Alcohol Buttercream Or Cake?? How Do I?
Decorating By laxgal00 Updated 2 Jul 2008 , 9:25pm by FromScratch
Greetings. I have been seeing several places that offer alcohol flavored cakes. such as mojito cupcakes with rum cake and frosting or margarita cake with tequilla in the mix. Does anyone have suggestions about baking with alcohol or mixing BC? do i want to put the alcohol in the batter or the buttercream and if so how much? seriously i would take any suggestions about anything with flavored alcohol and baking/decorating. thanks. laxgal00
I believe some people will just substitute it for the liquid in the cake like water.
One thing is to let adults know this is not a kid-friendly cake (even if you bake it in the batter). A common misconception is that alcohol bakes out. It never completely does.
Lets say you wanted to do a mojito cake theme, I would flavor a vanilla or white cake with lime, not too strong and then do the actual mojito flavor in the icing. Mint extract and lime juice would work great but it will change the consistency of the icing. I never get positive feed back if I soak my cakes so I try not to do it unless absolutely necessary.
Putting it in the cake batter via a simple syrup is usually how you would make a rum/tequila/kahlua cake. People will say that the alcohol won't cook off and blah blah blah, but vanilla extract is the same proof as vodka and people add it to their cooking all the time. You are not talking a ton of alcohol to infuse a syrup and a minute amount per cake layer. My kids love rum cake and they have never been drunk from it. Now a traditional English fruitcake than has been soaked in brandy for months.. that's another story.. LOL. But you average cake it's not enough to make any impact on your level of sober-ness.
Some liquors lend themselves to being added to buttercreams and some don't. Tequila/rum/whiskey I wouldn't add to buttercream, but Kahlua/creme de cacao/creme de menthe I would. If you have no qualm adding lemon extract (which has the same alcohol content as everclear) to your buttercream then don't worry about adding a little Kahlua you know? 
All my cakes get a booze-flavored soak--even kids birthday cakes. As the above poster said, adding a little booze to a cake is no different than using most extracts. I don't soak to add moisture--my cakes are very moist to begin with--but rather as another layer of "flavor." If I'm doing hazelnut buttercream, it gets a frangelico soak, almond get amaretto, raspberry gets chambord... you get the idea. To me, it just deepens the flavor fo the cake. The biggest problem with soaks is, many people don't know how much to soak a cake and it's very easy to go from perfectly soaked to soggy if you're not used to doing it.
I usually replace some of the liquid in the cake mix with the alcohol when using it. You don't really want to use all alcohol because it can cause your cake to be dry.
wow. so much info so fast. i gleaned off this that if its hard alcohol to aim it toward the batter and liquors (sweeter stuff) is better for the BC. thats a good direction to go. as for the soak - i am ineterested in that. in general, how much liquid to how much cake (ie just an "ish") like one example. if you had an 8'' round how much liquid and how long would it be. and what about cupcakes, can you drip some on top? afraid that would make papers soggy. anyone have great ideas for cocktail cakes? figured it would make a nice continued discussion.
Extracts do have alcohol but you are using more than 1 t. of alcohol even in a simple syrup therefore you are dealing with more alcohol.
As a baker, it should not be up to us if soaking a cake in alcohol is okay for kids or not (or people in general). If you soak your cake, lay the facts out for the consumer and let them make up their mind. In my family, it would not be okay. There are religious aspects to take into consideration also. You can always flavor a cake with real lemon juice or real vanilla beans and not use any alcohol.
http://www.ochef.com/165.htm
A non-alcoholic alternative are Torani syrups.
http://www.torani.com/home_noflash.php
Yes I should note that my customers are FULLY aware that I use alcohol in my soaks and of COURSE if they requested a non-alcoholic alternative I would comply. Never meant to imply that anyone should add straight-up alcohol without anyone's knowledge. Just a reference, when flavoring simple syrup, a 3 tiered stacked cake probably has no more than two shots of liquor, total, in the entire cake's soak... and even that's probably a generous estimate.
