The Herbal Liquor That You Should Be Adding To Chocolate Cake

There's no denying that a slice of chocolate cake has the ability to turn your whole day around. And, there's absolutely no shame in diving fork-first into a half-eaten devil's food cake, with only the fluorescent light of your fridge to guide you. But, while chocolate cake is the stuff of dreams and happiness, there's also an argument to be made that it can be a rather rudimentary dessert. 

If you're looking to give your chocolate cake a little more of an adult spin, try taking a trip to your local liquor store and getting your hands on a bottle of Fernet. Fernet, for those unfamiliar with the nuances of Italian liqueurs, is a herby digestif that's flavored with an abundance of punchy ingredients, including rhubarb, chamomile, aloe, cardamom, ginseng, myrrh, and saffron. Based on the medley of different herbs and spices, you could probably imagine how strong, and borderline medicinal, this concoction tastes. But, when it's used in small amounts, it can add a floral edge to your favorite chocolate cake recipe and really transform its flavor into something far more complex. 

This ingredient suggestion should be added to your chocolate cake in the form of syrup, rather than as straight alcohol. The trick is to mix the digestif with equal parts sugar in a saucepan so that it creates a simple syrup of sorts. Then, once you have your cake sponge fully baked, you can swipe this syrup to the top of your sponge using a pastry brush. Since the syrup is being added to the top of the cake, the weight of it may cause the sponge to sink down a little bit. While this might not be that big of an issue if you add a brush of this syrup to your chocolate zucchini cake, which is inherently rustic-looking, it may create issues if you try to use it for a more structured layer cake where you're striving for even, flat layers. 

Chocolate is a great pairing for fernet syrup because it can hold up to the flavors rather well. That's not saying that you can't try it with a vanilla cake as well; the herbal flavors of the fernet will just be more profound and may overshadow the more delicate vanilla profile.