I have been having great luck with the bundt cake recipes lately! This chocolaty whiskey cake from Love and Olive Oil is especially decadent and was quite a hit at a recent birthday party. Like the crack cake, it is also boozy but with my favorite of the hard stuff: whiskey.

Make sure to butter AND flour your bundt pan. I didn’t. Because I’ve gotten away with it always before. This time when I dumped out the cake part of it stayed in the pan. So sad! I’m not sure what makes a cake more likely to break, but this one did.

The cake took only 35 minutes when the recipe said 50-55. I don’t know if it is my oven but I always have to check around 35-45 minutes.

Whiskey Cake
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
3/4 cup dark or Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (I made buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to a 1 cup measure and the adding milk to make the cup)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup warm water (microwave 20-30 seconds)
1/4 cup Tennessee whiskey or bourbon (I used Jack Daniels)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Caramel Whiskey Sauce
1 cup sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup water
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tablespoons Tennessee whiskey or bourbon (I used Jack Daniels)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bundt pan and the dust with equal parts flour and cocoa powder.
2. Whisk together dry cake ingredients (sugar though salt).
3. Add buttermilk, eggs, and oil, and mix until just combined. Add water, whiskey, and vanilla, and mix until smooth (be careful not to over mix).
4. Pour into bundt pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
5. Meanwhile make your caramel whiskey sauce: Heat sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a small pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and cover for a couple of minutes to dissolve the sugar. Remove lid and boil without stirring until it becomes caramel color (watch it carefully, it can go from not done to burnt fast!). Take off the heat and stir in the cream, butter and whiskey.
6. Remove from oven, let cool a little, then cover with foil to keep moist. Then pour over some of the caramel sauce leaving a little extra if people want to add more.