Irish Car Bomb Cake

Every year for his birthday my husband asks that I make him Irish car bomb cake.  This is the recipe we love because it's not a chocolate cake base, and uses a cake mix and lots of booze!  The link to the original recipe is here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/218743/boozy-irish-cake/.  Mostly I am posting this here so I don't lose the recipe.  It's that good!

Boozy Irish Cake
Recipe By:CinfulySwt

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package French vanilla cake mix
10 1/2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup Irish whiskey, divided
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar

1 (15 ounce) can dark Irish stout beer (such as Guinness(R))
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur (such as Baileys(R))

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans.
Place the cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Pour the water into a 2-cup measure, and add enough Irish whiskey to total 1 1/3 cup of liquid (about 10 1/2 tablespoons). Reserve remaining whiskey. Beat the whiskey and water mixture, vegetable oil, and eggs with an electric mixer on low speed just until cake mix is moistened; increase speed to medium, and beat until the batter is smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour batter into the prepared cake pans.

Bake in the preheated oven until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

While the cake is baking, pour remaining Irish whiskey (about 1 1/2 tablespoon) into a saucepan, and stir in 1/4 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, until sugar has dissolved; boil until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
When cakes are done baking but still hot, poke holes all over the cakes (the end of a chopstick works well for this) and drizzle the whiskey syrup into the holes. Return the cakes to the oven, and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
Remove cakes from oven, allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes, then remove from pans to finish cooling on wire racks.

To make caramel sauce, mix the Irish stout beer with 1/2 cup of sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Simmer the mixture until thickened, about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, and allow to cool.
To make frosting, beat 1 cup of softened butter in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, then gradually beat in confectioners' sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time. Beat in salt, then add the Irish cream liqueur, beating until the frosting is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cake, place a layer onto a cake serving dish; pour the Irish stout caramel over the first layer, allowing the caramel to drip down the sides of the layer. Place the 2nd cake layer on top, and top with the buttercream, swirling the frosting into decorative waves. Do not frost sides of cake.

Tomasita’s Torticas de Morón

Tomasita’s Torticas de Morón

 

On December 25, 2004 I was invited to Abuela Tomasita’s kitchen where she taught me how to make her famous torticas de Morón.  I felt very privileged to have this opportunity as she closely guarded this particular recipe.  Abuela had me sit as I took notes in my green notebook, and showed me how she made the cookies directly on her kitchen table.  She didn’t use a recipe (she had it memorized), used a coffee mug to measure, and mixed the dough with her bare hands. 

These tasty sugar cookies were originally created in the city of Morón, in the province Ciego de Ávila in Central Cuba. Abuela came from a family of bakers, so it can be assumed that this was something that her family baked for the family business.  She would often make huge batches of these cookies and give them as gifts for Christmas.  I am sure that Abuela Tomasita would be happy to know that we are still enjoying her cookies during the Christmas season.

 

Picture of my Abuela Tomasita with my niece Danielle on November 5, 2005

Ingredients:

·       1 ½ Lb. (24 oz) of white granulated sugar

·       1 Lb. of Vegetable Shortening (such as Crisco)

·       3 egg yolks

·       1 pinch baking powder

·       2-3 coffee cups of flour

·       Sprinkles, sanding sugar, or white sugar (to decorate)

·       *1/2 teaspoon salt (Annette’s addition)

·       *1 tsp vanilla extract (Annette’s addition)

·       Line cookie sheets with 3 layers of brown paper bags and newspaper cut to fit

 

Directions:

Create a mound of sugar (reserve at least a cup to add as needed) with a hole in the middle of your work surface.  Put half the can of vegetable shortening in the center of the ring of sugar.  Add the three egg yolks, baking powder, vanilla, and salt.  Start mixing by hand, keep one hand clean so you can slowly add other ingredients.  Once the ingredients are mixed start slowly adding at least two cups of flour.  You want to achieve a soft almost playdough texture.  

 

You will now form the dough into small balls.  Take a tablespoon of dough and form the dough into a golf ball size ball.  Place the balls either on a cookie sheet or in a container.  Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or freeze up to a month.  

When you are ready to bake preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line pans with paper and newspaper, you will want at least three layers to absorb the oil from the cookies as they bake. 

The balls never get too solid, so when you are ready take them out of the cold and dip the top of each ball in sprinkles, and place on your lined cookie sheet.  Even though the dough is formed into small balls they will flatten out as they bake.  If you flatten them now they will melt in the oven and make a puddle.  Lower oven temperature to 300 and bake until the tops of the cookies look cracked and lightly browned 40-45 minutes.