Happy Birthday to me! Today I turn 25 a hair over 30, and if you know me, you know there’s few flavors I love as much as bourbon and caramel. It seemed only appropriate to combine the two to make one phenomenally fall dessert, and I have to say- it was worth the effort. This bourbon caramel cake is right up my alley, and I think you’ll love it too. Let’s dive in.

Look, I’m not above celebrating my own birthday. I know it may seem a little narcissistic, but let’s be honest: 2020 has been a wild one. Sometimes we need a happy celebration to take the edge off, and birthdays are the perfect excuse. So yes, I’m totally celebrating myself (and bourbon! and caramel!) with this little bourbon caramel cake, but I’d welcome you to insert your own celebration to the equation. Whatever great thing you have going for you in life, I’d challenge you to sprinkle it with all the love and candles and cake you can muster. If, at the heart of it, there’s a whole bunch of gratitude and joy, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Bourbon Caramel Cake

So onto this bourbon caramel cake. Here, fall flavors, a hint of booze, and rich textures are all packaged into a small batch cake recipe that is more petite than the cakes we normally share around here. My guess is that most of our celebrations are including fewer people these days, so you can count on this treat for about 9 servings, 6 if you’re serving crazy, sugar-hungry people like me. The cake layers are bourbon and brown sugar-scented with all the soft and fluffy texture to boot. The frosting, an old-fashioned Southern-style caramel icing, sets up thick and adds loads of flavor and sweetness to the tender cake. Let me tell you how to make it.

We start with the cake! This one is simple with butter, oil, and two kinds of sugar creaming together. Next, we add eggs and then begin alternating the wet and dry ingredients. Cake flour contributes soft texture and bourbon adds the warmth and flavor. The batter is baked in a 9″ square pan and then allowed to cool. When you’re ready to frost the cake, you can start making the icing. Butter and brown sugar melt and cook over the stove until it’s bubbly throughout. Heavy cream barely thins out the mixture that is then put in the bowl of a stand mixer to whip with powdered sugar until somewhat cool. Next, a small bit more of butter is added and stirred until smooth. Admittedly, this icing is kinda tricky to work with.

Find the right consistency for this icing is the trickiest part as the icing is applied best when warm but not too soupy. I’d encourage you to play with it a bit to find the right texture and gently reheat and icing that sets up too quickly. Work fast and know we’re not aiming for perfection here- just a really yummy cake. If you have any celebrations coming up, I’d encourage you to give bourbon caramel cake a try~ I know I’ll be celebrating with a slice, and I’d love for you to join me. Happy Thursday and happy baking!

If you like this bourbon caramel cake you should try:

Brown Butter Bourbon Madeleines
Bourbon Bundt Cake
Chocolate Caramel Crumble Cake
Molten Caramel Chocolate Cakes
Almond Toffee Cake

Bourbon Caramel Cake

Print Recipe

★★★★★

4.8 from 5 reviews

This bourbon caramel cake has fluffy bourbon brown sugar layers and an old fashioned Southern caramel frosting!

• Author: Kate Wood
• Prep Time: 30
• Cook Time: 40
• Total Time: 120
• Yield: 9 Servings
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

For the cake:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¼ cup canola oil
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1–3/4 cups cake flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, divided
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream, plus more to thin out icing
• 2–1/2 cups powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

To prepare the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 (if using a dark pan like me. Otherwise, you can go up to 350 but bake time will be shorter). Lightly grease a 9” square pan and cut out a sheet of parchment paper to fit into the bottom of it. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, canola oil, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth, about a minute and a half. Add the egg and yolk and stir until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and stir in any unincorporated bits. Add half of the cake flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir on low to combine. Add ¼ cup of the milk as well as the bourbon and vanilla. Stir on low. Add the remaining cake flour and milk and stir on low just until combined. Fold in any unincorporated bits. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 35-37 minutes or until the cake has puffed, turned golden, and a toothpick inserted just barely comes out clean. Don’t overbake! Set aside to cool completely.
3. When ready to frost the cake (see notes), remove the cake from the pan, use a serrated knife to trim off any dome, and cut in half lengthwise to create two 4.5”x9” cakes. Prepare your frosting as follows.
4. In a medium saucepan, combine ½ cup butter and the brown sugar over low heat and stir the mixture until the butter and sugar are combined and smooth but the mixture hasn’t begun to boil. Turn the heat up to medium and stop stirring. Cook until bubbles appear on the sides and middle of the pot. Remove from heat and carefully stir in ½ cup cream. Whisk the cream in to incorporate, but be careful, as the mixture may splatter. Place back on heat and bring to a bubble again then remove from heat. Pour the mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer and add the powdered sugar. Beat on medium speed with the paddle attachment until the mixture has cooled to a warm temperature. Add the remaining butter and beat ad additional minute. At this point, assess the texture. The frosting should be slightly warm and very loose. The frosting will set up as it cools, so you’ll need to add a bit of additional cream or milk to thin it out. I usually find 2 tablespoons is the perfect amount, but you can decide. Dollop a little bit of frosting on your serving platter or plate and place the first “layer” of cake down. Spread additional frosting on top to adhere the second layer and observe how it sets up as it cools. At this time, if the frosting sets up too firm and you want to add a little more milk, you can gently reheat it for a few seconds in the microwave and then add additional milk. Frost the cake and allow to cool before enjoying! Please note this frosting is way different to work with from traditional buttercreams, but you can briefly reheat the frosting to get it smooth enough to frost again. Just don’t overheat!

