italian dessert recipes

Beer Cake

With Bourbon Soaked Raisins




beer cake This beer cake came about, not because I was pregnant and craving something weird. Nope. It was late. After dinner. And my nocturnal sweet tooth came to life. So, I began scrounging my cookbooks And while I was browsing through a cookbook I saw a cake called a "beer cake". I thought Ok, interesting. Hmmm. I do have a ton of beer sitting in my bottom vegetable bin drawer - that I really didn't want taking up that space!!! (GRRRRRR - silly husband!)

I do have another beer cake on my site - it's a little decieving in name. But it uses a dark beer. You can see it here:

Spice Cake Recipe

This tastes like homemade raisin bread with that yeast raised flavor. The surprise is it's cake-like in texture. Very interesting combo. And definitely soak the raisins in bourbon!

Only bummer, it takes over an hour to bake! Seriously. But to outweigh the cooking time - this is one of those can't pass up easy cake recipes.


If you want to tone it down to an American rendition check out the substitution section below for ideas. But really the only Italian dessert recipe thing I did was:

  • soak the raisins in bourbon vanilla


  • add a minor hint of anise powder to the topping


    • ALL of which can be omitted. But why be boring?


    Beer Cake

    YIELD:1 - 10 inch cake

    Ingredients:



    * 1 cup of flour

    * 3 cups sugar

    * 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

    * 1/8 teaspoon powdered anise (TOTALLY optional!)

    * 1 1/8 cup unsalted butter

    * 3 eggs

    * 1 Cup of raisins

    * Enough bourbon to cover the raisins (so they can soak and absorb!)

    * 2 cups of beer (pale)

    * 4 cups of flour

    * 1 1/2 rounded tablespoon of baking powder

    * 1/2 teaspoon salt

    Procedure

     * Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

    * Set aside raisins in deep cup and cover with enough boubon so raisins sit in liquid.

    * Prepare topping:

    * Mix 1 cup of the flour with cinnamon, anise and 1 cup of sugar.

    * Cut in 1/2 cup of the butter - then set aside. (Topping done!)

    * In large bowl beat remaining sugar and remaining butter until creamy.

    * Add eggs, beat after each addition.

    * Sift the dry ingredients and add to egg/butter mixture.

    * Fold in beer and raisins.

    * Spoon mixture into the greased 10 inch cake pan.

    * Add the topping

    * Bake for 1 hour (really!) or until toothpick comes out clean.

    TIP: I used a 9 inch pan and I baked this for 1 hr and 20 mins. I don't advise going with a smaller pan.
    My topping imploded because the center wasn't done, and the the outer edge was dry. I'd stick with a 9 inch pan!



    Adapted from Great Tastes Baking by Bay Books





    What kinda beer works best?

    The kind no one will miss if you bake with it.


    Where's the nuts?

    Where ever you want 'em. Add them to the topping or the batter. I've never done it. Don't see why ya can't though.


    Can I use rum instead of bourbon?

    Yup. I just like the bite of bourbon over the sweet of rum. We cook with both of them quite often in our Italian dessert recipes.


    Are there other beer recipes?

    We don't drink or use much beer in our culture. We use tons of liquor and wine.

    Other than this beer cake recipe, I have a spice cake recipe that uses dark beer and molasses.

    Back to the top of the beer cake.











    Lisa Gianotti

    Fathers Day - Cakes Cakes Cakes!



    With Fathers Day coming, I can already tell you what my most viewed pages will be the week before ~ chocolate ~ chocolate ~ chocolate!

    You do know women like chocolate too, right? For whatever reason, my chocolate recipes get a huge amount of views the beginning of June. Acouple of my favs are:

    Recipe For Chocolate Cheesecake

    Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

    And if you wanna do what the popular kids do, these are my top five most viewed cake recipes:

    #1 Best Tiramisu Recipe

    #2 Almond Cake Recipe

    #3 Yogurt Cake

    #4 Lemon Pound Cake

    #5 Italian Rum Cake

    Have a lovely Fathers Day!

    Lisa


    Would you like to share this page? You know how to do it! Thanks for sharing the sugar love!



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    Recipes on this site are from family cookbooks, family traditions, or intentional adaptations from traditional recipes to add an Italian flair. If a recipe was adapted or used from another cook - it is mentioned on the recipe page and the recipe author is given credit.