Kahlua for figuring that one out. I don't think I'm going to be picking coffee up anytime soon outside of cakes, though. I'm one of those obnoxious morning people that wakes up ready to take on the day's obstacles (thanks, high-functioning anxiety!). I actually made this boozy chocolate confection for my boss's birthday. She is both a coffee lover and a chocolate lover and once mentioned Kahlua being one of her favorite liquors, and this steel trap mind of mine held on to that information (yet, I have to meet a person ten times before I remember their name, so...my mind is more like a rusty steel trap in need of WD-40, but a steel trap nonetheless).

And it will never forget how good this cake was.

I have been crazy about bundt cakes recently. When you have to bake on a tight schedule and know there's not much time for decorating, the bundt pan takes care of the heavy lifting for you with its intricate design. So, if you're a lazy baker, bundt pans are your bestie. This chocolate chip Kahlua bundt cake with Kahlua ganache in no way comes across as a lazy-looking or tasting bake by any means. It has the right balance of dark chocolate, booze, and sweetness. I really hate the word, but moist is literally the only way to describe the texture. It practically melts on your tongue. So it's great if you're even feeling to lazy to chew! ...we've all had those days. I wish I could tell you I somehow managed to make this cake low cal, but that would be a lie. Birthday calories don't count, you see (and other lies I tell myself) --an additional working title for my autobiography. If you make this into 20 servings, each slice will knock you back 358 calories. Not terrible by any means, but a typical bundt cake's 16 servings is 448 calories a slice, which fills me with an urge to go run five miles before I eat it, and I'm not even a runner (I'm told running from your problems does not count). In the end though, this cake is worth any and all calories because it holds within it the power to provide the eater with a solid 1-hour post-cake euphoria.

And you only need six ingredients! ...plus my two secret weapon ingredients.

No one, and I mean no one, will believe this came from a box mix. I indulged that fact to coworkers, and they were stunned. By adding in a few crucial extras, you can take a simple cake to the next level with ease. So easy, a kid could do it! Although letting your child bake a booze cake is probably frowned upon? I don't know much about kids, but I have a solid inkling they shouldn't be left alone with booze or an oven. To bake this boozy beauty, you'll need:

• 1 Devil's Food cake mix
• 3/4 cup of butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs at room temp
• 1 cup of Kahlua
• 1 cup of light sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350, and get out the two secret ingredients to your cakey success:

You know what makes chocolate better? More chocolate.

 Get out your bundt pan, and spray it with cooking spray. Use so much cooking spray your kitchen could turn into a slip and slide (it still won't be enough cooking spray), and then dust the pan with cocoa powder to help ensure your cake comes out in one piece with a nice dark coloring. Now, as for my second secret ingredient: flour. I've heard time and time again to coat things in flour if you don't want them to sink to the bottom of your cake. I wanted to give this science experiment a shot.

I was apprehensive to say the least.

I figured adding flour to my chocolate chips would take away from their chocolate chippiness (this is a thing), but I'm happy to report this is a baking hack that actually works. I placed my 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips in a large baggie and dumped two tablespoons of flour on top and a tiny drizzle of Kahlua to give it something to stick to (and because, well, more booze). I zipped up the bag and gave it a good shake, coating the chips completely. I set aside, getting back to my main ingredients.

Mmm, Kahlua-y goodness.

In my stand mixing bowl, I placed my cake mix, eggs, cooled melted butter (don't curdle your eggs and sour cream!), sour cream, and Kahlua and mixed for 4 minutes on medium-high. The batter is light and super fluffy, and you will have a hard time restraining yourself from licking the beaters, so save those for later. Dump your baggy of chocolate chips in with the cake batter and give a good stir. Turn out your batter into your prepared bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Don't forget to lick the beaters while you're looking for something to do in those 45 minutes.

So fluffy, you'll also want to dive in fork-first.

Remove from the oven and let your bundt cake cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take an angled spatula or a butter knife and run it around all the ridges and edges of your bundt pan to ensure the cake isn't sticking anywhere.

Then, flip everything upside down!

 Invert everything so that your cooling rack is on top and the bundt pan is on the bottom.

And release!

Then flip again so your pan is on top of the cooling rack. Gently remove from the top of the cake. As you can see, even with all that Pam and cocoa, I still had a piece or two that stuck to my bundt pan, proving even seventeen layers of cooking spray just weren't enough. Don't worry, ganache is like a delicious concealer for any cake impurities. Place in the freezer to cool completely for 30-60 minutes before ganaching.

Doesn't get much simpler than this.

Dump one cup of chocolate chips and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of Kahlua into a microwave safe bowl. Nuke for 30 seconds, then whisk together until the chocolate is completely melted and the ganache is silky smooth. Dump into a measuring cup for easy pouring, and let firm up for 10-15 minutes. You want it to stick to the cake and not all run off...that would be a tragic waste of chocolate and alcohol.

I was tempted to just pour the whole thing into a mug and calling it adult hot chocolate.

Take your bundt cake out of the freezer and place on a cake round or cake plate on top of a cooling rack. I placed a layer of Parchment paper under my cake round so I could control the messy chaos. Once my ganache had firmed up, I slowly drizzled it back and forth over the top of my cooled cake.

Check out that chocolatey goodness.

And because there's no such thing as too much chocolate, I threw a few handfuls of extra semisweet chocolate chips on top (it's akin to satisfying my need to put sprinkles on top of everything, what can I say).

It does make it pretty!

I then placed this into a cake box and let it set up overnight before taking to work with me the next day. Since the ganache is all booze and the dairy is all baked, this one is best at room temp where the moistness (sorry) is at full wow-factor.

Look at that chip distribution!

Happy to report that my chocolate chips did not all sink to the bottom! The flour trick will be reused for all fruit or chip cakes to come. I always know a recipe is good when the room falls completely silent when people are eating. Especially since most of the time my office is a buzz with chit chat and laughter--to keep us quiet, you really do have to give us a darn good reason. And a chocolate cake full of booze and more chocolate is apparently the best way to do that. The birthday boss enjoyed it, so that was a win in my book, as did the rest of my coworkers. Spirits were high for the rest of the day, but when the cake is high in spirits, I suppose that's only the natural order of things. And now I know how I like my coffee--with a helping of booze and chocolate cake. Thanks, Kahlua! 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

I could make at least 6 more of these cakes with that one bottle alone....