5.5.17
This past week has been a blur. Beginning a new job has right off the bat has become overwhelming and I’m running on fumes a bit. It’s left me with less time than I anticipated to accomplish some things on my to do list, namely blog posts! But I whipped together this cake and had to share. It’s a no frills type of photo shoot, but when you have a Mint Julep Cake, who needs food props? The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow, as well as my birthday, so it’s double celebration time. If you have a party with some big hats involved, this cake is the perfect finishing touch. Fluffy white cake with a bourbon soak, mint and lime frosting and a bourbon caramel drizzle. That’s bourbon twice.
It’s a gloomy, rainy day here in NYC, so I think I’ll indulge in some mint julep cake, maybe with some extra bourbon on the side. Bourbon creates more hours in the day right?
Mint Julep Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 cups cake flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 egg whites
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean
For the Bourbon Soak
- 1 1/2 Tbsp bourbon
- 1/4 cup simple syrup (I boiled 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water until dissolved and cooled)
For the Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 4-5 cups confectioners sugar
- juice from 1 1/2 lime
- 1-2 tsp mint extract (to taste)
- chopped mint leaves, if desired
For the Caramel Drizzle
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp bourbon
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease 3 6″ cake pans
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside
- In the bowl of a stand up mixer cream together butter and sugar
- Add in egg whites, sour cream, milk and vanilla seeds, allowing each to incorporate before adding the next
- Add in dry ingredients slowly, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed
- Pour batter evenly into cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until tester comes out of center clean
- Once baked, allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before inverting onto wire rack, allow to cool completely
- Once cooled, make drizzle, then frosting
For the Caramel Drizzle
- In a heavy bottom medium sauce pan heat sugar on medium to low heat until full melted and golden, about 7 minutes, stir occasionally with a rubber spatula to avoid burning
- Once fully melted, remove from heat, add in butter and stir to melt butter into sugar
- Once completely melted together, add in heavy cream and bourbon, continue to stir until combined and place back on heat, stirring for about 30 more seconds
- Allow to cool while you make frosting and assemble cake
For the Frosting
- Add all ingredients (beginning with 4 cups of sugar and adding as necessary) into bowl of stand up mixer and combine until thick but spreadable consistency is reached
- Pour into piping bag
To Assemble
- Place a small amount of frosting on a cardboard circle and place first layer on top
- Mix together the simple syrup and bourbon and brush top of first layer with soak
- Pipe frosting on top of layer, then place next layer on top of frosting and repeat soak and frosting steps
- Pipe frosting around outside of cake, scrape with straight edge to cream crumb coat, chill for 10 minutes
- Frost rest of cake as desired, using a spoon drizzle caramel over top, allowing it to drip down the side, and spreading over the top
P.S.
*I added in the mint leaves to the frosting just for fun, it’s does not have to be added if the look of the leaves in your frosting is not your thing