Yes I should note that my customers are FULLY aware that I use alcohol in my soaks and of COURSE if they requested a non-alcoholic alternative I would of course comply. Never meant to imply that anyone should add straight-up alcohol without anyone's knowledge.
If you were doing just a plain chocolate cake with chocolate icing what would you pair with it? Same for a plain vanilla?
Extracts do have alcohol but you are using more than 1 t. of alcohol even in a simple syrup therefore you are dealing with more alcohol.
As a baker, it should not be up to us if soaking a cake in alcohol is okay for kids or not (or people in general). If you soak your cake, lay the facts out for the consumer and let them make up their mind. In my family, it would not be okay. There are religious aspects to take into consideration also. You can always flavor a cake with real lemon juice or real vanilla beans and not use any alcohol.
http://www.ochef.com/165.htm
A non-alcoholic alternative are Torani syrups.
http://www.torani.com/home_noflash.php
Wow, you learn something new every day! TFS! Those Torani syrups are good!
I do understand what you are saying.. and I would NEVER ever ever soak a cake in anything and not let the person buying the cake know.. even if it's just simple syrup. My buttercream recipe though calls for 4 TBSP of vanilla. By your thought I should think twice about serving it to children. Most of my cakes have at least 2 TBSP of vanilla extract in them. Using real beans is great but expensive and the flavor isn't as deep unless you use a lot of bean, especially in baked goods. I respect anyone's religious beliefs and if alcohol is out of the question for you then we can work around that. But if all alcohol is out of the question then the extracts shoudl be to no? I mean they are made with alcohol. I am not being flippant. I feel the need to say that since many threads have been sensitive. These are just philosophical questions.
I use real lemon juice and lemon zest to make things lemon flavored as I prefer the flavor to the extracts. I use real vanilla beans in certain fillings like pastry creams and my cream cheese filling. I use extracts in baking and my SMBC because no one wants little flecks in the finish of their cake.. well not many anyway I personally think it looks nice. If I am going to sell a kahlua cake chances are it's not for a kid's party. If I was to make a frangelico simple syrup though it wouldn't get a lot of frangelico. There would probably be 2 TBSP in the whole cake. Break that down to less than 1/4 TSP per slice of cake and that isn't worth worrying about. You have more to worry about with the amount os sat fats you just ate.
I think that's a big part of the issue PinkZiab.. people read "liquor soaked cake" and they envision you pouring a bottle of rum over all of your layers until they are dripping with liquid.. it's quite the opposite.. you just gently brush (or I like to use a spray bottle) the syrup over the layers adding just enough to accent your cake.
If you were doing just a plain chocolate cake with chocolate icing what would you pair with it? Same for a plain vanilla?
I do ask the customer of they have a preference. Sometimes, even with a plain cake they decide they want to add something different in, just to give a shot of flavor (like chambord in a chocolate cake or something like that) But if they prefer to keep it simple, with chocolate I'd probably use godiva or other chocolate liquor, or even Kahlua, since coffee heightens the flavor or chocolate without making it "coffee flavored" if you don't overdo it. With the vanilla, I would just do a vanilla vodka or vanilla liqueur (like dekuypers or das komet), or again ask them if they want to give a shot of something else to mix things up.
...and yes I have a pretty well-stocked liquor cabinet--but I have a fondness for cocktails, so nothing goes to waste lol
think that's a big part of the issue PinkZiab.. people read "liquor soaked cake" and they envision you pouring a bottle of rum over all of your layers until they are dripping with liquid
You're right... I'm definitely not making Bahamian rum cake (although I do make a fabulous one! lol). I use the liquor in the same way you would use any other extract, as a flavoring agent. A few spoonfuls in a container of simply syrup, then spritz or brush down the cake. As I said it adds flavor and most people would not even know that the cake is "soaked," as I don't wet the cake down to the point of sogginess (I know some bakeries do this, to mask the fact that their cakes are dry and to extend their shelf life). Again, it's just an accent. not a bath lol.
