Tennessee Whiskey Cake

By Hklbrries

You can substitute 3 tablespoons water and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract for the whiskey.

Serve with Sorghum Frozen Yogurt (recipe in collection).


Chef Jeff Carter cooks up Southern comfort in the Smoky Mountains.

Nestled in what tourists call the "quiet side of the Smokies," in Townsend, Tenn., is a peaceful mountain resort called Dancing Bear Lodge. There Chef Jeff Carter prepares a menu that reflects its Southern locals and is refined but not fussy. "I love cooking comfort food, the food that fits this place, the log cabin look," he explains.

Like so many chefs, Carter's cooking emphasizes local ingredients: fresh water trout is smoked and paired with spicy black-eye peas, locally ground cornmeal becomes creamy polenta, and collard greens and country ham are served alongside sorghum-glazed chicken breasts. In fact, Carter has a special affinity for the Southern staple, sorghum, particularly the light Muddy Pond sorghum produced in Monterey, Tenn. He uses it in desserts like his Tennessee Whiskey Cake and Sorghum Ice Cream, as well as in entrees such as his pistachio and rosemary-dusted pork tenderloin with sorghum sweet potatoes.

"Using sorghum is like using maple syrup or molasses. Anything that calls for molasses, you can use sorghum. It's a little lighter, and the flavor is a little different," he says.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/2 cup sorghum or molasses
• 1/4 cup Tennesse whiskey, such as Jack Daniel's or George Dickel

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat butter using a mixer at medium speed; gradually add sugars and beat until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Add to egg mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stop mixer and add sorghum. Restart mixer and slowly add whiskey. Mix until smooth, about 30 seconds. (Batter will be thin.)

Pour into a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with Sorghum Frozen Yogurt (recipe in collection).

Nutritional Information:
Per serving
350 calories
14 g fat
8 g saturated fat
1 g polyunsaturated fat
4 g monounsaturated fat
100 mg cholesterol
280 mg sodium
12 mg potassium
48 g carbohydrates
1 g fiber
26 g sugars
6 g protein