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Bourbon-Brown Sugar Cake Layers

By Sarah Ewald

Published on January 29, 2019

Time

1 hour, plus 2 hours cooling

Yield

Makes two 9-inch cake layers

Bourbon-Brown Sugar Cake Layers

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder ¾ teaspoon table salt ½ cup whole milk 6 tablespoons unsalted butter ¼ cup bourbon 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract 1 ½ cups packed (10½ ounces/298 grams) light brown sugar 3 large eggs, room temperature

Before You Begin

We developed this recipe using Bulleit Bourbon.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in bowl. Heat milk, butter, and bourbon in small saucepan until butter is melted. Off heat, add vanilla. Cover to keep warm.
  2. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip sugar and eggs on high speed until light and airy, about 5 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer. While whisking continuously by hand, slowly add milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in flour mixture until incorporated.
  3. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and smooth tops with rubber spatula. Bake until tops of cakes are light brown and toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Let cakes cool completely in pans on wire rack, about 2 hours. Run thin knife around edges of cakes. Invert cakes onto wire rack and discard parchment.
Bourbon-Brown Sugar Cake Layers
Photography by Keller + Keller. Styling by Catrine Kelty.

Bourbon-Brown Sugar Cake Layers

Headshot of Sarah Ewald
By Sarah Ewald
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Time

1 hour, plus 2 hours cooling

Yield

Makes two 9-inch cake layers

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ cup whole milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup bourbon
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups packed (10½ ounces/298 grams) light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ cup whole milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup bourbon
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups packed (10½ ounces/298 grams) light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ cup whole milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup bourbon
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups packed (10½ ounces/298 grams) light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature

Why This Recipe Works

We found that adding bourbon to the batter gave us the right level of booziness. A simple swap of light brown sugar for granulated sugar in the cake gave us a deep caramel flavor throughout.

Before You Begin

We developed this recipe using Bulleit Bourbon.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in bowl. Heat milk, butter, and bourbon in small saucepan until butter is melted. Off heat, add vanilla. Cover to keep warm.
  2. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip sugar and eggs on high speed until light and airy, about 5 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer. While whisking continuously by hand, slowly add milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in flour mixture until incorporated.
  3. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and smooth tops with rubber spatula. Bake until tops of cakes are light brown and toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Let cakes cool completely in pans on wire rack, about 2 hours. Run thin knife around edges of cakes. Invert cakes onto wire rack and discard parchment.

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