IRISH whiskey has long been a favourite in traditional Irish baking, adding a nice flavour to everything from puddings to fruitcakes.
One recipe that deserves a place in every baker's collection is Jameson Irish Whiskey Cake, a cake that brings spices, raisins and walnuts with a big helping of one of Ireland's best whiskeys.
Its combination of sweet fruit, fragrant spices and whiskey makes it a lovely treat to enjoy with an afternoon cup of tea or as a dessert after dinner.
The recipe comes from A Spoonful Of Thyme, and it's surprisingly straightforward to prepare at home.
Here's everything you'll need to make this Irish whiskey favourite.
What you'll need
For the cake:
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1½ cups water
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp nutmeg
- ¾ tsp cloves
- A dash of allspice
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, reserving some halves for decoration
- ¼ cup Jameson Irish Whiskey
For the Jameson Irish Whiskey icing:
- 4 tbsp unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter, at room temperature
- 3½ cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- ¼ cup Jameson Irish Whiskey
For the garnish:
- Walnut halves
How to make it
- The first thing to do is to preheat your oven to 180°C. Then get two 8 inch cake tins and grease them with butter, and line them with parchment paper.
- Place the raisins and water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to the boil before reducing the heat and allowing it to simmer for approximately 20 minutes until the liquid begins to thicken. Drain the raisins, keeping around ¼ cup of the cooking liquid, and leave both aside to cool.
- In a regular bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and salt.
- In a separate bowl you should stir the butter and sugar together for around five minutes until the mixture is light. Then you should add the egg and continue beating until everything is smooth.
- You should then slowly fold the ingredients into the butter mixture, changing with the reserved raisin liquid. Once it's all together, you should stir through the Jameson Whiskey, chopped walnuts and raisins.
- Divide the cake mixture evenly between the two tins and bake for around 30 minutes. Then look to see if they are cooked by putting a tester into the centre. Then let the cakes cool down in their tins for about 15 minutes before turning them out and leaving them to cool fully.
- To get the icing ready, you should beat the butter and sugar together until there are no more lumps and then add the beaten egg and Jameson Whiskey and mix it all together.
- Spread around a third of the icing over the top of one cake. Then put the second cake on top, and use the last of the icing to cover the entire cake.
- Finish by decorating with the reserved walnut halves and leave the icing to set for at least 20 minutes.
Then you are ready to eat up!
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