This decadent and oh-so-rich Chocolate Whiskey Cake is laced with Irish whiskey and topped with Bailey’s Irish cream frosting. It’s so moist and rich–truly what chocolate lovers dream of!

This is a great recipe for a special occasion chocolate cake, or for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in style! There’s nothing quite like a big piece of chocolate cake, and this whiskey-spiked version is the absolute best.

Chocolate Whiskey Cake

My chocolate whiskey cake recipe is pure decadence. It’s truly the richest and fudgiest chocolate cake recipe and the addition of whiskey and the Bailey’s frosting just takes it over the top.

The booze bakes off, but the flavor stays and only deepens the chocolate and coffee notes. I am such a sucker for this cake–it’s so easy to make, but it’s truly a crowd pleaser.

While I made this as a sheet cake for ease(I’m a notoriously bad cake decorator), you can bake this in 2 8-inch round cake pans and it would make a fabulous layered birthday cake for the whiskey and chocolate lover in your life.

If you’re a chocolate lover like me, try my marbled cheesecake brownies, gooey nutella lava cakes, or my guinness texas sheet cake recipe.

Need more dessert inspo? Browse my easy dessert recipe collection.

How to Make Chocolate Whiskey Cake

This ultra-chocolate-y whiskey cake comes together so quickly and easily. All you need is a mixing bowl and a whisk–no fancy mixers needed.

Tools Needed

• 9×13 Baking Pan
• Sharp Knife
• Cutting Board
• Mixing Bowls
• Small Saucepan

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Chocolate. Use quality chocolate here, either semi-sweet or bittersweet. I don’t ever use chocolate chips for melting–instead, I buy bars of chocolate and chop them up or use feves. My favorite brand is the Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Bittersweet chocolate.
• Butter and oil. The combination of butter and oil gives you great buttery flavor and texture with moisture from the oil.
• Dutch process cocoa powder. Find the best quality you can here.
• Sugar. Classic granulated sugar is best here.
• Eggs. Eggs also make the cake moist and bouncy.
• Sour cream. One of my secret ingredients for cake! It adds such nice texture and tang.
• Whiskey. I used Jameson here, but you can use any whiskey you like.
• Coffee. Coffee is one of my tricks for bolstering the chocolate flavor in cake. You don’t taste the coffee, but it does make the chocolate richer. You could swap in hot water if needed.
• Dry ingredients. You’ll need all-purpose flour, baking soda, and kosher salt.

The Process

1. Melt the chocolate, butter, and oil. In a small saucepan, combine the chopped chocolate, butter, and neutral oil. Melt it over low heat until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth and let it cool slightly.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs for 2-3 minutes, until frothy. Then, whisk in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth.
4. Mix in the chocolate. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs until smooth. Only add a little at a time while whisking, until the chocolate is totally incorporated.
5. Fold in the dry ingredients. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the flour mixture until totally smooth and no streaks of flour remain. Switch back to a whisk and whisk in the hot coffee and whiskey until the batter is smooth, with no lumps.
6. Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before removing from the pan.
7. Make the frosting. In a mixing bowl, use a hand mixture to beat the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder together until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, salt, and Bailey’s until smooth and the frosting is fluffy. Spread over the cooled cake, cut into pieces, and serve.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

Buy quality ingredients. In a chocolate cake like this, the quality absolutely matters! Spring for the good butter, chocolate, and cocoa powder. Especially the good chocolate. Don’t use chocolate chips here, go for whole bars or feves.

Always use room temperature ingredients. If you’ve baked at all, you’ve probably seen this tip over and over again, and for good reason. Room temperature ingredients mix more easily and emulsify better. If a recipe calls for room temperature ingredients, it’s not a suggestion!

Don’t over-mix. We’re using a combination of mixing styles, whisking and folding, so that we don’t add too much air to the cake (we want her dense and fudgy) and so we don’t over activate the gluten in the flour and end up with a tough cake.

Bake until a cake tester just barely comes out clean. The crumbs should look sticky and not at all dry. The cake will be puffed and soft to the touch.

Cool the cake completely before frosting. Unless you want frosting soup on top of the cake, make sure the cake is cooled completely before frosting. In fact, I typically bake the cake the day before I plan to serve it so that I can break up the work. Just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so that the cake doesn’t dry out.

Making a Layered Chocolate Whiskey Cake

I am a notoriously bad cake decorator. Maybe bad is a strong word, but I have zero patience for it (kudos to y’all that do!). Hence, I wanted to make this recipe as a sheet cake for ease of decorating.

That being said, this recipe is so easy to convert into a layer cake. To make a layered chocolate whiskey cake, you’ll need some 8×2-inch round cake pans. You can use either 2 or 3 depending on how thick you want your layers.

Make sure to grease, flour, and line your cake pans with round parchment circles. The baking time will have to be adjusted down, maybe 20 minutes or so, again depending on if you use 2 or 3 pans.

Pro-tip: Use a scale to divide the batter evenly between the cake pans so that they all bake at the same rate.

Cake layers can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 3 months before frosting and assembling.

Storage Instructions

Leftover chocolate whiskey cake can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also wrap pieces in plastic wrap (I recommend doing this after the cake and frosting has been chilled), store in a freezer-safe bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Let the cake pieces defrost in the fridge overnight before serving.

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Chocolate Whiskey Cake is the completely decadent dessert you need in your life. Ultra-rich fudgy cake topped with Bailey’s Irish cream frosting–what could be better? If you do try this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram. I LOVE hearing about & seeing your SMF creations!

More Easy Cake Recipes to Try

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
Apple Cider Donut Cake
Almond Ricotta Cake
Sour Cream Coffee Cake Loaf
Guinness Texas Sheet Cake

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