Bourbon Cake
Marvelous Stuff!
This article was originally posted in 2006.
Thanksgiving is America's best holiday. It's unencumbered with gifts and cards and similar commercial holiday paraphernalia. There is no long, drawn-out prelude to the holiday beginning after Labor Day. And although the point is giving thanks to whichever deity one believes in, it doesn't harp on the issue — a shared prayer at the dinner table is generally regarded as sufficient. Following that prayer is the high point and main point of the holiday — an over-the-top feast shared with family and friends. What more could one ask for? And why, if this is the way I feel, am I bringing it up a month early?
Bear with me.
Growing up, everyone in my house contributed something to the feast whether it was making cranberry relish or baking a pie. Lots of focused, shared activity and good smells. Around four in the afternoon, if it wasn't raining, my father would organize a walk. We'd tramp through the sere fields and bare woods of our farm. Often it was cold, but if it wasn't cloudy as well Dad would take pictures of us. (Something I particularly hated.) Then we'd return to a waiting fire and the last minute organization of the meal.
With an electric mixer, she'd beat the butter and sugar together in a large stainless steel bowl and then mix in the eggs, flour, and bourbon producing an unremarkable cake batter. Then Dad would haul down "the big bowl" for the final step.
The big bowl, cut from a single block of mahogany, was about 20" in diameter and about 7" deep. It needed to be big to accommodate the exertions required to incorporate a pound of nuts and a pound-and-a-half or raisins in a single bowl of batter. I can see Mom, in faded shirt, dark curley hair disarrayed, sweating slightly, wielding a wooden spoon to incorporate the nuts and raisins into the batter. Once mixed, the cake went into a tube pan and then baked for 3-1/2 hours, filling the house with the most wonderful odors. This cake is a serious investment in time and effort. But, oh, how the investment paid off.
When the cake had cooled it was doused with more bourbon, wrapped in aluminum foil, and sealed in a cake tin. Then, once a week until Christmas, the cake would be uncovered and doused with more bourbon. Although potent, even as kids we were permitted a thin slice of it when it was finally served. We loved it. In fact, everyone who tried it loved it. The cake was rich, moist, spicy, chewey, and pungent with bourbon. Marvelous stuff!
I've posted the recipe before, but I wanted to post it again — and do so in time, for those of you interested in a holiday cake recipe dating back to the early 1900s (or earlier), to make it. Note: a good stand mixer obviates the need for "the big bowl."
This article was originally posted in 2006.
Thanksgiving is America's best holiday. It's unencumbered with gifts and cards and similar commercial holiday paraphernalia. There is no long, drawn-out prelude to the holiday beginning after Labor Day. And although the point is giving thanks to whichever deity one believes in, it doesn't harp on the issue — a shared prayer at the dinner table is generally regarded as sufficient. Following that prayer is the high point and main point of the holiday — an over-the-top feast shared with family and friends. What more could one ask for? And why, if this is the way I feel, am I bringing it up a month early?
Bear with me.
Growing up, everyone in my house contributed something to the feast whether it was making cranberry relish or baking a pie. Lots of focused, shared activity and good smells. Around four in the afternoon, if it wasn't raining, my father would organize a walk. We'd tramp through the sere fields and bare woods of our farm. Often it was cold, but if it wasn't cloudy as well Dad would take pictures of us. (Something I particularly hated.) Then we'd return to a waiting fire and the last minute organization of the meal.
With an electric mixer, she'd beat the butter and sugar together in a large stainless steel bowl and then mix in the eggs, flour, and bourbon producing an unremarkable cake batter. Then Dad would haul down "the big bowl" for the final step.
The big bowl, cut from a single block of mahogany, was about 20" in diameter and about 7" deep. It needed to be big to accommodate the exertions required to incorporate a pound of nuts and a pound-and-a-half or raisins in a single bowl of batter. I can see Mom, in faded shirt, dark curley hair disarrayed, sweating slightly, wielding a wooden spoon to incorporate the nuts and raisins into the batter. Once mixed, the cake went into a tube pan and then baked for 3-1/2 hours, filling the house with the most wonderful odors. This cake is a serious investment in time and effort. But, oh, how the investment paid off.
When the cake had cooled it was doused with more bourbon, wrapped in aluminum foil, and sealed in a cake tin. Then, once a week until Christmas, the cake would be uncovered and doused with more bourbon. Although potent, even as kids we were permitted a thin slice of it when it was finally served. We loved it. In fact, everyone who tried it loved it. The cake was rich, moist, spicy, chewey, and pungent with bourbon. Marvelous stuff!
I've posted the recipe before, but I wanted to post it again — and do so in time, for those of you interested in a holiday cake recipe dating back to the early 1900s (or earlier), to make it. Note: a good stand mixer obviates the need for "the big bowl."
Mummo's Bourbon CakeMy mother no longer makes the cake, but I have her tube pan and her recipe and I'm trying to make it every year and share it with my parents and siblings. Fortunately, it's pretty much immune to spoiling so mailing it to Vermont or Virginia isn't a problem. And given that I made it almost a month early this year, it should be particularly well-seasoned.
1 c butter — softened
2 c sugar
4 c flour — sifted
4 ea eggs
1 lb pecan pieces
1 1/2 lb white or golden raisins
1 c bourbon
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
Heat oven to 275F. Sift 1 cup flour and mix with nuts and raisins. Sift remaining flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and soda together. Grease a tube pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next one. Alternately add bourbon and flour. Add nuts and raisins.
Pour into tube pan and bake 3 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and cool thoroughly.
Sprinkle generously with additional bourbon, wrap it in aluminum foil with a couple of apple wedges to keep it moist, and place in an air-tight container. Each weekend leading up to Christmas, unwrap cake and sprinkle again with additional bourbon.
Technorati: Food | dessert | cake | bourbon cake | holiday
Labels: cake, Christmas, desserts, holiday food, recipe, Thanksgiving
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