FOOD NEWS
You Should Be Adding One Herbal Liquor To Chocolate Cake
By Sara Klimek
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 is a herby digestif, flavored with rhubarb, chamomile, aloe, cardamom, ginseng, myrrh, and saffron. The taste is almost medicinal, but it can add a floral edge to cakes.
This ingredient should be added to chocolate cake as syrup rather than as straight alcohol. Mix the digestif with equal parts sugar in a saucepan so that it creates a simple syrup.
Once you have your cake sponge fully baked, swipe the syrup to the top of your sponge using a pastry brush. Note that this may cause the sponge to sink down a little bit.
Chocolate is great with fernet because it can hold up to the flavors well. While you can add it to a vanilla cake, the herbal flavors may overshadow the delicate vanilla profile.