Bourbon Bundt Cake

Bourbon. In. A. Cake. Also on it. Soooooo. This cake is delicious and, before you ask, kid safe. There is very little bourbon in the actual cake and the alcohol gets baked out of it. The glaze, that gets sexily poured on, is also heated. But, if you’re missing the warm buzz of bourbon you could also take a few sips while baking, and while eating, and a few more while cleaning up.

Why bourbon? This fermented, mostly corn based mash liquor is naturally sweet and smooth with maple syrup, caramel, and vanilla notes. Unlike scotch, bourbon isn’t marked with smoke which makes it suited for baked goods. Adding it to your cake, both in the baked cake and the glaze, takes your boring vanilla Bundt and turns it into the Uncle Jesse of cakes. Cool. Smooth. Classy. And your guests will for sure drop the, “Have mercy.”

When you use liquor in cooking or baking remember this, if you wouldn’t drink it at room temperature then don’t use it for food. Stop the thinking that, “I’ll just buy the cheap wine since it’s getting cooked.” Now I’m not saying go out and buy top shelf, but don’t use the TwoBuckChuck for your pasta sauce or the rail bourbon for your cake. You want the added alcohol there for flavor, and if you’re going cheap your end result will taste off. A $15 bottle of wine for your marinara and a $30 bottle of bourbon is sufficient.

For this cake I used Four Roses Bourbon, which happens to be one of my favorites. It has notes of apple and pear, a maple syrup and vanilla finish, and just enough oak to bring it together. In total you’re using less than a half a cup of bourbon, so you don’t have to fear using up your bottle just for a cake. Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, and George Dickel No. 8 are good for baking. You hit a threshold of function at the $25-30 range of bourbon. I’m not a fan of the brands they use for rail drinks (Jim Beam, etc.) so I can’t attest to their baking goodness.

Before you jump into the recipe I want to explain the science behind the process for putting the batter together. The standard method of cake making is to cream the butter and sugar together then add in the egg and slowly fold in the flour mixture. Instead of messing around with that for a cake that is intentionally dense I cream the flour mix and sugar at the same time in the butter/oil then add all the liquids last. Seems crazy right? Well, there’s science behind it, and it’s actually the same technique for making perfectly fluffy mashed potatoes.

Gluten is the enemy of cakes. Great for bread. Terrible for cakes. Gluten forms when the two proteins, gliadin and glutenin, are hydrated and rubbed together. *Insert sex joke. This is why typically flour, which contains the two proteins, is added last and folded in rather than mixed. The goal is to not let those proteins touch too much (I know none of that is the proper chemical language, but it works as an explanation). A cake or muffin that was over-mixed will be tough and too dense.

• Oil inhibits gluten structures from forming which is why cutting back on the oil in baked goods changes their texture.
• Cake flour, which is a cup of all purpose flour with a tablespoon replaced with corn starch, has less wheat protein by volume.
• Folding the dry into the wet moves the gliadin and glutenin as little as possible which creates the smallest amount of gluten possible.

Okay, now I’m going to break the cake baking rules a little but I’ll explain why first. This cake recipe adds all of the dry ingredients to the butter/oil first. Instead of mixing the wet and dry separately I first coat the flour in the fat which prevents gluten from forming. I wouldn’t do this for a cake that I want to be light and fluffy though. It makes a cake that is dense but creamy and still soft. A bundt cake is a heavier cake by nature. So why use this technique? It allows you to whip the ingredients together at the end rather than try folding together such a heavy batter. You can use your stand mixer for a cake batter! (Which you should avoid doing for nearly any other baked good).

Now that we’ve gotten through all of that you’ve earned the recipe. Enjoy! If you make this please let me know any and all feedback. The good, the bad, the ugly. I want my recipes to work for anyone!