Cake recipe to use cherry liqueur

April 26, 2020 9:01 AM

I have 1/3 cup of homemade cherry liqueur that is several years old. I'd like to turn it into a boozy cake. Recommend me a recipe? Preferences inside.

The liqueur is high-proof (I don't remember what I used as a base, but it's definitely at least 80 proof). It's not very sweet. I tried Googling "cherry liqueur cake", but it's just as likely my ideal recipe is a cake that normally uses brandy or rum or something else for which I could substitute my liqueur. My preferences are:

-- The flavor of the booze should be front and center
-- No other unusual ingredients (I have all the basics for baking but not, e.g., whole cherries or candied fruit)
-- Not a chocolate cake

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

posted by aws17576 to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

Any simple, single layer white or yellow sponge cake should do. Bake it. Then poke holes over the top of the cake and drizzle the liqueur over the top and let it soak in before frosting the cake. 1/3C isn't going to go very far, though. Maybe halve the cake recipe?
posted by Thorzdad at 10:03 AM on April 26, 2020 [7 favorites]

agree, you want to save that liqueur for a syrup that soaks in after baking; it'll get lost in a batter.

Make a smallish pound cake in a loaf pan (consider using a little almond extract in the cake to amplify the cherry.) Smallish because you don't have a lot of syrup; and also you want to be able to pour the syrup onto the cake while it's still in the pan, so you want its edges not to be as high as the pan, so it doesn't spill everywhere, and instead soaks in.

Make a syrup with your liqueur and a little additional water and sugar on the stove. Poke holes in hot baked cake, carefully pour syrup onto it in its pan, in stages, to get it to accept all the liqueur.
posted by fingersandtoes at 11:15 AM on April 26, 2020 [3 favorites]

Or, since there's a little, mix with confectioners sugar to make a glaze and drip it over a baked cake.
posted by tmdonahue at 11:27 AM on April 26, 2020

I make an English trifle every year for my husband's birthday. It's layers of yellow cake soaked with sherry, vanilla custard (homemade), and jam, topped with whipped cream and toasted almonds.

I bet it would taste delicious with cherry booze.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 12:48 PM on April 26, 2020 [3 favorites]

The Bacardi rum cake is amazing-I thinking I was doing this I’d make a Bundt cake with almond and the make the syrup with your liqueur. https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/bacardi-rum-cake/
posted by purenitrous at 5:50 PM on April 26, 2020

I have been very happy with a cherry liqueur soak on this almond cake. Just drizzle the liqueur on the warm cake as described above (reserve a little for flavoring some whipped cream, too, if you like). If you don't have the almond paste you need to make this particular cake, then I'd suggest any almond-flavored or almond-garnished cake -- cherry and almonds taste awesome together.
posted by ourobouros at 4:37 AM on April 27, 2020