You’ll love this decadent Jack Daniels cake if you’re a whiskey fan!
Jack Daniels Cake
So my husband’s birthday is next month and I’ve been thinking all about the perfect “guy cake”! Two of Chris’ favorite things are chocolate and whiskey so naturally I had to combine both of these into the ultimate Jack Daniels cake! He grew up just miles from the Jack Daniels Distillery (woohoo Tennessee) so Jack Daniels was the natural choice of whiskey.
I love the mini bottles because they also make great favors by the way! Tie them on to a coke bottle for “Jack & Coke”. I digress from the cake… anyway…this recipe is SUPER easy. When you have a 3 month old baby and work full-time WITH baby in tow, easy is key. Delicious is also key and this Jack Daniels cake is SO GOOD!
My favorite part of this Jack Daniels cake is the fudge icing. It takes just a few minutes to make and it’s drippy amazingness. Nope, no fussy frosting here. Just pour and go! Speaking of frostings however, I’d be remiss not to mention this little book written by yours truly! If you love frosting, you will LOVE that book.
You can make this cake in cupcake form and still use the Jack Daniels fudge frosting. You can also leave out the Jack Daniels if you want to. For the rest of us, cheers! Jack Daniels Fudge Icing for the win!
If you want to, you can can certainly use this Jack Daniels fudge icing on a white or yellow cake. Be sure the cake is dense enough to support the weight of the fudge frosting, it’s thick! That’s what makes it taste so good!
Chocolate Cake with Jack Daniels Fudge Icing
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 box dark chocolate cake mix
- 1 3.4 ounce box instant chocolate pudding
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
For the Jack Daniels Fudge Icing:
- 1/4 cup Jack Daniels whiskey
- 8 tablespoons 1 stick butter
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Combine cake mix, pudding, sour cream, oil, water, and eggs in electric mixer with paddle attachment. Beat together on medium for 5 minutes until fluffy and thoroughly combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Pour into cake pans. Depending on size, bake for 25 minutes (for 6 inch cake) or until toothpick inserted comes out clean (you may have some chocolate on toothpick from the chips). Increase baking time for larger cake.
- NOTE: If you want a stronger Jack Daniels flavor, you can add 1/4 cup to the cake batter as well as the fudge icing. Or add more to the fudge icing (add additional chocolate chips too so the icing doesn't thin out too much).
- Let cake cool.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar, and evaporated milk.
- Stir together until rolling boil and time for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and add in chocolate chips and Jack Daniels.
- Immediately pour over cake (will set up quickly).
If you try this jack daniels cake, let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy it! If you’re looking for coordinating party table ideas, check out this bourbon & chocolate charcuterie board! It’s also a great party idea for Father’s Day as well as birthdays.
Lucky guy! This is the greatest idea, love that frosting!
Thanks, Matt!
Chocolate and whiskey are classic combination and it’s very good!
This would be my husband’s dream cake too. He’s totally a whisky guy so he’d flip for this. And we happen to live in Memphis ;) so we’re in whisky land.
Yay TN! I didn’t realize you were in Memphis!
Oh my goodness! JACK DANIELS FUDGE ICING? YES, please!!
Thanks Stephanie! :)
Just went to the store to purchase the ingredients! Thank you so much for this genius recipe! :)
Hi there, this sounds delicious! I saw a chocolate cake recipe with mayonnaise once. Do you think you can use mayonnaise instead if you don’t have sour cream?
Sour cream and mayo can be swapped, one for one. Mayo is slightly sweeter but I’ve swapped one for the other on many occasions, never had a problem with taste or consistency.
This looks amazing !
I like chocolate cake.Thanks for the recipe.
Oh my goodness, chocolate cake looks delicious! I’m definitely making this! thanks for sharing!
and used Jack Daniels cinnamon in the icing and it was awesome.
I just made this icing. It tastes so yummy! (I couldn’t help licking my fingers) It was a little lumpy, so next time I would make sure I already had the chips measured and ready to go and possibly leave it on low heat while I mixed the chips in.
No, officer, I wasn’t drinking. I was just icing a cake. :)
Can you use yellow or white cake
This looks like a 3 layer cake, is that correct? Also wanting to check that you are using the JD fudge icing in between the layers?
Hey, can I make this the day before and it be ok?
What do you put between the layers?? Thanks!
I was also wondering about between the layers. Did you make chocolate frosting? Thanks!
Hi Joyce! I poured frosting over top of the cake, but you could pour between layers, I just always pour on top.
Thanks! That is what i will do!
Is this icing pipeable for cupcakes?
No, Sam. It’s more of a pourable frosting, but you could pour it on cupcakes.
I am planning on making this tomorrow for Fathers Day! After I got everything I realized you aren’t cooking the whiskey out so obviously this is not a kid friendly dessert, correct
The cake looks absolutely delicious! I want to make it for a friend who loves whiskey. Can it be made in a 13×9 pan or if I make it into a 3 layer cake, will here be enough icing to fill between the layers?
Can I substitute 1/2 c Jack Daniels in place of the warm water in the CAKE… making this for my son’s birthday, he wants a JD cake.