These Boozy Cake Recipes Deliver an Added Splash of Elegance - WSJ

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Warm whiskey and pour it over raisins. Set aside.Place a round of parchment paper in the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan and butter the sides. In a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. Stir until smooth and remove from heat. Use an electric mixer to beat egg yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl for a good five minutes, or until pale and voluminous. With motor running, pour in chocolate in a slow, steady stream. Add potato starch and almond flour, and beat until smooth. Fold in raisins and whiskey. In a clean mixing bowl, whip egg whites until firm. Stir a fourth into chocolate batter to lighten it, then gently but decisively fold in remaining egg whites until no streaks of white remain. Pour batter into pan and bake until a knife inserted in cake comes out moist with a smudge of chocolaty batter, 23-26 minutes. Don’t overbake. The cake should be soft in the middle. Set cake aside to come to room temperature. After about 5 minutes, remove sides of springform pan. Make the ganache: In a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter with espresso, if using. Stir until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and stir until perfectly smooth. Once cake reaches room temperature, frost with ganache. Refrigerate at least half an hour, or up to 8 hours. Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before serving.

Step 2

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a medium (8- by 4- by 2½-inch) loaf pan with parchment. Use enough parchment to create a 3-inch overhang so that the cake can be lifted out of the pan once baked.Place raisins in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water. Let sit a minute or two, then drain. Bring 2 tablespoons rum to a boil and pour over raisins. Set aside to macerate while you prepare the batter.Peel and core apples. Cut them into 1⁄2-inch chunks.Use an electric mixer to whip butter until smooth. Pour in 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, a bit at a time, and continue to beat until mixture is pale and creamy. One by one, add eggs, beating after each addition. The mixture should be homogenous.Place a sieve over a separate mixing bowl and sift in flour, salt and baking powder. Use a rubber spatula to gently but decisively fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Fold in raisins and their rum, and then the apples.While the cake is baking, heat the apricot jam.Bake the cake until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven, but do not remove cake from pan. Brush top of cake with warm apricot jam. Set aside to come to room temperature.Just before serving, remove cake from pan using parchment overhang. Discard parchment. In a small pan, combine remaining tablespoon of rum with remaining ⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar. Stir to combine over very low heat for no more than 1 minute. Drizzle glaze over cake and serve.

Step 3

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a Kugelhopf, tube pan or 10-cup Bundt pan. Dust with cocoa powder.Melt butter and set aside, somewhere warm.Place all dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine.In a larger mixing bowl, combine eggs, melted butter, honey, vanilla, crème fraîche and rum. Use an electric mixer on low speed to whisk until thoroughly combined. The purpose is to integrate the ingredients, not add air, so only a minute or two is necessary.Tip dry ingredients and chocolate chips into wet ingredients, and use a rubber spatula to fold to combine.Pour into prepared pan and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (If you insert the knife into a chocolate chip, try again.)