Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Cake - Paula Deen

Nana Lee's Note:

Couldn't resist this one when I saw it! Chocolate, bourbon, pecans...WOW!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

FILLING

• 8 (1 1⁄16; ounce) semi-sweet chocolate baking squares
• ½ cup butter
• 3 eggs , separated
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup Bourbon
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 ½ cups chopped pecans

GANACHE

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a small bowl over a double boiler.
4. Remove from heat, and set pot aside leaving the bowl on top of pot.
5. Whisk egg yolks and 1/2 of the sugar in a metal mixing bowl.
6. Place bowl over slightly simmering water, and whisk until yolks reach 140ºF.
7. Remove bowl from heat and beat egg and sugar mixture with an electric mixer to a ribbon stage.
8. Add the Bourbon to the chocolate mixture, then fold the yolk and sugar mixture into the chocolate mixture.
9. Mix flour with pecans and fold into chocolate mixture.
10. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and the remaining sugar to form soft peaks, then fold into chocolate mixture.
11. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
12. Allow cake to cool in pan and then place in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
13. Once it's frozen, remove sides of springform pan.
14. Invert cake onto a wire rack and remove bottom of springform pan.
15. Prepare ganache by bringing heavy cream to a boil and pouring cream over chocolate chips in a bowl.
16. Whisk until completely smooth.
17. Set wire rack with cake on top of sheetpan.
18. Pour warm lukewarm ganache over cake, coating cake completely, recoating if necessary.
19. Gently jiggle wire rack to help drain excess ganache.
20. Remove cake from wire rack with spatula and place on a serving plate.

Reviews

[LOTG]

I decided to make this recipe as part of a cake-a-thon, organized by the hosts of the Canadian Forum, in honor of Chef-I-Am, who lost her battle to cancer in mid-September. The ingredients caught my attention and the twists with the separate methods used for the yolks and whites piqued my interest. I'd never baked a cake like that before. The process went well, but I was a bit worried when the resulting cake turned out seemingly dense. It barely rose. A quick email to Nana Lee, who posted the recipe, reassured me that it was supposed to be more torte-like than cake-like. The taste was amazing: an unctious cross between a brownie and mousse cake. It's hard to describe. But this recipe is definitely a keeper! To: Chef-I-Am, In memoriam.