Notes

•  I like to work with chilled cakes. You can pop these layers in the freezer to achieve, if desired. 

It’s been an eventful few weeks. It’s okay then it’s scary, there’s nothing to do but then it’s a lot of work. Weather gets hot then cold, my kids are happy and then insane. Can we just agree that things are kinda tumultuous? The political, health, financial, and relational climate of this world is a hodgepodge right now, so it seemed fitting to share a dessert equally nutso: Marble Layer Cake. This is the dessert you go when you’re craving both chocolate and vanilla, and because it’s a slightly smaller batch recipe than I normally share here, you can feel okay about making it during these more isolated times. Let me tell you all about it.

My first experience with marble anything was at a Starbucks. I was always obsessed with their marble loaf and even shared a copycat recipe on this site a few years ago. I think a cake like this is a fun twist on a traditional chocolate or vanilla cake and makes a great alternative for the plain Janes in your life. Maybe you have a fussy eater in your house who doesn’t love fancy flavors? They’ll adore this! Maybe you’re normally an adventurous eater but you’re really just craving something that feels comforting and familiar? Again, this marble layer cake is the perfect choice. Chocolate and vanilla is always a safe choice, and let’s be honest- we could all use a little of that, right?

I’ll keep it short (and sweet!) today, but I do want to fill you in on a few recipe details. First, this makes a smallish cake. I baked my batter in a 10″ square pan, cut the cake in half, and stacked the two layers on top of one another to form a 10×5″ 2-layer cake. Alternatively, you could bake the batter in two small round pans and stack in that manner. Cakes this size are super easy to store in the freezer, so if you can’t eat it all ASAP, save the leftovers for later! Second, you can basically use whatever cocoa powder you prefer her. I used regular unsweetened, but a dark or dutch processed one would be fine too. Finally, this chocolate fudge frosting is super good, but the consistency will totally change in the fridge. I recommend serving at room temperature.

Do you have any birthdays or special occasions coming up? We can still celebrate, even in the midst of quanrantine! Give this marble layer cake a try and celebrate the people you love even if it’s from afar. Happy Tuesday and happy baking!

If you like this marble layer cake you should try:

Marble Loaf
Chocolate Cake
Black and White Cake
White Chocolate Cake

Marble Layer Cake

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

This marble layer cake is a chocolate and vanilla swirled cake with a rich fudge frosting. Perfect for small batch baking!

• Author: Kate Wood
• Prep Time: 25
• Cook Time: 45
• Total Time: 120
• Yield: 9 Servings
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1/3 cup (80 gm) hot coffee or water
• 1/3 cup (25 gm) cocoa powder
• 1–1/3 cups plus 2 extra tablespoons sugar, divided
• ¾ cup (170 gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2–1/4 cups (270 gm) cake flour
• 1 tablespoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (200 gm) whole milk, at room temperature
• 2–1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• 1 cup (230 gm) unsalted butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 cups (230 gm) powdered sugar
• 1 cup (85 gm) cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons milk

Instructions

To prepare the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 10” square pan, lining it the bottom with a cut out sheet of parchment paper. In lieu of a 10” pan you could also use two round 7” pans.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the coffee (or hot water) and cocoa powder as well as 2 tablespoons of sugar. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and 1-1/3 cups of sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the eggs one at a time, stirring to combine each into the butter. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add half of the flour as well as the baking powder and salt. Stir on low and then add the vanilla and half of the milk. Add the remaining cake flour and then stir in the rest of the milk. Only stir until combined. Spoon out 1/3 of the batter and fold the cocoa powder mixture into it. Begin alternating dollops of the chocolate batter and the vanilla batter into your prepared pan(s) until all of the batter has been used. Smooth the top and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean about 30 minutes for a 10” pan or 22-ish minutes for the two round pans. Allow to cool completely prior to frosting.

To prepare the frosting:

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until combined, about 1-1/2 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and milk, and stir on low until smooth and combined. Increase the speed briefly to fluff it up.
2. Trim any dome off of the top of your cake(s). If you opted to bake your cake in a single 10” pan, cut the square in half to make two equal-sized rectangles. Spread frosting on one half of the cake and then top it with the remaining rectangle. Smooth frosting over the remaining cake and enjoy!