Kentucky Bourbon Cake

Everyone who knows me knows I am a bourbon drinker. Why? Because when I was young my older brother, who was cool and knew all sorts of stuff, drank bourbon. So, if he said it was the best thing to drink, it was.

There’s something sweet and rich about good bourbon, and it’s not just for sipping but also for flavoring baked cakes and such.

Like this Kentucky Bourbon Cake, with both cake and frosting flavored with my favorite booze. We’ll feast on some while we watch the Kentucky Derby this weekend.

If there’s any left —- we can have another round on Sunday, Mother’s Day!

Kentucky Bourbon Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh orange peel

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/4 cups plain Greek style yogurt

• 1/4 cup bourbon

• 1 cup butter

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-cup bundt pan. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, orange peel and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt and bourbon until well blended. Set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar and brown sugar together at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Alternate adding half the dry and liquid ingredients, beating after each addition; repeat with the remaining dry and liquid ingredients and beat for 1-2 minutes or until the batter is smooth and uniform. Spoon the batter into the bundt pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. While the cake is still warm, pour the glaze over the top.

Makes 10 servings

Bourbon glaze

• 6 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 3 tablespoons bourbon

Melt the butter and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly and cook for several minutes until the sugar is nearly dissolved. Add the bourbon and whisk continually to incorporate it into the butter mixture. Cook for several minutes until the sugar dissolves completely.

Irish Whiskey Cake

Purim is an extraordinarily joyous holiday and it’s been Jewish tradition to celebrate with a glass or two of wine or some other alcoholic beverage. The focus on drinking has its roots in something that Rabbi Rava said in the Talmud: on Purim, people should drink until they can no longer distinguish between "Cursed be Haman" and "Blessed is Mordecai."

Well, I’m not giving advice on how much booze anyone should drink

BUT

the fact that Purim comes on the same day as St.Patrick’s Day, gave me this most stupendously delicious thought about whiskey and such: eat Irish Whiskey Cake.

I have made this particular cake often. There is never a crumb left.

Celebrate Purim AND St. Patrick’s Day. Make Merry! Have cake!

Irish Whiskey Cake

• 1 cup golden raisins

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh orange peel

• 1/4 cup Irish whiskey

•  2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 3/4 cup butter at room temperature

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1/3 cup orange juice

Frosting

• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

• 1/4 cup Irish whiskey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two eight-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly grease the paper. Place the raisins and orange peel in a bowl, pour in the whiskey and let soak for at least 30 minutes. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves in a bowl. Set aside. Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and well blended. Add the eggs and beat for another 2-3 minutes or until the mixture becomes smooth (scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula). Add the flour mixture and beat for 1-2 minutes to incorporate it into the other ingredients. Add the raisins (with any remaining liquid) and the orange juice and beat for another 1-2 minutes until a uniform batter has formed. Spoon the mixture into the cake pans. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove the cakes and let them cool completely. Make the frosting by beating the butter and confectioners’ sugar together until smooth. Gradually add the whiskey and beat until smooth. Frost the bottom layer, place the second layer on top and frost the top of the second layer.

 Makes 8 servings

Nutmeg Whiskey Cake

Yesterday, when I wrote about spice blends and gave a recipe for Baharat, a specialty from the Middle East, I said that I usually buy pre-ground spices and mix them, rather than grind my own.

Well, I realized that’s not quite the case. There are certain spices that I never buy pre-ground because as soon as you grind them they start to deteriorate and lose flavor.

Like nutmeg.

I never buy ground nutmeg. By the time you get it in the tin it is a mere shadow of itself and never gives you that rich, heady, mysterious quality that you get from freshly grated nutmeg. Neither the fragrance or the flavor is right.

Take this tip: buy a nutmeg grater and grate your own nutmeg. There are cheap, old fashioned ones (see the first photo) and fancier ones that work more or less like peppermills (second photo).

I buy nutmegs by the bag. The whole ones last forever I think. Every time I need nutmeg for a recipe I grate it just when it’s called for in the instructions. Most of the time you just need a little bit of it to bring out the flavor of a dish, so it’s not as if you will have to spend oodles of time grinding. It’s worth doing and even a tiny grating or two makes an enormous difference to foods as different as macaroni and cheese, gingerbread and squash soup.

Although most of the time you only use a grating or two of nutmeg, there are recipes where it plays a prominent role. This Whiskey Cake, for example. It’s a nice snack, tea bread type of cake that you’re supposed to eat plain, but you could certainly dress it up with fresh berries and whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream or Creme Anglaise sauce.

Nutmeg Whiskey Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice or cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread (or butter)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup whiskey

1/3 cup coconut milk (or regular milk)

1 cup finely chopped nuts

1/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Sift the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and salt into a bowl. Set aside. Place the spread or butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until creamy and well blended. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Combine 1/3 cup of the whiskey with the milk and add this liquid to the brown sugar mixture alternating with the flour mixture and continue to blend the ingredients at medium speed until the batter is smooth, creamy and well blended. Stir in the nuts. In another bowl, beat the egg whites at medium speed until they are foamy. While still beating, gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is glossy and stands in stiff peaks. Fold the beaten whites into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and brush the top with the remaining whiskey. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one loaf