Mad Men

Bourbon icing? Sign me up.

By Anne • March 12, 2014 • Recipes

Wednesday is Hump Day and that means a new sweet recipe posted here weekly for you to try!

Today I bring you a bourbon inspired save-me-from-sleet! cake that will tide you over until the first bulbs pop.

Yes, I said bourbon. If ever a cake screamed late winter, this one is it.

Bourbon is sexy again.Those dudes on Mad Men are to blame.

Menus across North America are popping with fancy new bourbon cocktails and bourbon festivals. You’ll have to wait for the fall for the Toronto Bourbon Week, a fact I find curious: if ever we need a heady distraction, it’s winter in Canada.

But you know me. I don’t wait for festivals. Do-It-Yourself is the way to go with celebrations.

Let’s start with:
Date Cake with Bourbon Glaze (inspired by Barefoot Contessa’s Sticky Toffee Date Cake)

What you will need:

FOR CAKE

9 x 2-inch round cake pan
¾ lb pitted dates, chopped
1 ¾ cups water
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ lb unsalted butter ( 1 stick) at room temperature
¹/3 cup granulated sugar
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1½ tablespoons baking powder

FOR GLAZE

12 tablespoons unsalted butter ( 1½ sticks)
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1½ cup heavy cream
1¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons bourbon
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Garnish: one small dollop of barely sweetened whipped cream

What you do:

1. Butter and flour the cake pan.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Place the chopped dates in a pot with 1¾cups of water. Bring to boil, stirring a little to break up the dates. Ignore what it looks like.

4. Stir in the baking soda. Have fun watching it bubble up. Set aside.

5. Cream butter and sugar on medium speed in mixer for 3 minutes until fluffy. Then add eggs, one at a time, mixer on low.

6. Add vanilla and scrape down the mixing bowl.

7. Combine the flour and salt. Add slowly to the batter ( again keep the mixer on low).

8. Add the hot date mixture in two batches to the batter, scraping down the bowl and keeping the mixer on low.

9. Stir in baking powder, again watching it bubble up.

10. Pour into the prepared cake pan.

11. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

12. While the cake is baking, make the glaze. Combine butter, brown sugar, cream and salt in a saucepan and bring to boil.

13. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

14. Taking pot off the heat, stir in the bourbon and vanilla. Pour into a 2 cup glass measuring cup.

15. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, poke holes all over it with a toothpick.

16. Pour a quarter of the sauce over the cake and allow it to soak into the cake for 15 minutes. Then pour another quarter of sauce onto the cake and let it sit for another 15 minutes.

17. Flip cake over ( bottom side up) on to a plate set over a drying rack on a baking sheet. Pour the rest of the sauce over the cake. The sauce will drip over sides -you can scoop up later.

18. When the cake is completely cool, scrape whatever has dripped onto the baking sheet and pour on top or reheat and use as a sauce. Carefully transfer to a serving plate.

19. Serve at room temperature with one small dollop of barely sweetened whipping cream.