Chocolate whiskey cake

I woke up with a headache from this dang daylight savings time change. Or maybe I'm fighting off the little girl germs I brought home over the weekend.  It's still pouring rain in Seattle, but at least it's a warmish rain now.  Instead of heading to the gym early with the other head-achy drivers, I decided to make a cake from one of those Internet collections of St. Patrick's Day recipes.  This from the New York Times, my newspaper of choice.

OK, getting down a bottle of bourbon at 7 am doesn't sound like the best idea with a morning headache-- but you'd have to ask an Irishman about that.

 "Hair of the dog" breakfast cake

This is a fairly simple but rich recipe, whisked up in separate bowls and baked in a spring-form pan (make sure yours doesn't leak, or use a Bundt pan.) It's my kind of baking, when you don't have to get out the stand mixer.

As you can see, it makes quite a hefty cake and looks like it serves about 25.  It needs a dab of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Anyway, I'll give you John's opinion tomorrow.

Chocolate Whiskey Cake

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, more for pan
•  3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
• 1 ½ cups brewed strong coffee (the dregs of the pot this morning)
• ½ cup Irish whiskey
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (I chopped up a Trader Joes 85% chocolate bar)
• Powdered sugar, for serving 

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 10-inch spring form pan. Dust with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder. 
2. In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm coffee, whiskey (you could also use bourbon or brandy)  12 tablespoons butter and cocoa powder, whisking occasionally, until butter is melted. Whisk in sugars until dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely.
3. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Slowly whisk egg mixture into chocolate mixture. Add dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Transfer to oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack, then remove sides of pan. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.