From the Oven - Booze Cake 之 Leopard Khalua Cake

The boyfriend's aunt makes this cake every time there is a family gathering.  Since we don't see her very often & we couldn't possibly ask her to bake us the cake all the time, we decided to see if we could recreate this delectable treat for ourselves.  I searched through a bunch of recipes & almost all of them use boxed cake mix & instant chocolate pudding; finally I found this one on a blog.

The chocolate'y yummy goodness comes from...

     13/4 cups all-purpose flour

     1/2 cup corn starch

     1/3 cup dry milk powder

     6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

     1 tablespoon baking powder

     1 teaspoon salt

     2 cups granulated sugar

     1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened unsalted butter

     3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons canola oil

     3/4 cup low-fat milk

     1 tablespoon vanilla extract

     4 large eggs @ room temperature

     1/2 cup Kahlua

All you gotta do is...

     Sift together all the dry ingredients & the sugar in a really big bowl

     Add in the butter, oil, milk, & vanilla & beat until the whole thing is smooth

     Add in the eggs and mix just until incorporated

     Add in the Kahlua & mix until just combined

     Pour batter into a prepared bunt pan & bake @ 350F for 45 minutes

After taking it out of the oven, let it cool inside of the pan for 30 minutes; flip it over onto a plate & Ta Da!!  I added chocolate chips to the recipe since that's how his aunt makes it.  But as I suspected, the batter was too thin & all the chips sunk to the bottom of the pan (top of the cake), giving it this spotty appearance; hence the name leopard Khalua cake.  Another thing I found helpful was to check the cake every 5 minutes after it's been in the oven for 25 minutes.  Take the cake out once a toothpick going into the center comes out with some wet crumbs.  I waited until the cake came out practically dry in the center (what the recipe says) & while the bottom of the cake was still moist, the center & the top got to be a bit dry.