TWD: Chocolate Whisky Cake (with a secret ingredient)

Sorry this post is late, my internet has been acting up for days- I'm finally back online now!

Ok so I know this cake looks mysteriously similar to the Daring Bakers cake I posted right before it- but it was actually really quite different. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Lyb of And then I do the Dishes (you can find the recipe on her blog). This cake was AMAZING! Seriously, I am having a very difficult time not eating the entire thing by myself and I cannot wait to make it again. The cake actually calls for Armagnac but as I walked down the liquor aisle of the grocery store at 7:45 AM with my one year old child and burgeoning pregnant belly I didn't immediately see Armagnac or any type of Cognac- instead I just grabbed an inexpensive bottle of whiskey and checked out as quickly as I could! I'm not a huge alcohol drinker when I'm not pregnant (which is starting to feel like never, by the way) and I definitely know almost nothing about liquor so I was not interested in buying a big, expensive bottle of it just to bake a cake. Well, apparently many of the TWD bakers felt the same way because most of them ended up using whiskey as well!


Anyway, back to the actual cake and the secret ingredient- prunes! That's right! Prunes! Dried plums in a chocolate cake! Don't be deterred by the bad reputation that prunes often have- they are delicious in this cake- of course, they are soaked in liquor, so that might help a little. The other really great ingredient in this cake is the ground pecans- it gives a little nuttiness to the chocolate and helps to give the otherwise extremely fudgey, moist cake a little bite.


I have to admit that I used semi-sweet chocolate for both the cake and the icing even though the recipe called for bittersweet but it turned out great anyway. I really loved this cake- I think it is the best chocolate cake I have ever made! Thanks so much to Lyb for picking this gem of a recipe out for us to bake!