Chocolate-Bourbon Cake

Yield: Makes 16 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup  bourbon
• 1 1/3  cups  sugar
• 12  ounces  bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1  cup  (8 ounces) butter, cut into pieces
• 5  large eggs
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2  tablespoons  cocoa powder, divided
• Hot water
• Coffee-Bourbon Syrup
• Hazelnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 9- x 2-inch cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and set aside.

Combine bourbon and sugar in a large saucepan; bring mixture to a boil. Remove from heat, and add chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Set aside, and let cool to room temperature.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, until very well blended. Fold in flour and 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder. Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Set pan in a large roasting pan filled to depth of 1 inch with hot water.

Bake at 375° for 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting with Coffee-Bourbon Syrup every 15 minutes after a crust has developed on cake's surface.

Cool cake; cover and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. Transfer cake onto a serving plate, and dust with remaining 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. Top with hazelnuts.