Maggie Beer’s Chocolate Cake with whisky soaked raisins
January is birthday season in our house so we don’t make New Year resolutions that are doomed to failure before a week has passed. Instead we indulge in spoiling our nearest and dearest. Our family elder’s first choice would always be red wine, whisky and chocolate cake, so Maggie Beer’s chocolate cake with whisky soaked raisins seemed the perfect choice.
The first celebration was for adults only so we reached into the depths of the cellar to find an old iconic Aussie shiraz to serve with the standing rib roast I planned to cook in the kettle barbecue, then we finished our meal with birthday cake, a special very chocolatey, very moist and very rich cake.
Five people made a big mess of the cake before I thought to get out the camera, some even came back for a third serve, what you see is the aftermath. We were all impressed with the flavour and texture, it was beautifully light and clean. Perhaps that’s the magic of including Scotch.
Maggie Beer’s Chocolate Cake with whisky soaked raisins
1/3 cup raisins (muscatels)
1/3 cup whisky
160g blanched almonds
50g white spelt flour
375g dark chocolate couverture
finely grated zest of an orange
210g unsalted butter
170g castor sugar
pinch of salt
5 free range eggs
ganache:
175g pouring cream
250g dark chocolate couverture
Pour the whisky over the raisins and leave to macerate for several hours.
Preheat the oven to 170C. Oil a 20cm springform cake pan and line it with baking paper.
Put the almonds on a paper lined tray, then toast them in the oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool a little then process to a fine meal. Set aside with the measured flour.
Melt the chocolate in a metal bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Do not allow the bowl to come into contact with the water. Gently stir until the chocolate is smooth and glossy, then remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the orange zest.
Cream the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. The mixture will split, but come back together once the flour is added.
Fold in the chocolate, then stir in the whisky soaked raisins, almond meal and flour.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, then bake until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
Remove the cake to a cooling wire. After 5 minutes release and remove the sides of the cake tin and allow to cake to cool completely.
to make the ganache:
Put the cream into a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
Remove the cream from the heat and stir in the chocolate.
Continue gently stirring only until the ganache is smooth.
Spread the chocolate over the top and sides of the cake and decorate as desired.
Allow the ganache to set before cutting the cake with a hot knife.
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24 comments on “Maggie Beer’s Chocolate Cake with whisky soaked raisins”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
Whisky and chocolate, my hubbie would be loving this cake!
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Thanks for your positive comments on my recipe posts, you are clearly a woman of good taste 😉
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Wow, this sounds like a cracker of a cake!
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Hi Liz, Mal declared it his new fave so it will be his celebration cake of choice for a while. 😀
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You’ll never go wrong with booze and chocolate in a cake. Raisins are such enablers!
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You’re so right John, it was an excellent choice
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This sounds scrumptious!
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It is Nadia, it is…
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what a decadent cake! Hope birthday season was fun. Nov is our birthday blitz month 🙂
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Yeah, we had a blast, now we need quit the indulgences for a while, well….maybe!
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Great sounding recipe, a bit like the chocolate stout fruitcake that one of my sisters makes every Chrissy. The photo is fab, keeping it real!
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Thanks Cheery, yeah, a bit o’ booze makes the difference
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This sounds delicious, definitely a chocolate cake for a man or any adult for that matter. Love the picture and candle holders!
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My candleholders are antiques, my Mum used them for family birthdays from the time of my earliest memories.
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mmmmmm,I can almost taste it from here.
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Definitely a recipe to make again and again…
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Oh Lordy! Sandra I am in love with this cake and plan on making it for a celebratory event in the not too distant future. Maybe Valentine’s Day 😍
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The way to a man’s heart……….enjoy!
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Like for like raisins and whisky? I like 🙂
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Me too!
I tried to leave a comment on your braised pork post today, it wouldn’t stick. We love that dish. I’ve been making it regularly since you alerted me to it a couple of years ago, in fact we had it tonight.
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Sounds amazing Sandra. I love the photo!
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Thanks Ardys , it was a cake for the omnivores with an iron constitution. I enjoyed a very fine sliver
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It is even yummier than it looks, more please…🙂
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But you already cleaned the plate…..
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