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Kentucky Bourbon Cake

Best-Ever Kentucky Bourbon Cake


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Description

This buttery and moist classic Kentucky bourbon cake is drenched in a to-die-for delicious bourbon glaze. It’s easy to make and addictively good! 


Ingredients

Units Scale

For the Cake:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, shifted
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons bourbon

For the Glaze:

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup bourbon

Instructions

  1. HEAT THE OVEN: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. SHIFT TOGETHER THE DRY INGREDIENTS: Shift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk the ingredient together until combined.
  3. CREAM BUTTER AND SUGARS: Add the butter and the sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle or whisk attachment. You can also use a hand mixer. Beat at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
  4. ADD THE EGGS: Add the eggs one at a time. Continue to beat until combined.
  5. COMBINE THE BUTTERMILK AND BOURBON: In a small bowl, mix together the buttermilk and the bourbon.
  6. ADD BUTTERMILK MIXTURE AND DRY INGREDIENTS: With the mixer one low, alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the batter beginning and ending with the flour mixture (you’ll add the flour three times and the buttermilk mixture twice). After each addition, mix until just combined and scrape down the bowl as needed.
  7. PREP THE PAN: Completely coat then inside a 10-cup bundt pan in baking spray making and then dust in granulated sugar. Then add the batter and spread it out evenly.
  8. BAKE: Bake the cake until it’s cooked through, is golden in color, and springs back when touched, about 45 minutes.
  9. PREPARE THE GLAZE: While the Kentucky bourbon cake is baking, prepare the glaze by combining the butter, sugar, and bourbon in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, using a whisk to combine.
  10. GLAZE THE CAKE: When the cake is done baking, remove it from the oven but leave it in the pan. Using a skewer, pole holes all over the top of the cake. Then evenly pour 3/4 of the glaze onto the cake. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes before inverting the cake onto a serving plate. Drizzle the top of the cake with the remainder of the glaze (if the glaze has hardened, just re-warm it).

Notes

GETTING THE CAKE OUT OF THE PAN: To ensure your Kentucky bourbon cake comes out of the pan in one piece, you’ll need to make sure you prep it. If you already have a tried-and-true method of prepping your bundt pans, I’d stick with it. But if you’re new to making bundt cakes, here’s my advice. First, make sure you have a good pan. I love to use Nordic bundt pans. And for this cake, I used their classic fluted bundt pan. Also, I prefer to coat the insides of my pans with a baking spray (instead of butter) and I’ll use a pastry brush if I need to grease hard-to-reach places. Finally, I dusted the greased pan with granulated sugar.

MAKE-AHEAD AND STORAGE: This cake is perfect for making ahead because it requires extra time to let the glaze to soak into the cake. Leftover cake will last a day or two stored covered at room temperature.

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American