Porter molasses cake with whiskey-caramel sauce
Molasses is yet another ingredient that has such fond food memories attached to it - my grandfather made the most amazing molasses cookies. It was the only way I'd eat raisins as a kid; I like them much better now but back in the day, unless they were baked in his molasses-y goodness, I was having none of it. I think he would have loved this cake; it's so intensely flavored with great combination of the blackstrap molasses, dark brown sugar, maple syrup and Fred's famous homebrewed bourbon barrel porter. Which, by the way, was a huge hit at last month's Seacoast Food Swap - my guy does make a mean beer :)
I made this cake for a St. Patrick's Day dinner, but honestly, it's so good that there is no reason to wait until next March to make it. I'm a sucker for caramel and this one almost tastes like you're doing a shot of whiskey - but it works so well with the cake. And hey, it was St. Paddy's day after all.
Porter molasses cake with whiskey-caramel sauce
Adapted from Food & Wine
Level: Medium
Time: About 2 hours 20 minutes until you can eat it
Ingredients
Cake
1 1/2 cups porter (I used Fred's homebrewed bourbon barrel porter)
1 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon maple salt
1/3 cup cocoa nibs
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
3 large eggs
Caramel sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup half & half
1/4 cup whiskey
Directions
In a large saucepan, whisk 1 cup of the porter with the molasses and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, remove the pan from the heat, stir in the baking soda and let cool completely (this took quite a while for me, even when I put it in the fridge).
In a medium saucepan, whisk the maple syrup with the remaining 1/2 cup porter and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half and very syrupy, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a circular angel food cake pan (or a Bundt cake pan), shaking off the excess flour. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, cocoa nibs, and espresso powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the butter with the brown and granulated sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until everything is just mixed together. At low speed, beat in the cooled porter-molasses mixture, then slowly beat in the flour mixture.
Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the surface with a spatula and/or by banging the pan on the counter. Bake in the center of the oven until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean - this took 58 minutes for me; the original recipe said 50 minutes so check around 50. Rotate the pan halfway through cook time!
Let cool in the cake pan for 15 minutes then invert the cake onto a rack and brush it with the cooled porter-syrup mixture.
Make the caramel: in a medium saucepan (make sure it's big enough because the caramel likes to bubble up), combine the sugar with the water and bring it to a boil. Cook over moderately high heat, without stirring, until an amber colored caramel forms (this took 6-7 minutes for me). Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the half & half and whiskey. Cook over low heat for 1 minute and let cool slightly.
Cut the cake into wedges and drizzle the caramel over the cake. Try not to drool (too much).
Mangia!