Eggnog Cake

 

Sometime over the Christmas period I purchased a litre of eggnog at the grocery store. I had in mind that I was going to make am Eggnog Cake for us to enjoy. It never got done. 

I kept thinking about making it, but other things kept getting in the way.  Every time I opened the refrigerator I would spy it sitting there and think to myself I must make that cake. Finally I just grabbed the bull by the horns and made it.

 

Eggnog was not an ingredient which we had readily available in the UK. You could get it at some American supply companies, but always at a premium price I was not really willing to pay.

I did make it from scratch several times and it was very good.  I used to look at recipes for eggnog cake online and think I wanted to make and would love to make one.  My dream finally came true.

 

I do apologize in advance for the poor quality of these photos. I had to take them at night in the kitchen light.  I still think they turned out fairly well irrespective of that fact.   

My photos have never really been the best anyways. I know you will forgive me if these are less than perfect!  Don't let that dissuade you from trying this lovely cake however. You will be missing out on a real gem!

 

Its a lovely dense cake, very similar to a pound cake. In fact I took my regular pound cake recipe and substituted eggnog for the cream in the cake. They are about the same consistency.

The eggnog of course has a flavor that isn't there in the cream. So if you are in the UK, you can use cream instead of eggnog and just increase the spices in the cake batter. You will still have a very good cake.

 

Use double or heavy cream. It will work beautifully.  But, of course, if you have eggnog, do use that. 

Have you ever wondered why it is that you have to beat your eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy when you are making a cake?  Its very simple really.

 

This act of creaming/beating the butter and sugar together actually helps to melt the sugar into the butter.  It helps it to dissolve.  Have you ever noticed a cake come out of the oven looking somewhat "freckly" on the surface?

This happens when the sugar hasn't melted enough into the butter. If you don't really beat them together and give the sugar a chance to dissolve, you end up with granular sugar which leaves darkish freckles/speckles on the surface of the cake.

 

Have you ever wondered why it is that you need to beat eggs into a cake one at a time?  There is a very good reason for this action. 

This is to help prevent the butter/sugar mixture from curdling. Adding them slowly and one at a time prevents this from happening. You don't want your cake batter to curdle. A curdled batter produces a cake with an uneven texture.

 

This is because the fat hasn't been evenly dispersed throughout the batter. When cake batter is properly emulsified, it traps air into the batter, producing a cake with a lighter, more evenly baked finish.

If your batter starts to curdle when you are beating in the eggs, this can be rectified by beating in a tablespoonful of the flour required for the cake, just until the batter emulsifies again. Generally speaking this will correct it.

 

For better cakes it is also better if you can have everything at room temperature. I know we are often in a hurry and don't want to wait for this to happen, but if you know you are going to be baking a cake today, it is quite easy to take the refrigerated ingredients out of the fridge and leave them on the counter for about an hour before you start.

These simple steps  taken always result in a cake with a better texture and finish. 

 

I have seen quite a few eggnog cake recipes out there that require the use of a cake mix. I am sure they are very good.  I didn't want to use a cake mix. I really wanted to make a from scratch cake.  

Over in the UK, especially when I first moved over there, cake mixes were not readily available. Even when they became more available they were not really available in many different flavors.

 

I know that cake mixes are really very convenient to  use, and doctored up cake mix cakes can be very nice.  Chocolate pound cake for instance, which uses a cake mix and a packet of chocolate pudding mix, is dense and delicious.

Generally speaking however, I prefer to make my cakes from scratch. That way I know how fresh my baking powder is and, well, I just like the finished product better. To me they just taste, feel and look better.

I don't think my grandmother ever used a cake mix in her life. If it was good enough for Grandma, its good enough for me.  In any case I hope you will give this cake a go, even if it is well past Christmas, and if you want to wait until next Christmas then I hope you will try it then.

I think you will be very happy with the end results.  My sister, who doesn't generally tend to eat a lot when it comes to sweet things, has really enjoyed this cake. That makes me very happy. And like I said, if you don't have any eggnog, you can use cream in its place or even undiluted evaporated milk. Just amp up the cinnamon and eggnog.

You will still have a very delicious, beautiful cake that the whole family will enjoy! 

 

Eggnog Bundt Cake

Yield: 8-10

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 10 Mincook time: 45 Mininactive time: 10 Mintotal time: 1 H & 4 M

This wonderfully flavoured cake is dense like a pound cake and incredibly moist. i thought it was quite delicious and a great way to use up some eggnog we had in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup (120g) butter at room temperature
• 1 cup (190g) granulated sugar
• 2 large free range eggs
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla
• 1/4 sp salt
• 2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
• 4 tsp. Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup (240ml) full fat eggnog

For the glaze:

• 1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• milk to thin

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter a medium sized bundt pan and dust with flour, shaking out any excess flour.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla and then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and ground nutmeg.  Add to the creamed mixture in thirds, alternating with the eggnog. Mix together until well combined and the pour into the prepared bundt pan.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean and the top spings back when lightly touched.
5. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then tip out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
6. To make the glaze, whisk together all of the ingredients only adding enough milk to give you an icing thin/thick enough to drizzle decoratively over the cake. Allow to set.
7. Cut into wedges to serve.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again! 

  Follow my blog with Bloglovin