Makes 1 Bundt cake
He left a bottle of bourbon on the mantel. I poured it into a cake batter, baked it, and sent it to him in the mail. I don’t mind being forward the old-fashioned way.
INGREDIENTS
DRY
3 cups cake flour (here)
4½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
WET
1 cup unrefined sugar
½ cup brown sugar
⅔ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons bourbon
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Measuring cups and spoons
Standard Bundt pan
(12 cups / 10 by 3½ inches)
Room-temperature butter and flour for the pan
2 medium-size mixing bowls
Flour sifter
Hand blender
Large wooden spoon
Knife
Wire rack
Grease the Bundt pan with butter. Dust it with flour and shake out any loose flour left. Set it aside.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate medium bowl, sift together the sugars.
Add the butter to the sugar.
Cream together with a hand blender till light and fluffy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the eggs to the creamed mix one at a time, fully blending after each addition.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
To the creamed mixture add the milk, vanilla, and bourbon. Beat well.
Pour the wet mix into the dry mix in thirds.
Fold gently until there is no visible flour and no lumps remain in the batter.
Pour the batter into the waiting Bundt pan.
Bake in the center of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes.
Run a thin knife between the cake and the pan.
Flip it over onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Serve dusted with confectioners’ sugar.