thanks again everyone for their input.
i do want to say lets quell the discussion on amount in a cake and if its for kids or not, really thats up to whose buying and whose making. and really i hope that no one would serve it without prior information. thats just simple common sense. as for the religious thing, totally with you there but that should all be discussed before the order. so im happilly saying - children stop fighting *wink wink* - so no one be offended that im nicely and gently breaking this up -----
so disagreements and differing opinions aside - i was genuinely looking for technique tips and recipe ideas for drink related cakes/cupcakes. so what do you think? can we brainstorm and all agree to disagree hapilly??? 
But if all alcohol is out of the question then the extracts shoudl be to no?
Exactly. You would think. 
In my family, it comes more from supporting the liquor industry by buying the stuff than griping about the few teaspoons of alcohol left in the BC or something.
Although, I did point this out to my grandma the other day and shocked her as she'd never thought about it before.
I don't think anyone in this thread is fighting in anyway.. it's just banter back and forth. Quite civil given some things flying around here lately. I enjoy asking questions and getting many sides to a story so this is fun for me. I don't think there are any ill feelings flying around this thread.
But back to the topic of your post.. 
What sort of a cake are you looking to make laxgal00? That will help us brainstorm the best way to go about it. 
I agree jkalman. No fighting here! It's great that aswartz shared that though b/c I have several alcoholics in my family! So now I know not to give them pretty much anything I make!
Oh and I was wondering...I've seen people say they make margarita cakes. What's the best combination for that specific flavor? Is it a lime cake, white cake? Flavored bc? What filling?
I love amaretto sours, do you think a lemon cake with amaretto bc would be good? Or an amaretto soaked cake with lemon bc? Maybe an amaretto sour just wouldn't translate well into a cake...
"Top Shelf Cakes" in recipe forum....
http://forum.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=22947&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=shelf&&start=0
6 pages of discussing flavor ideas and recipes for cakes with alcohol in them.
Oh and I was wondering...I've seen people say they make margarita cakes. What's the best combination for that specific flavor? Is it a lime cake, white cake? Flavored bc? What filling?
I've never tried this but I have thought about mixing margarita or daquiri mixes in BC or mix it with water (or whatever ) and add it to the cake.
Oh and I was wondering...I've seen people say they make margarita cakes. What's the best combination for that specific flavor? Is it a lime cake, white cake? Flavored bc? What filling?
I've never tried this but I have thought about mixing margarita or daquiri mixes in BC or mix it with water (or whatever
) and add it to the cake.
That's a good idea! I didn't even think about that!
For a marg cake I would bake a butter cake replacing a few TBSP of the liquid with tequila and fill it with a lightened lime curd with a smidge more tequila in it and then top it with whipped cream. You could used BC is whipped cream wouldn't be practical. Then sprinkle a teeny bit of kosher salt and rough sugar on it around the "rim" of the cake.
Damn it.. now I want a margarita!!
Damn it.. now I want a margarita!!
ME TOO!
For a marg cake I would bake a butter cake replacing a few TBSP of the liquid with tequila and fill it with a lightened lime curd with a smidge more tequila in it and then top it with whipped cream. You could used BC is whipped cream wouldn't be practical. Then sprinkle a teeny bit of kosher salt and rough sugar on it around the "rim" of the cake.
That sounds good. What about adding some triple sec? Maybe to the bc?
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dtxcrsv_94f2877ghh
This is from the cupcake thread. It has several magarita flavored recipes in it.
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dtxcrsv_94f2877ghh
This is from the cupcake thread. It has several magarita flavored recipes in it.
Thank you for both links!
Oooooh.. that's a good idea.. I'd add triple sec or cointreau to the cake batter.. maybe in lou of the tequila. I might have to have a girls night soon with all this talk of yummy cocktails.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%