COOK TIME:60 minutes PREP TIME:20 minutes SERVINGS:10
My sweet friend always makes this cake at her lovely lake house on Smith Lake in Alabama. This cake is so good it will beckon you in the middle of the night. No one can resist it, no one! My children will fight each other tooth and nail over the last piece. All I can say is make this cake at your own risk, but know you have been warned.
Swap option: Almost all the alcohol gets cooked out of the wine, but you can swap it for orange juice and omit the bourbon from the whipped cream if you want a completely alcohol-free version.
Technique tip: Topping the cake with the wine glaze while the cake is hot ensures that it will absorb all the liquid.
Ingredients
MACERATED STRAWBERRIES
6 cups strawberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup chopped mint
CAKE
Butter, for greasing cake pan
All-purpose flour, for dusting cake pan
One 15.25-ounce package yellow cake mix, such as Duncan Hines
One 3.4-ounce package vanilla instant pudding mix, such as Jell-O
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
3/4 cup white wine, divided
4 ounces (1 stick) salted butter
BOURBON WHIPPED CREAM
2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
For the macerated strawberries:
Mix berries, sugar, orange juice, and mint. Let sit in fridge until sugar dissolves and the berries have released their juices.
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan.
Beat the cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, eggs, 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar, and 1/2 cup of the wine with an electric mixer at medium speed until just blended, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 2 minutes.
Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake in the preheated oven until a long wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
While the cake is baking, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium. Stir in the remaining 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup wine. Pour the butter mixture over the hot cake in the pan, and cool completely, about 1 hour.
For the bourbon whipped cream:
In a stand mixer fitted with a wire whisk or using a hand mixer, beat cream with sugar in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Add bourbon and vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
To serve:
Turn the cake out onto a serving plate. Slice and serve with macerated strawberries and bourbon whipped cream.
