Hey guys!!!
I keep going MIA every now and then from the blog! If you follow me on instagram on fb you can see I do update quite regularly.. I just get too lazy to edit the pictures and write the blog post. Baking and taking pictures i do it without any complaints but sitting down to write is another mission for me… I have a toddler yes thats my excuse!
Anywhooo!!! Today’s recipe is spiced honey and bourbon cake! those who have been following me know how much i love alcohol and bacon in my baking!! I make a cake with bourbon and bacon every year for Jason’s Birthday without second thought for the last 3 years 😀 I wanted to make a burnt honey cake but i ended up not getting that done properly, so i scraped the idea and made it into a spiced honey cake! Oh the honey, i got my hands on some wild honey i purchased recently from a small start-up. It is absolutely delish!!
So the cake is a 3 layered 4″ inch cake, filled and frosted with bourbon swiss meringue buttercream. The cake is also filled and garnished with bacon-pecan crumble! which sticks to the cake like mini clusters of gorgeous crunchy bacon bits!!!


Spiced Honey and Bourbon Cake
Ingredients
Spiced Honey Cake
- All purpose flour - 120gm
- Butter - 100gm
- Eggs - 2 large
- Brown sugar - 100gm
- Honey - 100gm
- All spice - 1 -2 teaspoons if you don't have all spice, you can use 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon clove and 1/2 teaspoon star anise powder
- Bourbon - 2 tablespoons
- Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Bacon - Pecan Crumble
- Bacon slices - 2-3
- Flour - 40gm
- Brown sugar - 50gm
- Pecans - 40gm
- Butter - 25gm
- Bourbon - 1 teaspoon
Bourbon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Egg whites - 2
- Caster sugar - 100gm
- Bourbon - 2 teaspoons
- Vinegar - 1 teaspoon for wiping the bowl
- Butter -200 gm
Instructions
Spiced honey and bourbon cake
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease and line the cake tin with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light pale and fluffy.
- Add and beat one egg at a time.
- In another small bowl, add honey and all spice powder and mix until completely incorporated.
- Add the spiced honey and bourbon to the mixture.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl. Fold and mix until the flour is thoroughly incorporated.
- Divide the batter into 3 - 4" cake tins. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, check with a wooden skewer to see if completely baked.
- Once baked, let it cool on a cooling rack.
Bacon- Pecan Crumble
- Chop the bacon into small bits and fry it until crunchy.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.
- In a small bowl, add all the ingredients including the fried crunchy bacon bits.
- Using your finger tips, rub the butter into the flour, sugar and the other bits.
- Mix it all well until it resembles wet sand.
- Spread this mixture on a baking tray lined with parchment.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until its golden brown.
- Once its baked, remove the tray from the oven and let the crumble cool.
Bourbon Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB)
- Before you even start the buttercream, wipe and clean thoroughly all the bowls, your mixer's whisk and your spatula using a tissue soaked with lemon juice or vinegar.
- In a clean bowl, add the egg whites and sugar.
- Place this bowl on a pan with simmering water, whisk using a hand whisk until the sugar is melted completely.
- Whisk this mixture until almost still peaks (5-10 minutes if using a hand blender)
- When the bowl is about room temperature, start adding cubes of the softened butter.
- Keep whisking/ mixing it until it looks silky smooth.
Note
- If the buttercream looks curdled, whisk longer.
- If the buttercream looks runny, chill the bowl for 30 minutes and whisk again.
Assembly
- Cut the tops of the cake to make sure all layers are equal and flat on top.
- On a cake board or a cake stand, place a small dollop of buttercream and place the bottom layer of the cake on the dollop. This helps to keep the cake layers in place.
- Scoop a good amount of buttercream on this layer and smoothen it with an offset spatula.
- Add few clusters of the bacon-pecan crumble on this buttercream layer.
- Place an another layer of cake on top and repeat untill all layers are done.
- Using the same SMB, do a thin crumb coat around the cake.
- Chill the cake for 30 minutes and finish the cake with the rest of the buttercream
- Garnish the cake on top and around with the crunchy bacon -pecan crumble!
- enjoy!!
Recipe Notes
This one was for my husband's birthday so happy birthday Jason! <3
Happy Baking
xx