eggnog birthday cake
Another year, another candle for a December birthday, this time celebrated with an eggnog cake adapted from Taste of Home via Modest Marce. Though I’ve learned by bitter experience not to try to make a birthday cake too nutritious, I tweaked the recipe a bit by using half whole wheat pastry flour and sweetening the cake with coconut sugar. Like that made it healthy (snort). I’d never made a cooked frosting before. One of my son’s friends looked agog at the frosting in progress, asking, “Is that an eggnog roux?” Yes indeed.
The cake was very dense and rich and full of flavor. I used an extra dash of dark rum in the cake (a tablespoon) and a generous grating of nutmeg from a whole clove. I see no reason to keep pre-ground nutmeg since the cloves last indefinitely and release their fresh scent when you grate off a bit with a microplane grater. It’s easy, and you’ll like the results.
For the eggnog, we used Strauss Family Creamery Organic Eggnog. I have no business relationship with the company, I’m just a fan. This is not overly sweetened goop you have to choke down. It’s like nutmeg-y whole milk. Serious Eats writes about the stuff, “this was far and away the best eggnog I’ve ever had… I could see this actually washing down a holiday cookie or two, rather than gluing sprinkles to my upper esophagus.” LOL. True.
Posting a recipe with my tweaks would take baking a second cake. Given that the four of us only managed to eat a quarter of the cake at our first sitting, that might be more than our waistlines can take right now. I will just say that Marce is right in using just one cup of eggnog in the frosting (not one and a half cups like the Taste of Home version).
Next time I’ll share a little about the PT I’ve been doing for my skating. Meanwhile, the cake:
eggnog cake, cut
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
That cake looks amazing! My sister made eggnog cupcakes! So good. And a few years ago I made an eggnog cheesecake. It’s a great flavor.
Wendy recently posted..Running with the devil
Thanks, Wendy, it did turn out really well, we were snacking on it for several days!
December birthdays always deserve a little extra attention because they share the season with so many other celebrations. This cake does just that for a special someone. Happy Holidays. GREG
It’s a challenge to give them that extra attention, but our loved ones deserve it. Happy Holidays to you, too, Greg!
Mary: I’ll be sure to try this cake for my birthday next year–I’ll turn 70 next December, assuming I make it, so if the caloric load kills me at least I’ll die a happy man. It sounds yummy! Too bad I’m on the east coast. I’ll have to see if there’s an alternative to the recommended nog. I might attempt to give this cake a Maryland twist by making multiple thin layers of cake ala a “Smith Island” cake: http://smithisland.org/smith-island-cakes/
Get someone else to make the cake for you for your birthday next year, George, while you kick back and relax! Seriously I hope you will have a big and happy celebration. Meanwhile you can sample eggnogs to find a good one before they go out of stock. If you want to highlight a frosting, that Smith Island cake looks like the way!
That cake sounds like a little slice of heaven. It also reminds me that I need to run out and stock up on every carton of almond-, coconut-, and soy-nog I can get my hands on, while they’re still in stores and likely on sale. It’s one of my favorite seasonal treats!
Hannah recently posted..Sparkling into the New Year
Good idea, Hannah! And you’re reminding me that I need to stock up on cranberries while I can, I like to freeze them and use them all year long.