Whiskey Cake

One of my favorite clients is having a birthday today and I thought it would be fun to bake a cake for him.
 I called his wife to ask what he likes and we decided upon a (very manly) Jack Daniels cake. As we were saying our goodbyes she informed me that she would serve it at his party and had decided to cancel the desserts from the caterer. (Yikes...no pressure there, right?!)

Anyway, I've had this recipe forever and have made it on many occasions.
It travels well and everyone loves it, so I thought I would share it here today.

This is a super simple recipe with ingredients that are readily available.
I usually use Jack Daniels in the mix, but any good quality whiskey will work just as well.

Here's what to get from the market:

The first thing you'll need to do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

The rack should be placed in the center position so the cake bakes evenly.

Then you'll need to GENEROUSLY grease and flour your pan.

This is a very important step because when the cake bakes, the butterscotch morsels melt and 

if the pan isn't well prepped, they WILL stick to the sides, ruining the cake and all of your efforts! 

(Can you tell I speak from experience about this?) 

I'm using a bundt pan today, but you can use a 13x9x2" pan if you like, or a cupcake tin.

 (Without the papers because those morsels will stick to them.)

Ok.  Next, chop up your pecans, just like this:

Sift the cake and pudding mixes together. If you don't have a sifter, just use a fine mesh sieve. The mixes are a bit dense, so you'll have to push the them through the sieve with the back of a spoon or spatula or they will just bounce around and pouf up in a cloud right into your nose. 

(Unfortunately, I know this from experience as well!)

Now, add the eggs, whiskey, milk and softened butter to the sifted dry ingredients. Use a hand mixer and beat on low speed until just combined, about two minutes. The batter will be very thick.

After everything is well incorporated,
fold the chopped nuts and butterscotch morsels into the mix by hand. 

Then, turn the batter into the greased pan. 

As I mentioned earlier, the batter is pretty thick so you'll need to spread it 

around the pan to make sure its even all over.

Pop the cake into the oven and set your timer for 45 minutes.
A little tip: 
While you're cleaning up the baking mess, be sure to snack on all the butterscotch morsels
 and chopped nuts that "accidentally" fell onto the countertop...

...yumm...so good!


Ok...when the timer goes off, check the cake for doneness by inserting a bamboo skewer into the center.
(A standard toothpick it too short.)  If it comes out clean, the cake is done. If there is gooey batter on the skewer, put the cake back in the oven for about five more minutes, or until the skewer comes out clean.

Looking good, isn't it? Its smells even better!
The scents of the whiskey, butterscotch and vanilla are so perfect together..I really wish there was a
smell-o-blog because you would be in heaven right now! :)

Now the cake needs to rest and cool off in the pan for a bit. Leave it for about 15 minutes.
When that time is up, grab the skewer you used to test the cake and run it up and down the inside and outside of the cake to loosen it from the sides.
Put a plate on the top of the pan, flip the cake over onto the plate, then carefully lift the pan from the cake
Easy, right?

Here's the cake, all gussied up for the party.

I dusted a little powdered sugar over the top to dress it up a bit.
That's it! So easy and so good!

Recipe

1 box yellow cake mix

1 small package instant vanilla pudding

1 1/2 sticks of softened butter

5 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup each: Jack Daniel's and whole milk

1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts...either type is really good!)

16 oz butterscotch morsels (this is about 3 cups)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift cake and pudding mixes together. Add eggs, milk, whiskey and butter. Beat on low speed of electric mixer for about two minutes. Fold morsels and nuts into batter. Spread batter into a greased and floured 13x9x2 " pan (or bundt) bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes then remove cake from the pan.

A postnote and a confession;

First the postnote:
Even though there is a generous amount of whiskey in this cake, the alcohol evaporates during baking so no one will get tipsy off of it, no matter how much they eat!

And now the confession:
Remember how I preached about prepping your pan or the cake will stick? Well today, it stuck.  And not a little bit, but a big chunk of cake the size of my palm! I started to panic because I realized I didn't have enough time to make another cake, but instead of having a full out panic attack, I had a swig of the leftover whiskey, took a deep breath and caaarrrefuully used a flexible spatula to scrape the stuck part out of the pan. I then lightly mushed the broken piece onto the cake and disguised err, dusted it with powdered sugar. Whew! So close to disaster. Its a good thing I don't bake for a living!

Until next time...