Cake #46 - Kentucky Bourbon Cake

This cake is pictured on the spine of one of my favorite cookbooks, Vintage Cakes, by Julie Richardson.  I find that pictures of cakes on covers of cookbooks are very suggestive.  Those are the cakes to make.  This is also the cake that caused me to buy the swirly bundt pan, which never ceases to elicit big compliments.

 

This is a wonderful cake - simple and rich.  Richardson suggests replacing shortcake with this, and eating it with berries and whipped cream.  It's pretty good by itself, and truthfully, reminded me of a delicious cake doughnut, because of the crusty, sticky glaze.  In that way, I can imagine it being just perfect by itself with a cup of coffee.  I did also have it with raspberries and blueberries and canned whipped cream from the store, and it was a lovely, colorful and wholesome dessert.

It's a large cake and easy to make.  Obviously it requires a separate glaze, so in that way is not as simple as a single layer cake, and it does require creaming butter, so not as simple as a cake that is just stirred together with melted butter or oil.  However, as "creamed" cakes go, this is a straight forward one, and quick to come together.

 

 

 

Kentucky Bourbon Cake

Cake

3 cups (12 ounces) sifted cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter

1½ cups (10½ ounces) sugar

½ cup (3¾ ounces) firmly packed brown sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

¼ cup bourbon

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

 

Glaze

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter

¾ cup (5¼ ounces) sugar

¼ cup bourbon

 

1.       Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and dust with flour 10-inch bundt pan.

2.       To make the cake, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, then whisk the mixture by hand to ensure that the ingredients are well mixed.

3.       In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.  As you make the batter, stop the mixer frequently and scrape the paddle and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Blend in the eggs one at a time, adding the next one as soon as the previous one has disappeared into the batter.  Combine the bourbon and buttermilk in a small bowl.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk-bourbon mixture in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour.  After each addition, mix until just barely blended and stop and scrape the bowl.  Stop the mixer before the last of the flour has been incorporated and complete the blending by hand with a rubber spatula.

4.       Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly.  Place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake until the cake is golden and springs back when lightly touched, 40 to 45 minutes. 

5.       Make the glaze by combining the butter, sugar, and bourbon in a small saucepan over low heat just until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves, whisking to combine. 

6.       Remove the cake from the oven but leave it in the pan.  Poke holes all over the top of the cake with a wooden skewer.  Pour three-quarters of the glaze slowly over the cake, saving the remaining glaze.  Allow the cake to cool for 30 minutes, then flip it out onto a serving plate so the glazed part is on the bottom.  Brush the top with the remaining glaze.  If the glaze has thickened, rewarm it over low heat. 

From Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson