Cherry Whisky Upside Down Cake

Ok, time for something a little different. Instead of drinking whisky in this post, I'm going to be showing you delicious whisky recipe! 

My beautiful girlfriend decided that it would be a good idea to use some of my whisky collection to make a yummy cake. Don't cringe! Whisky is a wonderful ingredient to use in lots of recipes (more to come hopefully!). In fact, I even picked this whisky up at the grocery store. It's just simple (but good and affordable, imho) Trader Joe's Straight Bourbon Whisky. 

As you can see from the title, we're going to be making a cherry upside down cake (thanks to Endless Simmer). So besides 1/4 cup of bourbon (plus a little extra ;-) ) and around 30 stemmed and pitted halved cherries, this is what you'll need:

Cake:

Almond Meal - 1/2 cup

All-Purpose Flour-1 cup

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Unsalted Butter- 1/2 cup

Sugar- 1 1/2 cup

3 Large eggs, Separated

Vanilla Extract- 1/4 tsp

Almond Extract-1/4 tsp

Buttermilk- 1/2 cup

Whisky- 1/4 cup 

Topping:

Sugar- 1 cup

Water-6 tbsp

Butter-6 tbsp

Cherries- 25-30 cherries stemmed, pitted, halved

Start by heating your oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly Butter your pan to prevent any tragic sticking. We used our largest skillet and just set it in the oven to bake. So, that's an option.

To make toppingMix sugar and water in a saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves. Once dissolved let mixture come to a boil and stir every few minutes. Continue to boil until mixture becomes a caramel color. Remove pan from heat and add your butter. Stir until texture and color is uniform. Pour caramel mixture into bottom of desired baking pan and place halved cherries cut-side down into caramel mixture.

      

To make cake

1. Place almond meal, flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix to combine; set aside. Place butter in a bowl and use a mixer to beat the butter. Beat butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat until combined. Add in vanilla extract and almond extract and beat until combined. Turn mixer to low.  Add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour. Gently and slowly beat after each addition until just combined. Batter will be nice and fluffy.

1. Place egg whites in a clean bowl and use clean mixer to beat the egg whites. Beat until foamy and soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Slowly sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until well combined. With the mixer running pour in whiskey and beat. Fold a third of egg-white mixture into batter with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula. Gently fold in remaining egg whites.

1. Spread batter and smooth over fruit topping. Bake until fork inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Run knife along around edge to loosen, and invert cake onto serving plate to cool.

Whew! So, after you've done all that this is the delicious looking result:

It tastes delicious too! If you feel like being a little excessive, pour some Frangelico on the top!

Since I review everything else on this blog, I think it's only appropriate that I review this cake. First of all, the texture is very spongy and the cake is quite moist. Thanks to the almond flour, almond extract, and vanilla extract, the cake has a very nutty sweetness which is very moreish. The cherries soaked up most of the bourbon and have developed a boozy tart fruitiness balanced the natural sweetness of the cherries. Together the cake and topping work extremely well. I recommend accompanying this with bourbon (of course), or if it's a bit early in the day some strong coffee (we had Guatemalan from a french press). 

All-in-all this was a great success! The cake was delicious and fun to make (although the egg whipping took a while because I don't have a beater... oops). Try it if you can. I'd also be interested to hear your whisky recipes!

Cheers!

Josh